Police in South Australia say a suspect has been identified in the investigation into the disappearance of a four-year-old boy in the remote outback.
Gus Lamont was last seen on 27 September while playing outside his home on an isolated sheep station near Yunta, about 300km from Adelaide. His grandmother had left him unattended for roughly 30 minutes. When she returned, he was gone, triggering one of the largest combined land and air searches ever carried out in the state.
Authorities confirmed that a person living on the property is now considered a suspect. They emphasized that the child’s parents are not under investigation.
In the immediate aftermath of the disappearance, police searched approximately 470 square kilometres around the Oak Park Station homestead — an area nearly twice the size of Edinburgh. By late October, large-scale search operations were scaled back, and a dedicated taskforce of 12 investigators was formed to focus on the case.
The taskforce reviewed earlier statements from family members and identified what police described as several inconsistencies in the timeline of events. Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said that, following further inquiries, one resident of the property has stopped cooperating with investigators.
In January, officers carried out another search at the station, seizing a vehicle, a motorcycle and electronic devices for forensic examination.
From the outset, detectives explored three main possibilities: that Gus wandered off, that he was abducted, or that someone known to him was involved in his disappearance and suspected death. Due to the extreme isolation of the property, police have ruled out abduction, and they say there is no evidence the child simply walked away.
Investigators say the inquiry remains active and thorough, with all avenues still being examined as they work toward determining what happened and providing answers to the family.
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