Gus Lamont update: Police return to Oak Park home to search for evidence in four-year-old’s suspected murder
Detectives investigating the suspicious murder of four-year-old Gus Lamont have returned to the remote country estate where he was last seen, just 11 days after police declared his dramatic disappearance a major crime and identified a suspect he knew.
Members of Task Force Horizon returned to Oak Park Station on Monday morning and continued searching for evidence across a large, isolated landscape in South Australia.
“Members of Task Force Horizon investigating the disappearance of four-year-old Gus Lamont on 27 September 2025 have returned to Oak Park Station to continue searching for evidence,” South Australian Police said in a statement on Monday.
“Task Force Horizon detectives are expected to remain in the area for at least the next two days.
“Updates will be provided as search activities progress.”
The renewed search came after police announced on February 5 that they believed Gus was not on the loose and had not been abducted, but that someone he knew may have been involved in his disappearance and suspicious death.
No one was charged. Gus was not found.
But his return to the property where he disappeared marks a significant escalation in what has become one of South Australia’s most controversial missing child investigations.
declaration of major crime
On 5 February, Detective Inspector Darren Fielke, officer-in-charge of the Major Crime Investigation Branch, declared Gus’s disappearance a major crime, saying the search was the largest and most intensive search ever carried out by SA Police in connection with a missing person.
Det-Supt Fielke said at the time: “Every officer and civilian involved was focused on the search and had a single focus: finding Gus and returning him to his family.”
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we have yet to locate Gus.”
Gus disappeared from Oak Park Station on September 27, 2025.
Police have since used extraordinary resources to find him.
The search involved 163 SAPOL members and 230 non-police personnel, including SES teams, the Australian Defense Force, an Indigenous scout and community volunteers. Officers were stationed at Oak Park Station over 20 days and conducted eight separate ground searches extending from the farmhouse to a 5.47-kilometer radius, a 95-square-kilometer area.
Three dams were searched twice, including by being evacuated. Six mine shafts within a 10 km radius were searched.
Aerial searches were even more extensive.
Polair used infrared FLIR technology up to a distance of 12 km from the farmhouse. The drones captured images within a 2.5km radius of the house, the area around the dam for 2km and along known travel routes of 8km and 6km.
A special aircraft carried out two imaging passes, first to 10 kilometers and then to 15 kilometers, covering a total area of 706 square kilometers. These images were processed using special artificial intelligence software and examined by researchers.
On February 2, officers again searched various locations around Oak Park Station to find Gus’ remains.
“Despite these extraordinary efforts, the entire mass search found no evidence, physical or otherwise, that would suggest Gus had disappeared,” said Det. Support. said Fielke.
Police also ruled out kidnapping.
One branch of Task Force Horizon focused on the possibility that Gus had been abducted from the property by an unknown person. The other investigated whether someone he knew was involved in his disappearance and suspicious death.
Police said investigators found no evidence that Gus was abducted, and Task Force Horizon is currently focusing the investigation on individuals known to be involved in Gus’s possible disappearance and suspicious death.
