South Australia Police have resumed searching for four-year-old Gus Lamont, who disappeared from Oak Park Station in Yunta in September last year. Officers returned to the property on Wednesday for a pre-planned probe, hoping recent heavy rainfall might uncover new clues.
Acting Officer in Charge of Major Crime Andrew Macrae said the rain could offer new opportunities. “The recent significant weather event with the rain up there is leading to assessing what other new opportunities might exist in relation to searching, but the current searching was planned,” he said. Record rainfall totals were recently recorded near Yunta.
Police have conducted several ground searches involving hundreds of personnel from multiple agencies, including the State Emergency Service and Australian Defence Force. They have also examined a water tank, outhouse, and mine shafts, and plan to return to the station frequently.
Two of Gus’s family members have not been cooperating with investigators, police said, and a suspect living at the property at the time of Gus’s disappearance has been identified. Gus’s grandparents, Josie and Shannon Murray, issued a statement saying the family had “cooperated fully with the investigation.”
Task Force Horizon was established in October to probe the disappearance, initially treated as Gus wandering off. Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the case remains a top priority and that police have “all but ruled out Gus having wandered off.”
