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

[BreakingNews]

Or did they hand the car back that was taken for forensic testing on his bail release??

She was released on 'police bail' to reappear in May, according to Channel 10 Late News

 

[BreakingNews]

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

Josie worked on the property with Shannon's father.

 

[Dotta]

I don’t think you would cover up an accident shooting and dispose of the body . Can’t help thinking you’d only cover it up if there was previous abuse/ harm / neglect . You might cover up to protect a loved one .

Assuming there were only 3 people at the farm ( grandparents & mum ) one of them is guilty & 1 or both of them are covering up .

But if there was alleged abuse/neglect,
wouldn't Mum notice it?
There would be signs, no?
And yet
she left both kids under the care of grandmother.
She visited them, helped with farm work and trusted them enough to bring kids there.
Mum is not a suspect.
There is nothing reported that baby R. suffered harm/abuse/neglect.
So why would Gus?

IDK.

JMO

 

[Skigh]

I very much hope that Josie has had the guns confiscated.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

I don’t think you would cover up an accident shooting and dispose of the body . Can’t help thinking you’d only cover it up if there was previous abuse/ harm / neglect . You might cover up to protect a loved one .

Assuming there were only 3 people at the farm ( grandparents & mum ) one of them is guilty & 1 or both of them are covering up .

I’m with you and doubt you would cover up a shooting accident. Keep thinking this has got to be a cover up of recent physical or sexual abuse as in September 27th 2025. Not sure which grandparent is guilty , it could be either. Who knows if both of them are covering up and how this is going to end.

 

[jepop]

Alot of sympathy being expressed for Gus' mum on the thread ATM. Likewise, I can't fathom how the latest developments (suspect )must have added to her grief and sense of terrible, terrible loss. I hope she is supported IRL. Both her and JL.

I do wonder though, how she would feel if she or someone close to her were to read this thread right now, only to be confronted with moo pretty much baseless speculation, unconnected to the known facts regarding Gus' disappearance, concerning CSA. Jmo

 

[Sarahlou]

Josie being arrested for something supposedly unrelated reminds me of Daniel Martell's situation.

Hope the police are getting closer and closer to the truth.

 

[Skigh]

Alot of sympathy being expressed for Gus' mum on the thread ATM. Likewise, I can't fathom how the latest developments (suspect )must have added to her grief and sense of terrible, terrible loss. I hope she is supported IRL. Both her and JL.

I do wonder though, how she would feel if she or someone close to her were to read this thread right now, only to be confronted with moo pretty much baseless speculation, unconnected to the known facts regarding Gus' disappearance, concerning CSA. Jmo

There are social media sites and other forums which permit much more speculation and unverified information to be posted . Websleuths is at least moderated and insists on fact based reports.

 

[jepop]

There are social media sites and other forums which permit much more speculation and unverified information to be posted . Websleuths is at least moderated and insists on fact based reports.

Yes, I'm aware. It's one of the main reasons I read and post on WS, not elsewhere.

 

[Dotta]

DBM

 

[Bigditch]

Moo, guessing that could well be either the opinion of the reporter (comparing this current case with other cases in past) and/or the editing style of the article, including headline?

I don't think this is something that investigators have said. At least no msm I've read are making a point of that possibility or reporting that SAPOL feel that way at this time. Jmo
ETA "...at this time"

Totally agree. I was responding to the absurdity of the DM post. Headline misleading as if it were fact.

 

[Marg944]

This news report says Police will be searching a nearby property on Tuesday.

51K views · 246 reactions | An arrest has been made in the search for the missing four-year-old South Australian boy Gus Lamont. | 7NEWS Sydney

An arrest has been made in the search for the missing four-year-old South Australian boy Gus Lamont.

www.facebook.com

 

[linge]

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?

Again, just personal opinion, but think if it's something that had already been a point of contention between them that would carry a lot more guilt (anything that veers into 'I told you...' territory that could trigger an initial lie motivated by 'I can't tell Jess'). And more so if it was followed by failure to get proper medical attention for him when it could have saved his life. But this was just attempting to find an example of the kind of explanation that's the most purely accidental that might still explain an initial lie/cover-up that snowballed from there: even though it could be functionally the same, if everyone was fine with him being regularly allowed to play outside unsupervised for that long, on a personal level that makes a better story to blame than if he got killed on a safety hazard they didn't get rid of when Jess asked, or more so, let him play on behind her back. Think once an initial lie was made in the panic of the moment, it would be easy to quickly end up feeling up to your neck in it.

