I can't find any direct release from SAPAL for this so my sourching comes from the following link:
Early on police said the Lamont family were
“cooperating fully.” Everything back then sounded like they saw this as a tragic accident, a little boy who wandered off and got lost. Now the wording has shifted to
“the family continues to assist with the investigation.”
That might sound minor but it’s a big change in tone. “Cooperating” feels like everyone’s on the same page. “Assisting” sounds a lot more formal, like the conversations are still happening but they’re not warm or aligned anymore. It reads to me like police are staying polite but keeping a bit of professional distance.
The other line that jumped out was that the new search will be
outside the zone already searched extensively. I’m no expert on search and rescue but I assume they used some sort of modelling early on to figure out how far a four year old could realistically walk based on the timeline the family gave police at the time. That timeline is what the whole original search would have been built around, when Gus was last seen, when they noticed he was missing and when police were called.
I’ve questioned that timeline before but this just seems to confirm that something doesn’t quite add up. If they’re now searching outside the original radius that means the parameters they were given, basically the information from the family, no longer make sense. In other words the “wandered off” theory doesn’t fit the evidence or the geography anymore.
Then there’s how everything’s being handled now. No media at the site, no police spokesperson there, updates only coming from Adelaide HQ. The family have asked media not to contact them. It all feels very controlled and careful with what gets out.
Putting all of that together:
- The language about the family has shifted from cooperation to assistance.
- The search area has moved beyond what would make sense based on the original timeline.
- And the tone from police has gone from emotional to procedural.
I’ve said before that the timeline never sat right with me, and this only reinforces it. I reckon police have known for some time that the “wandered off” story isn’t what happened, they just haven’t been able to say it outright yet.