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

[HoneyBunOne]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

 

[jessicalouise]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

 

[SouthAussie]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

There are no links because it was my speculation. That it was dinner time, or approaching dinner time, and the grandmother may have been making dinner between 5 & 5:30.

I didn't mention any name of the grandmother, that came from somewhere else.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

I think it was Shannon.

 

[SouthAussie]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

Just like how would the SES guy know Gus was definitely not on the property? None of them know. People are voicing their opinions as fact.

imo

 

[essareem]

I kinda just assumed everyone on here was from Australia but probably not, so just a bit of context. Aussie Rules football (AFL) is basically our version of the Superbowl. The Grand Final is one of the biggest days of the year here and Snoop Dogg even performed at it this year. South Australians and Victorians are especially big on their footy, most people stop what they’re doing to watch.

September 27 was the day Gus was reported missing and that also happened to be Grand Final day. The reported timeline for him being last seen, around 5:00 to 5:30pm, lines up almost exactly with when the game would have been finishing in South Australia. That’s normally when everyone’s glued to the TV or talking about the end of the match.

If people were watching the game at the time there’d actually be really clear reference points for remembering the exact moment they last saw him, like what was happening in the match or when the siren went.

I've spent some time living in Victoria, so I'm well aware that it's basically a religion down there, but I'm curious how big it is in South Australia?

I guess, since they don't have an NRL team, they must be into the AFL pretty strongly?

- A QLDer

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

A valid point, no doubt... But it's still strange...

Was it a statement? or a claim?
Did they say it as if it was a fact? or as if it was their own opinion?

 

[packetgravy]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

If this is accurate, imo this would be easilly verified. I would assume the meal would remain mostly untouched based on the given timeline of a three hour search.

ETA: Surely a frantic search would be evident. It certainly was for us when two of our kids decided to hide in the back of a closet late one evening. We tore that house apart within minutes.

 

[jessicalouise]

Just like how would the SES guy know Gus was definitely not on the property? None of them know. People are voicing their opinions as fact.

imo

There's a difference between being asked by the media what you think happened and specifically going to the media to speak out and shut down speculation by declaring something definitively didn't happen.

 

[jessicalouise]

A valid point, no doubt... But it's still strange...

Was it a statement? or a claim?
Did they say it as if it was a fact? or as if it was their own opinion?

She said it as if it were fact. At the 4 min mark.

 

[Warshawski]

Have they dug through the sand pit? It is possible that Gus may have accidentally buried himself if he dug a large hole and the walls collapsed on him??

Even adults have been caught out like this and died…. It wouldn’t take much for a small child to be trapped in this way….

JMO ..

Hi SLouTh. .. another very sad & confusing situation involving a disappeared child.

Imo, although the reference is to a sand pit, I think it’s more like a pile of dirt left over from whatever was going on with the ‘trench’ on L side (as we look at it) and the various bits of surrounding ‘clutter’.

I wonder when the published pic was taken, as there is no evidence of child play / no toys etc - other than perhaps some slightly disturbed soil toward the front,

To me it’s not reminiscent of what I’ve seen of 4 year olds playing in the dirt… he may have gone for water as the ground was hard. Dams were checked apparently - but none of them drained & I wonder how much silt in the bottom.

If going for water Gus would first have to find a bucket or something. I am really wanting another extremely thorough search of all those buildings & surrounding structures. And cadaver dogs used in the search.

Only then imo can we say he’s not there.

 

[Warshawski]

I asked about that too. I thought surely the dogs would follow Gus and try to herd him home but someone said they were likely in a kennel. However, we've seen them in pictures running around freely.

From my experience most ‘stocked’ properties have a number of working dogs, however not all dogs go on ‘all jobs’. Like we humans, their particular skill levels are usually matched to the job at hand,

Those who’ve not had their work-out that day will often be let out for a bit of a run, a socialise, maybe a swim in the dam etc, after the other go back to their cages.

