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

[Marg944]

One of the screen shots I took from the 7news video that I posted earlier on here, shows a rather old, crumbling brick structure. Seeing as the property has been handed down through 5 generations, I assume there would be old buildings on the property. IMO

 

[su5ie]

There would be heaps of these variables on the property. Maybe ruins from old buildings too on other parts of the property.
Shearing sheds are often built as raised structures, to “shed” sheep in underneath the working level of the floor (usually built with strong mesh or wooden slats) in case of rain during shearing time.

I’d imagine the structures were searched reasonably thoroughly in the first few days but it doesn’t mean little hidey holes can’t be missed.

Also for all of the armchair trackers in this thread, here are some photos of tracks for you to look at that I went outside and took just now. This is my driveway.

I haven’t stepped on this section at all this morning.
View attachment 618274

Can’t remember the last time I waked on this section, my kids were likely riding their bikes and running around here yesterday, or at least once in the last week.
View attachment 618275

This is the area I just walked across to take these photos. Can anyone tell which direction I just came from? I’m approx 80kg heavy, wearing sneakers.
View attachment 618276

Here is my guess , your shadow would have one believe you walked towards the patch of dirt and stopped to take a photo but I think you turned around to take the photo I can see some light footprints with toe pointing towards your direction and also one sideways to your shadows left

 

[HoneyBunOne]

There is a small part of me that wonders when the last confirmed sighting of Gus by anyone other than his family was. Would a four-year-old typically be in school in Australia?

I'm sure the police have all that information, though

Our school year starts in late January/ early February, and kids generally start when they're 5-6. In cities and country towns, kids often go to kindergarten for 1-2 years, as a 3 or 4 year old before starting real school. So, no, a 4 year old would not be in school. Even if he was, he is likely too remote to go to a regular day school. Remote kids will generally either go to a boarding school or learn via "school of the air". I'm sure the last option has changed over time and with improvements in technology, but it used to be that kids would dial in to a radio, where they can interact with a teacher and other students, doing work that way.

 

[packetgravy]

Much as the search has been thorough, I still wonder about the structures. Any trapdoors to spots under the buildings, that may have accidentally shut after going down?
Any silos or food structures? I guess there is no grain storage but maybe there is.
Is there a way for a 4 year old to climb the roof? I think of Harley Dilly and another boy Joshua Maddox, who wasn't found for SEVEN years in a chimney.

Any buildings on stilts, piles? The school I went to in Toowoomba way back in the day, was built on stilts, at least the pilings were open and accessible. We used to hide under there to skip chapel, spooky hiding spots, piles of dirt etc.
I so wish little Gus would be found.

That’s absolutely correct. Even when a dwelling and surrounding structures have been swept meticulously, a small child can go unnoticed within the perimeter of their own home/property.

The risk of (presumed) death increases exponentially if a child has failed to be located within the first 48 hours following disappearance.

(Of course this depends on the country/region and circumstances around the disappearance.)

For a small child like Gus - within the timeframe provided by his grandmother, IMO the likelihood of him travelling further than a couple km is minimal.

His grandmother stated he was not checked during a thirty minute window between 17:00-17:30. Gus is a busy farm kid, at this point in the evening I expect he’s had some rigorous and unstructured play throughout the duration of the day. His family have said it would be out of character for him to wonder away from the property, this does not exclude the exploration of the dwelling and surrounding buildings.

A lot can happen within a thirty minute window, suffocation can happen within 2 minutes, drowning can happen within one minute and loss of consciousness due to head injury can take seconds.

If the grandmothers story tracks, then IMO the child IS still on the premises and likely stuck/hidden in an inconspicuous area. I would be to getting down to the child’s level and searching the surrounding area AGAIN from his lens.

MOO

 

[BreakingNews]

I think the police expect people to contact them if they have some brilliant idea or information.

I suspect that the police are not reading social media comments - it is Gus' loved ones and the family's close friends and community who are finding that accusatory online speculation is adding to their pain.

imo

Just because police have stopped the search, doesn't mean they have given up. Major Crime returned to the property last night.

And regards to speculation, it appears to be coming from the local town. It's on many a site. None of which are WS approved. So we can't be blamed.

So sad for everyone involved.

 

[jypsijemini]

If the grandmothers story tracks, then IMO the child IS still on the premises and likely stuck/hidden in an inconspicuous area. I would be to getting down to the child’s level and searching the surrounding area AGAIN from his lens.

Possible, but there were K9s out there - likely tracker and cadaver dogs. I know even the best trained dogs aren't flawless, but assuming they were given fresh/recent scent from Gus' belongings in the home, I'd think that they'd have a good chance of locating him on the premises if he was *that* close-by.

MOO

 

[Ellery84]

You raise some good points. I'm thinking that in the terrain Gus should have been found before now. I'm interested in how well the pile of sand was searched. And now I am wondering about criminal intervention. Hope we don't have another William Tyrrell on our hands. MOO

That's why Major Crimes are on the scene. The procedures for missing children are a lot more robust in 2025 than they were in NSW in 2014. Imo

 

[BreakingNews]

One of the screen shots I took from the 7news video that I posted earlier on here, shows a rather old, crumbling brick structure. Seeing as the property has been handed down through 5 generations, I assume there would be old buildings on the property. IMO


View attachment 618277

I would hope that LE would have covered all of these buildings and hiding places. Think like a 4 yo. When it got dark poor little Gus would have been terrified
Unless he was sadly already gone.

