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

[twomoresmores]

This is such an odd and sad situation. Some web-sleuthers are questioning how long it really was between Gus last being seen and then missing.... But the half hour stated could well be true.
I don't think he's had an accident and been trapped, unable to shout out. The family will know all those places and quite possibly would be the first places they looked. Some such nooks and crannies would be inaccessible to a 4 year old anyway, perhaps from being too high up or behind heavy machinery, for example. If he had perished in this way, it would be apparent by now.
Abduction has been debated at length and generally felt to be unlikely.
Wandered off continues to be a possibility of course though the area has been searched at length. Just how far could Gus wander in that time? No clues or evidence at all (bar the footprint) that this is what happened yet LE dedicated a huge amount of resources to this so I believe it remains a possibility.
Wild animals....? Again, unlikely.
So what happens now? Is LE only acting on new evidence, should some be found? I expect the family have searched that farmstead more times than you can count and my heart goes out to them.
Obviously LE are likely busy in the background but it's hard to know what they could be basing investigations on.
Still hoping for a miracle.
MOO.

 

[hoodunnit]

Has it been mentioned where exactly mum and grandparent were tending to the sheep (aside from being 10kms away?) I wonder if that particular area was checked by LE/SES etc

 

[kurtneverdied]

Let me remind you that Josh has full custody of his both children and there was no ongoing divorce or custody battle. If he took Gus out of the property without informing anyone that might be not the best move but still fully legal. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for the police to try surprising him at that moment as he would be not a suspect of any crime even if half of the province witnessed him taking Gus.

I did say it was unlikely if you read the post fully. I also didn't say they came to surprise him, so no need to have a go at me.
I was just coming up with some kind of theory of why it took so long for him to be made aware, and not these excuses like his phone was in do not disturb etc. There were no excuses for 8 hours.

 

[kurtneverdied]

This is such an odd and sad situation. Some web-sleuthers are questioning how long it really was between Gus last being seen and then missing.... But the half hour stated could well be true.
I don't think he's had an accident and been trapped, unable to shout out. The family will know all those places and quite possibly would be the first places they looked. Some such nooks and crannies would be inaccessible to a 4 year old anyway, perhaps from being too high up or behind heavy machinery, for example. If he had perished in this way, it would be apparent by now.
Abduction has been debated at length and generally felt to be unlikely.
Wandered off continues to be a possibility of course though the area has been searched at length. Just how far could Gus wander in that time? No clues or evidence at all (bar the footprint) that this is what happened yet LE dedicated a huge amount of resources to this so I believe it remains a possibility.
Wild animals....? Again, unlikely.
So what happens now? Is LE only acting on new evidence, should some be found? I expect the family have searched that farmstead more times than you can count and my heart goes out to them.
Obviously LE are likely busy in the background but it's hard to know what they could be basing investigations on.
Still hoping for a miracle.
MOO.

Personally I think unless searchers have somehow missed him around the homestead then it's likely a 3rd party is involved. I never thought he wandered off, or if he did, then not very far.
A complete stranger seems unlikely. Anyone who wouldn't draw suspicion driving along that road and Gus happened to be there. Or the most likely to me is he had an accident and someone panicked and hid him. Of course many will disagree but it's just in my opinion and your welcome to come up with yours.

 

[Owlpellet]

If Gus had a fatal accident while playing, I think there would be a small number of options available, if passing on the farm was important.

 

[drsleuth]

It seems like ever excuse for Josh finding out 8 hours later has been posted here, and let's be honest, none stack up. 8 hours is completely unacceptable. Particularly from the police, makes them look incompetent from the get go.
Unless, there is another reason that Police obviously don't want anyone to know.
Perhaps they did turn up hours earlier and Josh wasn't there. Decided to wait in an unmarked car until he returned, then woke him later, pretending they just got there and say to the media he isn't a suspect. Possible? I guess. Would explain the 8 hours gap. Probable? Unlikely, as there seems no reason at all for Josh to want to hurt his son. Police have ruled him out publicly, not so with anyone else (I think).

Police say the family of Gus Lamont continue to cooperate fully with police and are being supported by a victim contact officer.

Heartbreaking development in search for missing outback boy

August ‘Gus’ Lamont, 4, has not been seen since vanishing from his family’s farm at the end of September.

7news.com.au

BBM : The police didn't know Gus was missing until 8:30pm. We don't know what time Josh was woken up & notified by the police, but I don't believe he was notified 8hrs later ( which would make it approx 04:30 am ) IMO

 

[nao]

Moo.... Gus went missing at 5:30, police contacted Josh at 1:30am...that is 8hrs. Police searched for Gus, he was not found so they contacted bio father. Josh might not of come up in conversation till later, he does not live on property...moo
..

 

[TMich6811]

I would think the father would come into conversation quickly to rule out he didn’t have Gus.

