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

[AmoryK]

True

It would be a ballsy move to place little Gus somewhere on the property temporarily before the police report was made knowing that a team of investigators would be on the scene searching for hours. Unless of course it was a location that aligned with the story of "wandering off". i.e. mine shaft close by. In my opinion it comes down to that window of opportunity that I summise was between Jess leaving in the morning and returning that afternoon. Possibly a 12 hour window. Plenty of time to move the little guy somewhere off the property. Still the potential to relocate at a later date. I don't believe anything nefarious happened to Gus the night before as Jess would have been home and potentially would have checked on him that night. Bub is obviously not breast fed as the time she is away would negate this but I would assume she would still check on both children before leaving in the morning. Possibly not if she didn't want to wake them but I hold firm in the belief that whatever happened took place on the day of his disappearance.

A while ago, I postulated that the delay in calling the police was to enable a person to use the motorbike to remove the body a short distance offsite (ie a few miles/km). It could then be properly concealed later at a different and further location.

I too don’t believe anything happened the previous night and I assume it happened during the day in question.

Finding the body would be a big step (as well as a relief for his parents). My concern is that the longer it stays undiscovered, the more evidence disappears, eg any evidence of injury. I also keep thinking of that poor French child, Emile, who disappeared but then whose body suddenly appeared around a year later.

 

[Morequestionsthananswers]

5 Feb, on the timeline as withdrawing their support.

Sorry I’m a little confused.
When was Shannon declared a suspect?

 

[Cagney&Lacey]

Sorry I’m a little confused.
When was Shannon declared a suspect?

5th of Feb according to this link

Gus disappearance declared major crime, suspect identified

South Australian police have declared the disappearance of Gus Lamont a major crime and say a person who has lived at his outback property is now considered a suspect, but have stressed that the boy's parents are not under investigation.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Marg944]

Sorry I’m a little confused.
When was Shannon declared a suspect?

That’s ok.

5th Feb the suspect withdrew their support for the Police and were declared a suspect.

 

[_sleuthdog_]

Yes, the presser announcing it a major crime and a suspect was on Thursday Feb 5.

 

[jepop]

Sorry I’m a little confused.
When was Shannon declared a suspect?

Police have not declared ( ie named) the suspect. Moo there are likely, protocol, legal and operational reasons for that. There's been no official declaration or naming.

From transcript of Feb 5 presser (thank you @linge).

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

Feb 8, 2026

So because the SAPOL presser contained so much information but also isn't really convenient to reference, I made a transcript. It's as verbatim as I could get it, down to the ums and uhs, although the device I was listening to it on didn't have the best audio. Anything that I wasn't certain on got marked with a [ph], [inaudible], or [indecipherable]. The people asking questions off microphone get the murkiest at a few points. If anyone wants to take a crack at filling in the blanks (looking at you Australians particularly), I'd be happy to edit it to include whatever you were able to make out.

I've also...

• linge

• 
• 
• 

Supt Fielke answered a question re the suspect:

"The person who has withdrawn their cooperation, uh, is now considered a suspect in the disappearance of Gus. I do want to stress, however, that Gus's parents are not suspects in his disappearance. You'd appreciate at this time I cannot make any further comment about the suspect, given that this is now a criminal investigation and a declared major crime. What I can say, however, is that we'll continue to thoroughly and meticulously investigate the disappearance of Gus until we get an outcome. We are all focused and determined to locate Gus and return him to his parents. Nothing is off the table as we work towards that outcome."

ETA the suspect has to have " withdrawn their cooperation" from police sometime prior to Feb 5th.

Trying to read between the lines of the q&a section of the transcript, I think that would have been sometime after Jan 15th, but hard to tell really. Anyways moo it seems to have coincided with police follow up with family members on the discrepancies/ inconsistencies in statements that were uncovered after a review (which is implied to have taken place in Dec and/or Jan?).

Though Fielke also says (or suggests) during the q&a that additional inconsistencies were identified as late as Jan 15th connected to the ongoing search and expanding field of the investigation. He's trying to explain the fluidity and dynamic quality of the investigation Imo.

 

[jepop]

Thankyou, it’s so good to see the dates listed in order…..
What date was it announced Josie was not cooperating ?

