A police insider reveals detectives know exactly what happened to Gus Lamont – but fear they’ll never prove it as his family fractures

A police insider has revealed investigators’ theory into the outback disappearance of four-year-old boy Gus Lamont.

The boy vanished from his grandparents’ isolated South Australian sheep station on September 27 last year. He was allegedly last seen at about 5pm playing in the front yard of the homestead.  

The source, who the Daily Mail cannot name due to their closeness to the investigation, confirmed that the police theory corresponds with what Gus’s grandmother Josie Murray related to a current affairs program earlier this year.

Josie told 7News Spotlight in June that officers believed she buried her grandson after he died accidentally.

She described the allegation as ‘ludicrous’ and maintained her total innocence. The Daily Mail does not suggest otherwise.

The insider told the Daily Mail that the theory of an accidental death followed by a burial is indeed what police continue to believe. However, they say they cannot prove it. 

Investigators believe Gus’s body is out there somewhere, hidden in the vast plains of the state’s barren pastoral district near Yunta, 300km north of Adelaide.

The source said: ‘Police reckon they know exactly what happened to him. They just can’t prove it and they probably never will. The land out there is just too big.’

Publicly, SAPOL said they are investigating three possibilities – that the child was accidentally killed, murdered, or abducted.

They suspect a relative was involved, but have declared Gus’s parents Jessica Murray and Joshua Lamont are not people of interest.

Grandparents Josie and Shannon Murray have allegedly stopped cooperating with the investigation, and have since separately retained high-powered Adelaide lawyers.

The Daily Mail does not suggest either were involved in their grandson’s disappearance – however, Josie confirmed she was a suspect in a television interview.

She has firmly denied any wrongdoing. 

The police insider added that ‘everyone’ at SAPOL thinks they know what happened to Gus, alleging that ‘the family [and] the people of Yunta’ also believe they have the mystery worked out.

‘They think it was an accident that has been covered up,’ they said, echoing what Josie Murray herself told 7News about the police suspicions against her.

‘They’ve said that they don’t think I hurt him; they think that I buried him,’ Josie volunteered in June.

‘That’s one of the theories they’re working on and, as I say, for so many reasons, it’s ludicrous. It just doesn’t make sense.

‘Why would you do that to yourself when… if he’d had an accident you’d just go, “Well, as much as we hate it and everything, he’s had an accident, we’ve got to deal with it.”‘

It’s understood Gus’s parents share the police’s theory, and are hoping that by appealing to the public, evidence may emerge that proves it.

In September, the fiercely private former couple released a video through SAPOL pleading for help.

‘The disappearance of our son Gus has been the most devastating and inexplicable event we have ever experienced,’ Ms Murray – who is believed to have fled Oak Park Station in January with her younger son Ronnie – said. 

‘We love him more than words can convey and every single day without him has been incredibly difficult. 

‘Our heartache only grows as time passes and an entire year without any answers is upon us.’

A visibly emotional Mr Lamont added, ‘We are desperate to have him returned home to us, and we are desperate for answers.

‘We believe someone knows something. Someone knows what happened to Gus and may even know where he is.

‘Even if you are feeling scared or unsure, if you know anything at all we are imploring you to help us. Even the smallest detail could be helpful.

‘Please come forward and co-operate with police.’

The Daily Mail does not suggest investigators’ working theory is correct, only that it remains a line of inquiry being pursued by police and one that Josie Murray has publicly acknowledged was put to her by detectives.

On the same day as the parents’ appeal, SAPOL announced a $1million reward for information ‘leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible and/or the recovery of his remains’.

On Monday, it was revealed that Crime Stoppers has received 163 calls, 24 emails and three letters in relation to Gus’s disappearance.  

The disappearance of Gus Lamont more than a year ago has become one of Australia’s more harrowing enduring mysteries.

It was said his grandmother Shannon was the last person to see him alive on September 27 – AFL grand final day – playing in the dirt outside the homestead that has been in her family for generations.

Josie told police she was 10km away with her daughter at the time, tending to sheep.

On their return, they launched a frantic search for the boy as night fell, before reconvening in their kitchen and deciding it was time to call emergency services.

In the weeks that followed, police, PolAir, the army, the State Emergency Service (SES), an Aboriginal tracker and volunteer searchers converged on the property, but no trace of the boy was found. 

It was the largest search operation in South Australian history, covering a land mass by foot and air roughly the size of Adelaide, helmed by Task Force Horizon investigators. 

A dam was drained and abandoned mineshafts and nearby properties were scoured, while planes equipped with LiDar technology patrolled the skies. 

Many, including Josie, have suggested that Gus was taken by an eagle – a theory which has been repeatedly hosed down by bird experts.

‘The eagle aspect should be looked at. It’s highly unlikely but not impossible,’ Josie told 7News in September.

She said ‘the family’ was planning to search eagle nests on her property. 

Others – also including Josie – feel he may have been abducted, which is also unlikely given Oak Park Station’s remote location, 45km down a series of dirt, rutted roads south of the Barrier Highway at Yunta.  

‘It brings me to tears that he is not here,’  Josie said.

‘As far as I’m concerned, I still want to know the answer of what happened.

‘I think he has to have been taken – nothing else makes sense,’ she said.  

Gus’s disappearance appeared to destroy the once close-knit Murray family.

Neighbours told the Daily Mail earlier this year that in January his distraught mother, who had split from Mr Lamont before their son vanished, packed up and left the station where she was raised and would one day inherit.

She moved to the family’s home in Adelaide around the same time police seized a vehicle, a motorbike and electronics for forensic testing.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, police arrested Josie for possessing a gun silencer.

She pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court in June, copping a $10,000 fine despite the prosecution pushing for jail time.

As she left the court, she appeared to bump 7News reporter Hannah Foord amid a media scrum, sending an ABC journalist sprawling to the pavement.

But within hours, Josie suddenly agreed to an interview with Ms Foord that would later broadcast nationally on Spotlight, and at the weekend won two South Australian Press Club Awards.

Anyone with information on Gus’s disappearance is urged to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.