I do find the delay odd. But I also find the initial delay in contacting authorities odd.

 

[SouthAussie]

Moo.... Gus went missing at 5:30, police contacted Josh at 1:30am...that is 8hrs. Police searched for Gus, he was not found so they contacted bio father. Josh might not of come up in conversation till later, he does not live on property...moo
..

My only problem with this is that there is no link, no official info, no MSM info that says it took 8 hours for Josh to be woken by police. It is kind of like rumour has turned into fact, to me.

The DM makes it sound as if Josh was asleep at 5-5:30ish. When Gus disappeared.
Maybe Josh had a few beers while watching the footy grand final, and then fell asleep.


He was asleep when Gus vanished, and police woke him up to break the horrifying news several hours later.

Chilling theories emerge about missing boy Gus Lamont

Gus was playing in a mound of dirt at Oak Park station, under the care of his grandmother Shannon Murray as his mother Jessica and grandparent Josie were tending to their flock 10km away.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Ellery84]

The Grandmother called him in at 5:30. But when is the last time she actually saw Gus? Prior to when she called him in for dinner? 20 minutes? 5 hours?

I would think the father would come into conversation quickly to rule out he didn’t have Gus.

I do find the delay odd. But I also find the initial delay in contacting authorities odd.

The average time for a caregiver to call police when a child goes missing is 2 hours.

 

[Ellery84]

and let's be honest, none stack up. 8 hours is completely unacceptable. Particularly from the police, makes them look incompetent from the get go.

Dad Josh has full parental rights to Gus.

He should have been notified right away.

I feel for him. I really do.

 

[musicaljoke]

Dad Josh has full parental rights to Gus.

He should have been notified right away.

I feel for him. I really do.

I feel really sad for him in this time of loss and grief, but I also see a Dad who was living 100 km away from his son for reasons known fully only to the family. All hands were on deck to find the missing child. If he had to wait until someone could connect with him, then that's the way it was. I don't fault anyone.

 

[Ellery84]

I also see a Dad who was living 100 km away from his son for reasons known fully only to the family.

That's it, and as you said, we don't know the reasons why.

But there was no DVO orders on him and no custody agreement, he had full rights.

I hope that he has support from a police liaison officer who is keeping him updated on the progress of his case.

Imo

 

[Auntie Cipation]

How small is the town from which the police were called? Because even if everyone wanted to contact Josh promptly, if he lived two hours away (as I believe I've seen here), it makes sense to me that a very small police force might not have officers immediately available to spend the next 4-5 hours driving out of their jurisdiction to make that contact.

This is assuming that Josh was not reachable by phone for any of the reasons speculated (turned off, out of service area, etc).

The family would have presumably tried to call Josh to inform him. But from the police's perspective, they might have a policy to interact in person -- they don't know if they are dealing with a suspect or not, nor how emotionally a parent might react to such upsetting news, so to me a practice of interacting in person makes sense.

JMO that the length of time that passed before Josh was contacted is not by itself problematic.

 

[Ellery84]

I'm not sure the photos published on public social media can be considered "stolen"

Anybody can see and use them.

That is the risk of publicizing private photos on the Internet.

JMO

To add...
As MSM DM has legal department to check everything I guess.

There's really no reason why a news organisation can't publish a social media photo of a person to support a news story about that person.

One exception would be if there was a suppression order prohibiting that from occurring, and they would be quite rare.

In my humble opinion.

 

[Kemug]

WMoo..
Maybe the family knew Joshua would be very angry and just didn't want to deal with his emotions at that time. The family was probably in shock that they couldn't find Gus..moo

Or maybe Grandma Josie "rules the roost", as they say, and made the decision.

 

[Andreee]

Or maybe Grandma Josie "rules the roost", as they say, and made the decision.

Why would u assume that?

 

[Kemug]

Why would u assume that?

Only because she may have been the head of the house for some 20 years - NB "may".

 

[BreakingNews]

I was the person who said 1.30, but because I can't find a link, we should disregard this. I thought I heard it on the news.

However the DM states a friend of Josh's said he first heard of Gus disappearance when police woke him up in the early hours of the morning.

The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family

 

[SouthAussie]

However the DM states a friend of Josh's said he first heard of Gus disappearance when police woke him up in the early hours of the morning.

The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family The hidden detail about Gus Lamont's family

Yes, the DM said that on 17th October. Then on 20th October they said that .... He was asleep when Gus vanished, and police woke him up to break the horrifying news several hours later. (as per my link above)

I don't think they know when the police rocked up at Josh's house. Have maybe even heard conflicting stories, so they changed their own descriptive.

Either way, I don't think it has any relevance to Gus' disappearance. If Josh had been called at 5:31pm and answered the phone, Gus would still be missing now.

imo