 

[Warshawski]

I kinda just assumed everyone on here was from Australia but probably not, so just a bit of context. Aussie Rules football (AFL) is basically our version of the Superbowl. The Grand Final is one of the biggest days of the year here and Snoop Dogg even performed at it this year. South Australians and Victorians are especially big on their footy, most people stop what they’re doing to watch.

September 27 was the day Gus was reported missing and that also happened to be Grand Final day. The reported timeline for him being last seen, around 5:00 to 5:30pm, lines up almost exactly with when the game would have been finishing in South Australia. That’s normally when everyone’s glued to the TV or talking about the end of the match.

If people were watching the game at the time there’d actually be really clear reference points for remembering the exact moment they last saw him, like what was happening in the match or when the siren went.

Or, he had been left to his own devices while the game was on, then gone to call him in when it finished .
He may have been sent outside to play because too noisy inside & interrupting the game…. . the possibilities are endless.
One can only hope for a breakthrough very soon as the not-knowing must be dreadful

 

[statt#1]

This should open up to google maps and show Oak Park Station.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[ChatteringBirds]

How many kilometers would he have had to walk to reach the dam? No formal statements have been made publicly by any of the four adult relatives, right?

I do wonder what Gus' family think happened, but I guess that's not our business.

 

[Zedx]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

No it is definitely not strange for a family friend to to publicly defend them, this family is in enough pain with loss of a small child and they are being vilified for their family situation and suggestive conspiracy theories are also hurtful. They believe he has wandered off, not taken. This is their opinion, which they are entitled to. they may not be able to bring themselves to believe he was taken, which would be a far worse secnario than him wandering off.
What would be strange is if their friends did not publicly support them.

 

[Curiousobserver]

This should open up to google maps and show Oak Park Station.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

I mean absolutely no disrespect when I ask this but... what the devil do people do who live out there? Nothing is growing, there is little or no water, you are ten of km from the nearest rd!

 

[adot0902]

It is VERY strange to me, how Mom and Dad are still together and Dad seemed to have real issues with the property and people on it, and Mom stayed there with the kids. I absolutely could not imagine staying somewhere without my husband, especially if my husband was uncomfortable with where I was staying. Maybe I'm sheltered but I have never heard of that in my entire life, if they were divorced/broken up sure I get it, but together it's just odd.

 

[Megnut]

Brainstorming --

Air tight feed barrel...

Unquestioned vehicle...

If he wasn't where she left him when she returned, he didn't go missing at 5:30. He was gone by then. He could have left one minute after she did.

Were any vehicles in play at 5 pm... or even in the 4 o'clock hour, since times might not be exact. Children seem drawn to cars.

Is there any way he crawled into a car or trailer, including any vehicle that was then used in a search for him, that could have accidently deposited him in a new lication for where he later got more lost?

Could he have gotten into a vehicle that was driven away and parked elsewhere, that driver then switching to maybe their own personal vehicle, one that just hasn't been in use since, like specialized equipment or an outfitted trailer that is only in use at intervals?

How easy one might innocently juxtaposed two events -- recall one thing as before another when it occurred opposite. Like a delivery truck, remembered as arriving much earlier, or friend or field hand leaving before...

Continuing to pick my own brain for possible explanations with no foul play involved...

JMO

 

[jessicalouise]

No it is definitely not strange for a family friend to to publicly defend them, this family is in enough pain with loss of a small child and they are being vilified for their family situation and suggestive conspiracy theories are also hurtful. They believe he has wandered off, not taken. This is their opinion, which they are entitled to. they may not be able to bring themselves to believe he was taken, which would be a far worse secnario than him wandering off.
What would be strange is if their friends did not publicly support them.

But she didn't defend them. She stated GL hadn't been taken by anyone. And considering they've found zero evidence whatsoever he's wandered off she's actually implicating them.

So between her saying that and police scaling back their search and following other lines of inquiry it can really only point in one direction and that's back to the homestead.