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

[SLouTh]

This is a very comprehensive overview of today’s proceedings … worth watching IMO
There is no question that it was Josie that was charged…

 

[Ellery84]

I wonder if Josie’s firearms licence will be automatically suspended.
In the interests of everyone’s safety it would be for the best if all guns were removed from the property for now.

They should have been removed in October. IMO

Friends and neighbours could help out with pest control (foxes, rabbits etc)
At least the snakes will be safe now

That’s not funny.

 

[Kemug]

Nor would I. I would be packing up and moving out.

But it's really her property, inherited from her family - he should be the one to go.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

Nor would I. I would be packing up and moving out.

For sure.

 

[Ellery84]

This is a very comprehensive overview of today’s proceedings … worth watching IMO
There is no question that it was Josie that was charged…

She drove herself to the police station, stayed for about an hour, where she was “arrested”, then drove back home to what is a crime scene. Wild. This is wild.

 

[obscidian_scribe]

I wonder if removing Josie from the property for a few hours could have been to have Shannon alone and cornered (if she’s the suspect) or to have her alone and feeling safe to speak to the police (if Josie is the suspect)?

 

[Dotta]

But it's really her property, inherited from her family - he should be the one to go.

She also has a house in Adelaide where daughter & JL lived.
It was reported it is SM's house.
She seems to come from a well-to-do family.

JMO

 

[gerardo20]

Shannon is 73.

Thanks for this, not doubting this age, but a source or reasoning for this would give context please.
Not a problem if you do not want to reveal the source.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

My first impression looking at photos was:
fierceness and domination.

JMO

Yes and Shannon looked an absolute wreck in the photos.
It’s a bit strange that the old guy/family friend who spoke on behalf of the family (Bill I think) was very upset but Josie didn’t appear to be.

 

[Dotta]

I wonder if removing Josie from the property for a few hours could have been to have Shannon alone and cornered (if she’s the suspect) or to have her alone and feeling safe to speak to the police (if Josie is the suspect)?

And maybe also to ensure this person couldn't flee.
I guess if there was an arrest,
a passport was confiscated, no?

JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder if removing Josie from the property for a few hours could have been to have Shannon alone and cornered (if she’s the suspect) or to have her alone and feeling safe to speak to the police (if Josie is the suspect)?

Ch9 says this is Shannon with the police today at Oak Park Station.



(from the news video posted by Slouth above)

 

[SouthAussie]

But it's really her property, inherited from her family - he should be the one to go.

Maybe they don't want to split up. They have both hired high profile lawyers to protect and defend their individual interests.

One may be a suspect, but they both felt the need to get top criminal defence lawyers.

imo

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

She also has a house in Adelaide where daughter & JL lived.
It was reported it is SM's house.
She seems to come from a well-to-do family.

JMO

I wouldn’t feel safe anywhere Josie could find me if I were Shannon.

 

[Dotta]

"How Australian AI helped in search for Gus Lamont.​

Police consulted ​

domestic drone and AI companies.​

Police hunting for missing four-year-old boy Gus Lamont
have turned to an extraordinary toolset
– drones, artificial intelligence and ultra-high-resolution aerial imaging –
to analyse the outback around his home
at a scale human searchers could never achieve."

How Australian AI helped in search for Gus Lamont

Police consulted domestic drone and AI companies.

ia.acs.org.au

 

[obscidian_scribe]

I wouldn’t feel safe anywhere Josie could find me if I were Shannon.

Josie could also be protecting Shannon for all we know if Shannon is indeed the suspect, so she might not feel the need to pack up and move out at all, who knows

 

[Athena Holmes]

IMO, something like that could be possible, but there's really a huge number of things that could have happened. Let's narrow it for the sake of speculation that there was no malice, no history of abuse, no moment of anger leading to doing something terrible that couldn't be undone, something more in line with an accident than anything else. I do think your idea here would hold a lot more water than the 'bitten by a snake' speculation, because it would carry more culpability, more blame, more shame, be less understandable. The story that Gus was left alone outside for half an hour and wandered off in that timeframe would be a narrative crafted to sound more justifiable than what actually happened, IMO, because otherwise what would be the point in lying?

