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

[linge]

If they both hired lawyers, I wouldn't imagine either of them would talk (except in general) without lawyer presence. They surely would have been instructed not to.

So again, a ton of convoluted speculation following, but if SAPOL told the truth, if one and only one of the Oak Park Station grandparents is "the suspect," and if JM and SM know which one of them it is, while their lawyering up at the same time looks pretty similar from the outside, their lawyers have significantly different jobs to do to try to serve their respective clients' best interests. Particularly IF this actually IS a major crime and IF 'the suspect' is guilty of it, meanwhile the other may or may not have acted as an accessory after the fact, however willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly. If both JM and SM are smart, they've each told their respective lawyers what they know, what they've told police, what they haven't told police, and any relevant details (including family dynamics that could be influencing the situation), everything (seriously, do not keep secrets from your lawyer).

It's likely in the best interest of 'the suspect,' particularly if guilty, to not say anything. It would also likely be in the best interest of 'the suspect' for the other grandparent, not the suspect, to also not say anything, also not cooperate, help present a unified front of stonewalling and to make it harder (or impossible), for SAPOL to differentiate between which parts each may have played in this, cast doubt, give them nothing to look into or work with so they can't gather enough to press charges, and create plausible deniability if charges are brought against 'the suspect' for the death of Gus Lamont and this gets taken to court.

Meanwhile it would likely be in the best interest of the grandparent who isn't the suspect, if not guilty, to draw a clear distinction, to create distance/differentiation and not get turned into a human shield/smokescreen for the suspect, and make it clear to SAPOL that they weren't responsible for this and are on the side of wanting justice for Gus. Including maybe to proactively demonstrate their innocence, be cooperative, and hopefully not get pulled any further into it. While personal loyalties to each other and other emotional considerations could muddy this for the Murrays, this would probably be the aim for their respective lawyers and so would shape the advice they'd give their clients to follow, even though, again, on the surface, almost certainly share a very similar 'don't speak to LE without me present.'

In this light, and IF JM is the suspect and IF SM is not, and IF SAPOL is on the right track with both this designation of major crime and who they believe committed it, and IF the dynamics in the home have been preventing SM from being able to safely cooperate fully with SAPOL...IMO, it would completely make sense for SM's lawyer to coordinate a time with SAPOL, likely when he could be present, when Shannon could walk them through what she knows while JM is conveniently out of the way for the time they need at Oak Park Station. IMO, that could be the actions of a competent defense lawyer representing the best interests of an innocent client who lives with the suspect for (and potentially perpetrator of) a violent crime, one whose own best interests are that she keep her mouth shut.

That's a lot of 'ifs' that would need to line up a certain way, but IMO it would fit cleanly within what just happened and also within the broader context of this case. MOO.

TLDR: It might not have been without a lawyer present. It could have even been partly organized with the lawyer, for above reasons.

 

[Old Soul]

Breaking: Police scour outhouse, water tank in Gus search

SA police have inspected an outhouse where fresh cement has recently been laid and a water tank as part of the latest search for Gus Lamont in South Australia's Mid North, with no evidence so far.

www.abc.net.au

Police have used a cadaver dog from NSW in today’s search at a Grampus property 24km from Oak Park station and another property 30km from Oak Park station.

“SA police have inspected an outhouse where fresh cement has recently been laid and a water tank as part of the latest search for Gus Lamont in South Australia's Mid North.”

 

[SouthAussie]

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The news report in your link says that today they have brought in a cadaver dog.

(Oops, I see @Old Soul posted about the cadaver dog from a different source.)

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

So from your description, this happens in the house or very close to the house. And Jess and Josie are expected home quite soon. Shannon needs to talk to Josie alone, but also she needs Jess not to find the body. So it seems she must have moved the body at least once already by the time the other two get in. Probably not far. Then before they call the police, Josie moves the body again, in the dark. It seems like a lot of action not to have left forensic traces.

Generally, when a body's been moved, I incline to think the death was intentional. I'll go for either extreme here: they're all completely innocent, and Gus got lost out there, or he was murdered for a reason. The reason I suggest is that somebody thought that if there was no Gus and no school plans, Jess would be more likely to hang around.