 

[BreakingNews]

That's why Major Crimes are on the scene. The procedures for missing children are a lot more robust in 2025 than they were in NSW in 2014. Imo

However the robust procedures after 8 days still haven't found Gus. He's a missing person, so hope Major Crimes come up with answers asap. What are your theories?

 

[BreakingNews]

Possible, but there were K9s out there - likely tracker and cadaver dogs. I know even the best trained dogs aren't flawless, but assuming they were given fresh/recent scent from Gus' belongings in the home, I'd think that they'd have a good chance of locating him on the premises if he was *that* close-by.

MOO

So if he is not on or near the premises, where do you think he might be? Given there are no footprints or thermal imaging of him? I agree dogs are great, but not 100%. It's nearly like Gus just grew wings. Which brings me to birds. But it not lambing season, so the birds wouldn't be hanging around. Poor sweet little boy.

 

[ScottToorak]

Please confirm as I am very confused
1. Does little Gus have a mum & dad and any brothers & sisters?
2. Have mum & dad been at the property prior to or post his disappearance?
3. Did Gus live at the property full time?

 

[Ellery84]

However the robust procedures after 8 days still haven't found Gus. He's a missing person, so hope Major Crimes come up with answers asap. What are your theories?

No, you're right, Gus has not yet been found, but it took longer than 8 days to find little Cleo in WA so if still have some hope. Will he be found alive? I am not sure.

My random thoughts are as follows:

*Taken by a dingo, or ...

*Murdered by someone known to him and the missing boy story is a bogus cover-up, or perhaps ...

*Abducted by a visiting family member who was estranged from him and wanted him back?

Abducted by a opportunistic paedophile who just happened to be at the property for some other reason?

I wonder: Were there any workers on the property and if so, did they have police checks or "working with children" cards? If it's a Station, they usually take a few people to run.

Do I think Gus wandered off? No, as I think the area has been searched and he has not been found.

I wish there was more information made public about this case but also I respect the need of the police to do their job unhindered by the media and the public.

Imo

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It's tragic to think that little Gus may be hiding in plain sight, and has possibly been missed.

 

[musicaljoke]

I think the police expect people to contact them if they have some brilliant idea or information.

I suspect that the police are not reading social media comments - it is Gus' loved ones and the family's close friends and community who are finding that accusatory online speculation is adding to their pain.

imo

I'm not sure about the "brilliant ideas", but certainly contact police with information.

Police have operations manuals that they follow which use tested protocol for situations like this one. Search and Rescue workers may be volunteers, but they are trained professionals.

So when people tie up the police lines with calls that ask if they've searched the outbuildings, then that brilliant idea actually is frustrating to the police and harming the investigation by draining police time and energy. Some people think that their brilliant idea is something no one has ever thought of before, when in reality, police don't write a new playbook every time they do a search.

 

[arrogantcat]

Why would police say keyboard detectives are not helping find Gus?
If police are reading comments from the public, would it not be helpful to find Gus if they read something that they had not even thought about doing themselves, or overlooked something important.

South Australian Police issued a statement saying: We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area. Police statement regarding Yunta search

The odds of a member of the public, without expertise in S&R and outback conditions, with almost no background of the case (scant details only released via the media) having anything useful or helpful to contribute is vanishingly small.

Idk if you’ve read much of the speculation on social media but it tends to just be things like “check for trapdoors” or “check up on all the neighbours” or “look in the outbuildings again”. Not exactly groundbreaking insights lol.

Which is fine for online discussion but not remotely useful to law enforcement who will have considered that stuff in the first 5 minutes. Reading through it would waste valuable police time, and when frames as a criticism it risks undermining their very real and expert work. JMO.

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

So if he is not on or near the premises, where do you think he might be? Given there are no footprints or thermal imaging of him? I agree dogs are great, but not 100%. It's nearly like Gus just grew wings. Which brings me to birds. But it not lambing season, so the birds wouldn't be hanging around. Poor sweet little boy.

could he have been transported by vehicle somehow? that seems like the only logical solution to why he isn't nearby.

 

[PolyDot]

If Gus wandered off on his own, he’s likely not far from home —farms can be dangerous for a young child, with hazards like machinery, dams, and sheds. At just four years old, he might have been waiting for someone to arrive around 5 p.m. — his mum, dad, or grandad — and could have run off to meet them or hidden nearby to play a game. However, if others were involved in his disappearance, he could be much farther from home.

 

[Megnut]

Outside the box, and too obvious not to have been investigated but things do get missed -- how were mail and packages delivered to the property. 5 pm... were they in a regular scheduled route?

Accident. Stowaway. Even an undiscovered stowaway who found himself lost in a completely new area where no one would know to look?

It comes down to the obvious. Either he's still in the area, unfound, or he left the area. This might be one way how.

JMO

 

[Rocket333]

If there’s no trace of Gus - no footprints, no heat, no scent, no clothing and no signs of foul play - he’s most probably underground, or underneath something and close to home. Maybe it’s a spot that’s simply been missed, something you can’t see with the eye or with the methods they’ve used so far. I now don’t think it’s anything more than a terribly tragic accident. It’s just heartbreaking, and I really feel for his poor family.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I did think of a terrible septic tank accident but I am sure the Police would have checked anything like that out.