Australia AUSTRALIA - 4YO AUGUST (GUS) Missing from rural family home in Outback, Yunta, South Australia, 27th Sept 2025

[Zedx]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

IIRC the very first news articles said Shannon saw him at 5pm playing in the sand pit, she went for a walk and came back at 5.30pm and he was gone.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

How many kilometers would he have had to walk to reach the dam? No formal statements have been made publicly by any of the four adult relatives, right?

I do wonder what Gus' family think happened, but I guess that's not our business.

 

[Zedx]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

No it is definitely not strange for a family friend to to publicly defend them, this family is in enough pain with loss of a small child and they are being vilified for their family situation and suggestive conspiracy theories are also hurtful. They believe he has wandered off, not taken. This is their opinion, which they are entitled to. they may not be able to bring themselves to believe he was taken, which would be a far worse secnario than him wandering off.
What would be strange is if their friends did not publicly support them.

 

[Curiousobserver]

This should open up to google maps and show Oak Park Station.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

I mean absolutely no disrespect when I ask this but... what the devil do people do who live out there? Nothing is growing, there is little or no water, you are ten of km from the nearest rd!

 

[adot0902]

It is VERY strange to me, how Mom and Dad are still together and Dad seemed to have real issues with the property and people on it, and Mom stayed there with the kids. I absolutely could not imagine staying somewhere without my husband, especially if my husband was uncomfortable with where I was staying. Maybe I'm sheltered but I have never heard of that in my entire life, if they were divorced/broken up sure I get it, but together it's just odd.

 

[Megnut]

Brainstorming --

Air tight feed barrel...

Unquestioned vehicle...

If he wasn't where she left him when she returned, he didn't go missing at 5:30. He was gone by then. He could have left one minute after she did.

Were any vehicles in play at 5 pm... or even in the 4 o'clock hour, since times might not be exact. Children seem drawn to cars.

Is there any way he crawled into a car or trailer, including any vehicle that was then used in a search for him, that could have accidently deposited him in a new lication for where he later got more lost?

Could he have gotten into a vehicle that was driven away and parked elsewhere, that driver then switching to maybe their own personal vehicle, one that just hasn't been in use since, like specialized equipment or an outfitted trailer that is only in use at intervals?

How easy one might innocently juxtaposed two events -- recall one thing as before another when it occurred opposite. Like a delivery truck, remembered as arriving much earlier, or friend or field hand leaving before...

Continuing to pick my own brain for possible explanations with no foul play involved...

JMO

 

[jessicalouise]

No it is definitely not strange for a family friend to to publicly defend them, this family is in enough pain with loss of a small child and they are being vilified for their family situation and suggestive conspiracy theories are also hurtful. They believe he has wandered off, not taken. This is their opinion, which they are entitled to. they may not be able to bring themselves to believe he was taken, which would be a far worse secnario than him wandering off.
What would be strange is if their friends did not publicly support them.

But she didn't defend them. She stated GL hadn't been taken by anyone. And considering they've found zero evidence whatsoever he's wandered off she's actually implicating them.

So between her saying that and police scaling back their search and following other lines of inquiry it can really only point in one direction and that's back to the homestead.

 

[tedtink]

But she didn't defend them. She stated GL hadn't been taken by anyone. And considering they've found zero evidence whatsoever he's wandered off she's actually implicating them.

So between her saying that and police scaling back their search and following other lines of inquiry it can really only point in one direction and that's back to the homestead.

She's not implicating them IMO.
An absence of evidence doesn't mean he didn't wander off.

 

[Sillybilly]

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[MelmothTheLost]

How many kilometers would he have had to walk to reach the dam? No formal statements have been made publicly by any of the four adult relatives, right?

I do wonder what Gus' family think happened, but I guess that's not our business.

If you mean Grampus West Dam, it looks about 2km or 1.6m to the NE. However, there's an unnamed cluster of four ponds or tanks about 400m to the south of the homestead.

 

[jessicalouise]

She's not implicating them IMO.
An absence of evidence doesn't mean he didn't wander off.

I think it was a strange thing to put out to the media and I dont understand why it was said. It doesn't do anyone any favours.

Anyway, looking back at the homestead itself it's not just a house but multiple buildings. There's also lots of stuff going on in the vicinity of the homestead. Lots of places for a little kid to explore and hide in, potentially get stuck/trapped in/crushed by. If he's never wandered off before I'm interested in why they thought he did that rather than stay closer to home.

I'm still so troubled by the trampoline. To have it set up in that area, without netting, without any padding on the springs in 2025, and to leave a 4 yo to play alone. It doesn't bode well. As a mother I get more bad vibes from around the homestead than I do from the scrubland he could have wandered off into.

Another question I have is he's 4 and probably hasn't completed toilet training yet. So he'd likely be in pull ups still or he would have wet/soiled his pants. Surely that would have attracted attention from dogs or birds especially if he'd discarded them. Between that and no missing hat ...

 

[jessicalouise]

OK i just watched another interview that same family friend gave to The Advertiser and she tells them on day 2 the police told her they've ruled out that he's been taken and they've ruled out any family harm.

TikTok - Make Your Day

Now, they may have told her that, but I find it very hard to believe they officially ruled those two things out on day 2.

 

[musicaljoke]

His hat. I can't get past the idea that if some bird of prey, or some animal, snatched this child, his hat would be found nearby. If a 4 legged beast, there'd likely be blood, or a sign of some sort, drag marks, etc. A bird of prey? I just think him to be too sizable for such a scenario.

Gus either was taken from this property, or is on the property. He may have been murdered and buried somewhere in the outback. Or he decided to explore, and found himself in a place where he couldn't escape.

No footprints or other evidence pointing to his departure from the reported sand pile where he was reported to have last been seen is suspicious imho.

Toddler and little kids sun hats often have chin straps.