I don’t know when or where it could’ve happened , but I think it’s most likely a fair bit earlier than 5pm.
They must have some way to contact each other ie walkie-talkies or satellite phones.
Josie most likely would’ve received a call and gone to Shannon’s aide as soon as possible, without Jess knowing. Jess could’ve been led to believe that Josie was going to check on something( a fence, a bore..)meanwhile Josie is burying the body to protect Shannon.
Not sure how many times the body was moved but I have read an article on reasons why a death is covered up and self-preservation is one reason. Also that a body is usually disposed of by a male. I will try to find the link again.

I agree that a body is often moved to cover an intentional death but I don’t feel that’s the case in this instance. If something happened in Shannon’s care I really think it would not be planned and it happened in anger and wasn’t intentional and that she’s traumatised Moo. But I could be way off the mark.

With all due respect, anything is possible but murdering your beautiful 4 year old grandson to stop his mother from moving away for him to start school is ruthless. Why do you think they wouldn’t want Jess to leave? Ronnie will be due to start school in a few years time . Would he have to be killed too? It seems illogical to me JMO

 

[WhisperingEyes]

How many properties does this family have? Are they very wealthy? Is there a possibility that they have the means to secretly send Gus off somewhere like a boarding school or to another family member or family friend who homeschools instead of having him move to Dad's property for schooling?

 

[JLZ]

With all due respect, anything is possible but murdering your beautiful 4 year old grandson to stop his mother from moving away for him to start school is ruthless. Why do you think they wouldn’t want Jess to leave? Ronnie will be due to start school in a few years time . Would he have to be killed too? It seems illogical to me JMO

(Snipped) Yes horrible. My thought was, Jess is viewed as free or cheap labour.

The other child is not an immediate problem, and if Jess could be alienated from Josh, and the child be brought up on the property by the grandparents for a few years, perhaps the future situation would be very different. The grandparent/s might be hoping that by then Jess would agree to them homeschooling the little one.

 

[SouthAussie]

(Snipped) Yes horrible. My thought was, Jess is viewed as free or cheap labour.

My thought is that Jess probably thought "Mum (Shannon) is getting too old for this hard physical labour, I'll go back for a bit and help with the shearing/maintenance/whatever. Mum can watch the boys."

Being raised there, Jess would be acutely aware of the physicality of the work.

imo

 

[Old Soul]

How many properties does this family have? Are they very wealthy? Is there a possibility that they have the means to secretly send Gus off somewhere like a boarding school or to another family member or family friend who homeschools instead of having him move to Dad's property for schooling?

In much of Australia, traditionally farms and stations are often passed down through generations, usually to sons but in this family’s case daughters.
Sometimes families pass on properties to close relatives if there is no one to inherit. The property searched today was possibly owned by a relative of Shannon Murray’s side of the family.

I have no idea about their wealth, they probably have had some boom times but also some really tough years because of drought and low wool prices.

About farm succession:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016724001281

 

[JLZ]

My thought is that Jess probably thought "Mum (Shannon) is getting too old for this hard physical labour, I'll go back for a bit and help with the shearing/maintenance/whatever. Mum can watch the boys."

Being raised there, Jess would be acutely aware of the physicality of the work.

imo

Yes, perhaps everybody saw Jess's presence as temporary or at most periodic assistance. And the grandparents were grateful, and accepted that her life was now grounded somewhere else.

 

[Cagney&Lacey]

Police scour outhouse, water tank in Gus search

This sentence gives me a bad feeling.

"This morning, Task Force Horizon detectives scoured a remote area on a sheep station, and inspected a water tank and an outhouse where fresh cement had recently been laid."

Surely though that is a give away though right?. Laying fresh cement during a police investigation into the disappearance of a family member. Who would be that naieve to bury evidence at this time on your own property which would be obviously investigated?

 

[JLZ]

Police scour outhouse, water tank in Gus search

This sentence gives me a bad feeling.

"This morning, Task Force Horizon detectives scoured a remote area on a sheep station, and inspected a water tank and an outhouse where fresh cement had recently been laid."

Surely though that is a give away though right?. Laying fresh cement during a police investigation into the disappearance of a family member. Who would be that naieve to bury evidence at this time on your own property which would be obviously investigated?

I really wanted to know exactly how "recently".

 

[Old Soul]

Police scour outhouse, water tank in Gus search

This sentence gives me a bad feeling.

"This morning, Task Force Horizon detectives scoured a remote area on a sheep station, and inspected a water tank and an outhouse where fresh cement had recently been laid."

Surely though that is a give away though right?. Laying fresh cement during a police investigation into the disappearance of a family member. Who would be that naieve to bury evidence at this time on your own property which would be obviously investigated?