But that said, my personal suspicions around this are something darker happened than that, beyond just a tragic accident and a mistake, less 'innocent.'

 

[Bigditch]

Josie being arrested for something supposedly unrelated reminds me of Daniel Martell's situation.

Hope the police are getting closer and closer to the truth.

Exactly what came to mind for me as well.

 

[linge]

Jess is not living there she’s long gone it’s only the grandparents at the homestead.

A suspect was declared on February 5th. The innocent grandparent must know who killed Gus so why haven’t they come forward? It’s starting to look like they both know what happened and one is covering up for the other IMO

Last I'd heard, she hasn't been sighted since the day and no one (in the public) knows where she or Ronnie are, rumors with a friend. To the point where Daily Mail were snapping pictures of nappies drying on the line as evidence she was still there in the initial aftermath. Assume the police know at least.

Fear can be a powerful motivator. If there was an abusive component to this family dynamic, the innocent grandparent might be terrified to come forward. They've been together for a very long time, much of it living off in isolation. That's a lot of time and opportunity to just completely break someone down until they don't have it left in them to defy your will and just meekly cooperate. And if there's an abusive component, the innocent grandparent would likely have a lot of experience covering for the abuser (hiding bruises, making excuses, downplay, protect...). Cults operate on similar mechanisms, just larger scale. And that's even without more active measures taken to keep them in line: close monitoring, threatening to hurt someone they love, confiscating phones, taking away vehicle keys. There are ways of keeping someone on a very short leash, particularly once they've been 'trained.'

Also can't rule out the power of old fashioned denial. A lot of people have a hard time wrapping their minds around the possibility that someone they think they know so well could do something so terrible then carry on like normal.

 

[linge]

But if there was alleged abuse/neglect,
wouldn't Mum notice it?
There would be signs, no?
And yet
she left both kids under the care of grandmother.
She visited them, helped with farm work and trusted them enough to bring kids there.
Mum is not a suspect.
There is nothing reported that baby R. suffered harm/abuse/neglect.
So why would Gus?

IDK.

JMO

Some kinds of abuse are easier to hide than others.

Also, Jess is their daughter. If one (or both) of them was abusive to Gus, odds are good that Jess would have been abused growing up, too, if not still. What your parents do is your 'normal'; it can take time, distance, and outside perspectives to be able to label whatever you experienced as abuse. Editing to add: This can also be why it can become a cycle.

Growing up, I was friends with a girl with abusive parents. Among other things, her father would beat the kids with a belt, including her 3-year old sister. I was horrified; my friend just thought he was 'strict.'

So if there was the kind of abuse that leaves bruises, it's possible that everyone who would have seen them would have 'understood.' Particularly because, while where I am people tend to strip down as much as they can get away with when it's hot out, I understand that in Australia it's normal to cover up to protect from the sun, long sleeves, long pants. That could cover up a lot of bruises without raising any suspicions from outsiders.

 

[BerylTutu]

It seems they can take a sample without arrest.

Suspect Procedure
Police can obtain DNA samples under the Suspect Procedure where a person is suspected on reasonable grounds of having committed a serious offence. A “serious offence” means any offence that is punishable by imprisonment as a maximum penalty under the legislation and includes summary offences and indictable offences. This can include some driving offences and more serious offences.

WHEN CAN POLICE TAKE A DNA SAMPLE IN SA? -

In 1999 South Australia police began to compile a database of DNA profiles which has grown to over 100,000 assisted by the powers created by the Criminal L

websterslawyers.com.au

Perhaps it is a way of separating the suspects also to give space to another to talk without fear? Especially where 1 suspect may be more physically, emotionally, psychologically powerful than the other?
Just my thoughts and speculation only.

 

[Hexe]

Excuse me, are we even sure the arrested person is one of Gus's grandparents?

 

[linge]

Excuse me, are we even sure the arrested person is one of Gus's grandparents?

Yes, JM was named in later reporting on it as having been arrested, just not initially.

 

[BerylTutu]

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)?

This was my first thought also…highly likely I think…also very strategic way to build pressure on everyone and hopefully lead to someone speaking. IMO