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

[jepop]

Police and family would have been talking all along. So many questions apart from the hours around Gus's disappearance. List of all workers. Any discontented workers, any enemies or people who might want to do you an ill-turn? Finances, with documentation. Who are the neighbours, who had met Gus and when, any unusual interactions or interest shown in Gus? What were the plans for his schooling? What was your relationship with Gus's father? What about other family members?

Good points. An investigation is dynamic in real time. It unfolds. Imo from the very first week a variety of officers and detectives were interacting with family and local folk, entirely separate roles from liaison/support officers.

Wanted to expand out a bit re some of my thoughts on abduction by 3rd party. Imo a subset of investigators were addressing this behind the scenes in the first week, parallel to searches (the early statements by police spokes-people strongly indicate that). linked *
Stuff like interviews with family and neighbours re strange vehicles, looking for out of place tire tracks, establishing alibis for the dad and the local station people. Moo

Additionally, I believe Supt Fielke said as much in the presser when ruling out abduction as unlikely in the extreme, to the point where it becomes unreasonable to go on considering it sans any evidence.

Police also had innate conditions to consider, per supt Fielke; 45 km distant from main road; only two dirt roads and not public; only 4 w/d access; locked gates; unknown 3rd party can't know when Gus would or wouldn't be outside; unknown party (and vehicle) can't case the goings on at the homestead in person without being observed as not belonging there and so forth. Jmo

Re photo release: I think it was primarily due diligence that prompted police to release a photo towards the end of the first week ( Thurs Oct 1).

Only a day or so later, police spokesman addressed the public noting the influx of calls. Yet he felt compelled to ask the public to not clog up lines with irrelevant opinions (see link*).

Moo If the release of photo did result in any tips re possible sightings of Gus, then I assume those were assessed and eliminated.

*Summary of week 1 investigation, search efforts, police communications

What we know about search for missing boy on sheep station

Authorities are searching for a missing four-year-old boy on a sheep grazing station in the mid-north of South Australia. Here's what we know about the search so far.

www.abc.net.au

Re Feb 5th Presser

Inside the 'textbook' search for Gus Lamont

A retired police officer who helped pioneer search guidelines used during the investigation into the disappearance of Gus Lamont, praises the efforts to find the missing boy and expresses support for the detectives' conclusions.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Serononin]

Going back through the major crimes presser, and something stuck out: the items they seized from the house. While the reason for the interest in the vehicle and motorcycle they seized seems pretty self-evident, since they're the most likely way Gus could have been moved from the property (although they could also have additional involvement if Gus was struck or accidentally got trapped in the vehicle and overheated), this part:

QUESTION: "You also mentioned electronical devices. Can you elaborate on what they are?"

DARREN FIELKE: "Phones, computers, iPads."

The phones make sense even from just a GPS location tracking sense if SAPOL thought they might be carried on the suspect when moving Gus, but include the computers and iPads? You wouldn't pack a computer to go quickly hide a body. This sounds like they're looking for evidence of communication about this with someone else, search history, and/or pictures stored on them (if the last, possibly either just trying to better establish a better timeline of when Gus can be confirmed alive or something more nefarious). Work for the digital forensics analysts.

MOO, but might be a hint as to the lines of inquiry they're currently pursuing, since they'd probably need to have the warrant specifically written to include these sorts of items before they seized them (right?).

BBM

It makes me think of the Ana Walshe case, where Brian Walshe deleted his search history on his phone, but because of device syncing, his searches were still visible when investigators searched his son's iPad

 

[Dotta]

This is so sad.
So depressing


Behind the Paywall

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023036293739852127

 

[Slamalam]

This is so sad.
So depressing


Behind the Paywall

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023036293739852127

dbm

 

[skepticsouth]

https://www.police.sa.gov.au/sa-police-news-assets/front-page-news/task-force-horizon-search

Members attached to Task Force Horizon conducting inquiries into the disappearance of four-year-old Gus Lamont on 27 September 2025 have returned to Oak Park Station to continue searching for evidence.

It is anticipated that Task Force Horizon detectives will remain in the area for at least the next two days.

An update on the search activities will be provided as they progress.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

This is so sad.
So depressing


Behind the Paywall

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023036293739852127

I can’t see what it says, can you enlighten me please?