According to the ABC news article I posted #5022 “No evidence relating to Gus's disappearance was located at either site.”

So it seems the fresh cement might just be an ominous sounding coincidence.
It doesn’t really appear, from these searches, that police have any strong leads to locate Gus at the moment IMO.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

(Snipped) Yes horrible. My thought was, Jess is viewed as free or cheap labour.

The other child is not an immediate problem, and if Jess could be alienated from Josh, and the child be brought up on the property by the grandparents for a few years, perhaps the future situation would be very different. The grandparent/s might be hoping that by then Jess would agree to them homeschooling the little one.

The Murray’s don’t seem short of money, pretty sure they could afford to pay a farmhand or two.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

My thought is that Jess probably thought "Mum (Shannon) is getting too old for this hard physical labour, I'll go back for a bit and help with the shearing/maintenance/whatever. Mum can watch the boys."

Being raised there, Jess would be acutely aware of the physicality of the work.

imo

Maybe she returned because she was going through a break up.
Surely they have people working on their sheep station at times, it’s massive!

 

[_sleuthdog_]

LE look very determined to see this through

 

[JLZ]

The Murray’s don’t seem short of money, pretty sure they could afford to pay a farmhand or two.

Assuming a close-fisted attitude to begin with, I don't know that actual wealth makes a difference to willingness to pay. Besides it has to be complicated. Someone doesn't just murder a child for any reason without their family having had a long painful history with the person. They might not have thought she was a potential murderer. But afterwards, things fall into place. I don't know. I'm making it up. I do hope we find Gus and can rule some things out.

 

[drsleuth]

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/police-eye-area-of-fresh-cement-in-renewed-search-for-gus-lamont/news-story/d279885efa89e51b783b5e97fe3da34b

Tuesday’s search focused on a neighbouring property, about 30km from the family’s homestead.

Detectives searched the sheep station, a water tank and outhouse standing on freshly laid cement, the ABC reports.

Police then went to another neighbouring property, about 24km from Gus’ home.

 

[PolyDot]

Not wanting the people you love most in the world to look at this terrible thing, look at something you did or didn't do, and know it was your fault your grandchild is dead. And never forgive you for it. You'd want them to believe it's something that just could have happened to anyone and forgive you. You might even be able to live with the guilt of lying to them about it if you could live the rest of your life without them finding out the truth and hating you for it. Not being alone for the rest of your life. For one thing. IMO.

Coming back to add some perspective on this: people literally commit murder for less. A lot of 'other women' have been murdered by men having affairs who didn't want their wives/girlfriends to find out. And cheating isn't even a crime (at least in a lot of places where this happens), it's just something that badly damages or destroys a personal relationship, maybe ends in an ugly divorce.

All it takes for a motive is something to gain or something to lose.

Yes, I agree with your point- usually the motive is to gain something or to avoid losing something. When it comes to a child, it’s hard to see what there would be to gain. It’s easier to consider what someone might have to lose — blame, criminal charges, responsibility for the death. I’m not convinced that losing a gun licence alone would be a strong enough motive to cover something up.





In my opinion, if it were truly an accident, most people would admit it. I still question why people kill children. Often it relates to ongoing abuse or neglect — and many so-called “accidents” may fall into that category. There are also cases involving custody disputes or domestic violence (“If I can’t have the child, neither can you”), or severe mental health issues where someone has disordered thinking and believes the child would be better off dead.





In my opinion, the statements from the grandparents and the mother about when GL went missing don’t sound right. Law enforcement says there are inconsistencies they also say parents are not suspects, but if there are inconsistencies in the timeline, it raises questions about whether the full truth is being told by parent/s.

 

[PolyDot]

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/police-eye-area-of-fresh-cement-in-renewed-search-for-gus-lamont/news-story/d279885efa89e51b783b5e97fe3da34b

Tuesday’s search focused on a neighbouring property, about 30km from the family’s homestead.

Detectives searched the sheep station, a water tank and outhouse standing on freshly laid cement, the ABC reports.

Police then went to another neighbouring property, about 24km from Gus’ home.

That is very interesting ? , were they searching or the neighbours have further information ? Mmm hope LE have some leads

 

[Marg944]

Police scour outhouse, water tank in Gus search

SA police have inspected an outhouse where fresh cement has recently been laid and a water tank as part of the latest search for Gus Lamont in South Australia's Mid North, with no evidence so far.

www.abc.net.au