Neither grandparent has ever been formally named. So it's all just speculation as to which may be the suspect Imo. Up thread there's a post containing Commissioner Steven's short press conference from I think Feb 17th or 18th. Worth a listen. From that, it's really not clear ( at least to me) that a second grand parent actually did withdraw cooperation with police after the unrelated gun charges a day earlier. Jmo

 

[Raina_the_observer]

In my opinion it comes down to that window of opportunity that I summise was between Jess leaving in the morning and returning that afternoon. Possibly a 12 hour window. Plenty of time to move the little guy somewhere off the property. Still the potential to relocate at a later date. I don't believe anything nefarious happened to Gus the night before as Jess would have been home and potentially would have checked on him that night. Bub is obviously not breast fed as the time she is away would negate this but I would assume she would still check on both children before leaving in the morning. Possibly not if she didn't want to wake them but I hold firm in the belief that whatever happened took place on the day of his disappearance.

I have still not seen anything to suggest that the workers did not return to the homestead for lunch. So that beings the window down to around 4 -5 hours . Maybe back in the day before bikes, quads and SxS they may have packed a lunch but today I think it would be suspicious if they did not just drive in for lunch.

Furthermore to my previous post 6 months old bubs would still generally require a feed during the night so

I believe the younger child was reported as 12 months old.

 

[FromGermany1]

The fact, that JM was/is a builder, also opens up new possibilities as to how a body could perhaps have been hidden until today. MOO

 

[sunspun]

I've never heard of anyone having the nickname Snow before. Is that perhaps a common or at least heard-of nickname there? The only time I've ever heard "Snow" being used as a "nickname" (of sorts) is as a slang term for cocaine. Unrelated here?

 

[_sleuthdog_]

Could be: Fair complexion. White as snow.

 

[FromGermany1]

I've never heard of anyone having the nickname Snow before. Is that perhaps a common or at least heard-of nickname there? The only time I've ever heard "Snow" being used as a "nickname" (of sorts) is as a slang term for cocaine. Unrelated here?

I thought of his/her color of hair, but he wasn't already "snow-colored" on the pic of the event. So it seems, the hair color wasn't meant with the nickname. MOO

 

[sunspun]

Fair complexion. White as snow.

I see, thanks. Never heard of that as a nickname.

 

[_sleuthdog_]

With Australian humour though, a nickname Snow or Snowy could just as easily be for someone with really dark appearance

 

[Ruminations]

Thankyou, it’s so good to see the dates listed in order…..
What date was it announced Josie was not cooperating ?

She could have been the first non-cooperative person. We don't know.


I think it is most likely the gun accessory was found on one of the initial searches. An arrest could have been made at any time after a quick investigation if indeed it went quick. (Such as only one person admitted it belonged to them, other(s) also said it belonged to them or didn't contradict, the location it was found in was consistent, etc.)

I think it is most likely that LE thought it was necessary to charge eventually, but that it was simply mean to do so while Gus had just disappeared. And additionally, it was impractical to do so for fear of jeopardizing a relationship with a private person who might be debating if/how to give helpful information about the search.

The charge was probably announced when the acute shock of Gus being missing was over-not to say a day without him would ever feel back to normal- before the possible blow of a recovery of Gus, and after the relationship between Josie and LE was at a point where the gun charge would not worsen it.

MOO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I've never heard of anyone having the nickname Snow before. Is that perhaps a common or at least heard-of nickname there? The only time I've ever heard "Snow" being used as a "nickname" (of sorts) is as a slang term for cocaine. Unrelated here?

I've heard of a few Australian Snowy's over the years.
All very fair haired people..

Snowy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[jepop]

I've heard of a few Australian Snowy's over the years.
All very fair haired people..

Snowy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Dbm- doubling up.

 

[seasideForest]

I've never heard of anyone having the nickname Snow before. Is that perhaps a common or at least heard-of nickname there? The only time I've ever heard "Snow" being used as a "nickname" (of sorts) is as a slang term for cocaine. Unrelated here?

Who has this nickname? I missed that.

 

[AmoryK]

Who has this nickname? I missed that.

Josie in younger years.