Speculation only, but what if? I see exactly one plaything shown in the photos outside on their property. The trampoline. I just looked up regulations in Australia, and it looks like since 2020, before Gus was born, it has been illegal to sell a trampoline without a net unless it's an in-ground one, which this is not. So this would have been an older one, maybe even from when Jess was a kid, not illegal for them to own but now considered too unsafe to sell. Now, I grew up playing on trampolines like that one, and we always had a blast on them. Everyone also knew at least one kid who got hurt on one. Usually something like a broken arm or dislocated shoulder. Now if Gus ever got to play on that thing, it could easily be his favorite thing ever that he always wanted to play on. It could also be something that Jess absolutely forbid him playing on because she was afraid he'd get hurt, while her parents could have taken the stance of 'We let you play on it and it was fine, you're being overprotective.' Now he could have just made a beeline for it at some point when playing alone outside, fallen wrong

Spoiler: (spoilering for upsetting imagery)

and broken his neck or cracked his skull on the metal frame

, then been found, already gone. Or what seems more likely in light of the 'lie' part of it, the part that assumes whatever actually happened was worse than leaving him alone outside for half an hour, he was allowed to play on it by an indulgent grandmother behind Jess's back, with the mindset of 'he loves it so much, and what she doesn't know won't hurt her.' That either the same happened, or...he hit his head, hard, an anxious and guilty grandmother convinced herself he was ok and no one needed to know, maybe as the day wore on he seemed a little more tired and groggy than usual, maybe put him down for a nap...and then he never woke up. Serious brain injuries can be insidious like that, kids can seem mostly ok after the initial injury but be hemorrhaging and die if not treated quickly. For that matter, something similar could have happened if he'd just been running around and fell and hit his head wrong. Accidentally getting your grandson killed by disobeying your daughter's instructions and/or showing poor judgement and not getting him medical attention immediately, and you might think your only child would hate you less for it if he were "just missing."


I'm not sure I agree with this, it can be hard to say how people weigh these things, especially when strong emotions, panicky reasoning, etc come into play. IMO, particularly the way that lies can grow, and people can feel trapped in them, a sort of sunk cost fallacy. When the initial lie was told, the liar might not have grasped how huge the search would truly become, maybe thought they'd look and not find anything and give up, that the investigation would go away, maybe rationalized that it would be less painful for Jess for Gus to be 'missing' than confirmed dead, or other more self-serving reasons ("I don't want her to hate me"). But the bigger everything got, the more resources and effort and time spent, watching how devastated Jess was, the harder it would become to 'come clean' and admit the lie...and the responsibility for it. For all of it. It would take a lot of integrity and strength of character to own up to it at this point, and likely more than someone who initially lied about something like this has. Again, my opinion only.

(And I don't at all disagree with the possibility of something more violent being responsible, just trying to reason through different possibilities.)

Respectfully, not wanting to admit responsibility for an accidental death on a trampoline doesn't add up to me. Why fabricate a story (which isn't much better?) about leaving a 4 year old child unsupervised for 30 minutes in the very same unsafe environment (with access to said trampoline). Ultimately both scenarios result in the child's death. Why admit responsibility for one and not the other?

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

I wonder if removing Josie from the property for a few hours could have been to have Shannon alone and cornered (if she’s the suspect) or to have her alone and feeling safe to speak to the police (if Josie is the suspect)?

Can’t wait to see what else the police have up their sleeves. The grandparents stress levels will be high tonight.

Shannon could possibly be covering for Josie for a few reasons;

• Fear of being alone in the middle of nowhere with 10,000 sheep to look after.

•Domestic violence

•Josie dictated the narrative after Gus’ death . Shannon was in shock and went along with it .

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

Josie could also be protecting Shannon for all we know if Shannon is indeed the suspect, so she might not feel the need to pack up and move out at all, who knows

Yes there’s also that possibility. Living out there on your own would be lonely.

 

[Ellery84]

Thanks for this, not doubting this age, but a source or reasoning for this would give context please.
Not a problem if you do not want to reveal the source.

I apologise, I didn’t realise I put this on a public board. I thought I was in a private chat. Must put my glasses on before continuing!

 

[Ellery84]

I wonder if removing Josie from the property for a few hours could have been to have Shannon alone and cornered (if she’s the suspect) or to have her alone and feeling safe to speak to the police (if Josie is the suspect)?

That would seem like a pretty tried and true police strategy.