If Jess and Josie departed together and were in each others sight the whole time they were tending lost sheep and they both saw Gus alive before they left and arrived back at the homestead together, then that makes Shannon the guilty one doesn’t it?
I’m wondering if there is confusion of who did it because Josie was not with Shannon the entire time.
Could Shannon’s story of Gus playing in the sandpit possibly be true and Josie returned to the homestead around 5:15, unbeknown to Shannon and Jess, and Josie took him , killed him and then arrived home about 6pm? Was it murder to cover up sexual abuse ?

 

[SouthAussie]

I can’t see what it says, can you enlighten me please?

If Jess and Josie departed together and were in each others sight the whole time they were tending lost sheep and they both saw Gus alive before they left and arrived back at the homestead together, then that makes Shannon the guilty one doesn’t it?
I’m wondering if there is confusion of who did it because Josie was not with Shannon the entire time.
Could Shannon’s story of Gus playing in the sandpit possibly be true and Josie returned to the homestead around 5:15, unbeknown to Shannon and Jess, and Josie took him , killed him and then arrived home about 6pm? Was it to cover up sexual abuse ?

The article basically speaks of how the DM has been to Yunta since the start of the case (the reporter - Karleigh Smith - has been 4 times herself), and how sad the reporter is that Gus may end up being a long-term missing child in South Australia ... like the Beaumont children, Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe.

She also says that the incident where the DM were told to get off the property was the 2nd such incident involving the DM. The first one had occurred several weeks prior to the Jonica Bray incident when Karleigh Smith had been told to get off the property.

Now the police have warned the media that they will be charged with trespassing if they enter the property.

Unthinkable possibility at the heart of Gus Lamont mystery

Following SAPOL's press conference on February 5, I returned to Yunta for the fourth time, and as I traversed the baking Outback near where the boy was last seen, I was filled with a sense of dread

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Aus94]

Similar updates here. Search resuming for expected next 2 days..

 

[Bigditch]

So, just to be clear the article says, or hints at the possibility that Gus may never be found?

 

[Dotta]

Fingers

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023168011826352235

"It's understood the current operation is focused on gathering evidence,
unlike earlier searches which were aimed at finding Gus,
after his disappearance was declared a major crime earlier this month."

 

[Dotta]

So, just to be clear the article says, or hints at the possibility that Gus may never be found?

Exactly.
Considering the vastness of the area and difficult to explore nearby Park.

Once the terrain bustled with volunteers and LE trying to find a little boy.

Now it is empty, eerily silent, forsaken.
The gate is firmly closed.

Even the locals are pessimistic.
The atmosphere is heavy, tense, hopeless.

So sad

JMO

 

[drsleuth]

I wonder if they will have cadaver dog/s in the search??

 

[Dotta]

So....

It's reported the current operation is focused on gathering evidence.

Hmmm....
After so much time I'm afraid the alleged evidence is looooong gone.

No body.
No evidence.

Another child vanished into thin air.

And those whose duty was to care for a kid said
Oh well, the boy wandered off into the night.

JMO

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

So....

It's reported the current operation is focused on gathering evidence.

Hmmm....
After so much time I'm afraid the alleged evidence is looooong gone.

No body.
No evidence.

Another child vanished into thin air.

And those whose duty was to care for a kid said
Oh well, the boy wandered off into the night.

JMO

It’s appalling! They’re both as bad as each other!

 

[drsleuth]

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/police-renew-search-for-missing-4yo-gus-lamont-at-south-australia-property/news-story/0311801cfea0552814be46525e58ee51

The renewed search effort is expected to be completed in the next two days, police said.

“Members attached to Task Force Horizon ... have returned to Oak Park Station to continue searching for evidence,” a statement read.

“It is anticipated that Task Force Horizon detectives will remain in the area for at least the next two days.”

 

[jepop]

The article basically speaks of how the DM has been to Yunta since the start of the case (the reporter - Karleigh Smith - has been 4 times herself), and how sad the reporter is that Gus may end up being a long-term missing child in South Australia ... like the Beaumont children, Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe.

She also says that the incident where the DM were told to get off the property was the 2nd such incident involving the DM. The first one had occurred several weeks prior to the Jonica Bray incident when Karleigh Smith had been told to get off the property.

Now the police have warned the media that they will be charged with trespassing if they enter the property.

Unthinkable possibility at the heart of Gus Lamont mystery

Following SAPOL's press conference on February 5, I returned to Yunta for the fourth time, and as I traversed the baking Outback near where the boy was last seen, I was filled with a sense of dread

www.dailymail.co.uk

Supt Fielke delivered that warning emphatically at the end if the Feb 5 presser aswell.