‘Someone knows what happened to Gus’: Four-year-old’s parents make desperate plea

On his family’s sheep station in South Australia’s remote Mid North region, August Lamont was growing into a sweet and curious boy. The four-year-old, also known as Gus, loved music, stories and playing in nature.

At Oak Park, about 350 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, Gus was growing up in the same rugged environment his mother, Jessica Lamont, cherished as a child. As he explored the world around him, Gus’ parents envisioned a bright future for their oldest son. Instead, they have spent almost a year desperately searching for answers as they reconcile a life without Gus, who vanished from his family’s sprawling station on September 27 last year.

“During the time that Gus has been missing, he should have celebrated his fifth birthday, and his little brother’s first birthday with us,” Jessica Lamont said in a pre-recorded statement played by SA Police on Wednesday. “One of the most heartbreaking things is that Gus and his little brother will not grow up together and spend their lives together. Gus was adored by his little brother.”

“We miss Gus more than we can describe,” his father Joshua Lamont said. “We are desperate to have him return home to us, and we are desperate for answers. We believe that someone knows something. Someone knows what happened to Gus and may even know where he is.”

After an unprecedented search to find the four-year-old, in which search parties scoured hundreds of square kilometres, the South Australian government on Wednesday offered a $1 million reward for information in a desperate bid to solve a mystery that has garnered national attention.

Detectives are working under Task Force Horizon, the large-scale operation launched to find Gus. According to Gus’ family, the boy was last seen playing in the dirt near the Oak Park homestead.

Initially, investigators were told Gus’ family believed he had wandered off and was feared to be lost somewhere on the property. In the months since, detectives have ruled out the theory, alongside the possibility that Gus was abducted from Oak Park, which is 45 kilometres from the nearest main road.

“The focus of Task Force Horizon remains on the third scenario, and that is that someone known to Gus has been involved in his disappearance,” Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke, the officer in charge of SA Police’s Major Crime Investigation Branch, said on Wednesday.

Police in February declared Gus’ disappearance a major crime. One of Gus’ grandparents remains a suspect, Fielke said. Josie Murray has publicly identified herself as the suspect during several media interviews. No charges have been laid over Gus’ disappearance, and his parents are not suspects.

In a statement issued through her lawyer in February, Murray said she was devastated that the disappearance had been declared a major crime and that she had co-operated fully with the police investigation. Fielke at the time said that Murray had withdrawn her support and was no longer assisting investigators.

On the eve of Wednesday’s announcement, Murray told the Seven Network that she believed an eagle may have snatched Gus – a theory detectives have explored and consider unlikely.