Authorities concluded the latest effort to locate a four-year-old boy, whose disappearance in the rugged outback of South Australia gripped the nation.
The operation to find Gus Lamont covered 95sqkm on foot, expanding beyond areas previously combed by the police and the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Southern Australian Police confirmed on Friday that despite a “detailed, meticulous and protracted” effort, the search yielded no new evidence.
“Police had been hopeful the extensive ground searches would uncover any evidence of Gus, but this has not been the case,” they said.
“The fact Gus is a small child, the terrain is extremely rugged, harsh and subject to changing weather conditions has made the searching difficult and more challenging for those involved.”
Gus went missing on 27 September while playing outside his home on a remote homestead near Yunta in South Australia – about 300 km from Adelaide.
His grandmother had left him unattended for around 30 minutes and found him gone, sparking one of the largest land and air searches in the state’s history.
Gus, known for being adventurous yet shy, was last seen wearing a grey hat, light-grey trousers, boots, and a blue long-sleeve T-shirt with a yellow Minion design.
The boy’s disappearance captured national attention, with images of his blond, curly hair circulating widely in the media and online speculation running high. A number of other fake images of the boy were also spread online, including several claiming to show breakthroughs in the case.
Police had earlier urged the public to refrain from sharing unverified “opinions” and instead rely on credible sources for information.
Police do not suspect foul play and have described the case as a “recovery operation” now. In a statement, SA Police said: “In the initial stages, police had hoped to find Gus alive, but sadly the search has become a recovery operation.”
Earlier this month, police, assisted by sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters, launched one of the largest and most intensive searches of South Australia in recent years to find the blond-haired boy, but were unable to locate him even after six days after his disappearance.
Dozens of Defence Force personnel near Yunta have packed up and left as police pull the pin on their latest search for Gus Lamont. It has been almost three weeks since the little boy vanished seemingly without a trace. https://t.co/QfPaUGjWHI @laurenrose7 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/2kQGVqkhcJ
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) October 17, 2025
Addressing a press conference at the time, assistant police commissioner Ian Parrott said that the search had been scaled back, but that they would continue to investigate all lines of inquiry. “We are confident that we’ve done absolutely everything we can to locate Gus within the search area, but despite our best efforts, we have not been able to locate him, and unfortunately, we are now having to scale back this search for Gus,” he said at the time.
Around 50 personnel worked on the ground to search for the boy near the homestead and surrounding bush, covering a 470sqm area over the past week. Searches on foot covered about 25km every day, police said.
On Tuesday, search teams found a footprint around 500m from the sheep homestead, but no further clues.
Authorities resumed the search on Tuesday, this time joined by around 80 personnel from the Australian Defence Force. Police Commissioner Grant Stevens explained that the expanded search zone was determined by updated evaluations from survivability, medical, and search experts, rather than new leads.
SA premier Peter Malinauskas said his “thoughts are with Gus and his family”.
“We would love to have resolution to this matter, but not any more than the family would themselves,” he said on Friday.
“What I am proud of is the way that South Australian Police have thrown everything at this, along with other agencies that have assisted, particularly the ADF, but others as well.”
Despite everyone’s best efforts to return Gus Lamont’s remains to his family and hopes of an eleventh hour breakthrough… Sadly that’s not been the reality #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/lg364wh8aN
— Lauren Rose (@laurenrose7) October 17, 2025
Speaking about the family of Gus, commissioner Stevens said: “You can imagine just how they are feeling... without having answers as to exactly where Gus is and what’s happened to him. This would be traumatic for any family.”
Nikii Smith, president of the Centre for Missing Persons, described situations like this as “heartbreaking” for the families involved.
“It’s very hard to understand what families are going through,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“From the get-go it’s a rollercoaster of emotions.”
“It’s a heartbreaking feeling because it brings everything up that happened in the early days with our loved ones — it makes it fresh,” she said.
The boy’s family, via a spokesperson, had earlier said they were “devastated” and “deeply distressed” by his disappearance.
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