Overview

• Four-year-old August “Gus” Lamont has been missing since 27 September from his grandparents’ remote sheep station near Yunta, South Australia.
• Authorities mounted a large land and air search involving police, SES volunteers and the Australian Defence Force, then scaled efforts back to a recovery operation on 3 October after advising survival was unlikely.
• The only physical lead was a single shoe print about 500 metres from the homestead that matched the pattern of Gus’s boots, though police cautioned it may have been old and no further tracks were found.
• A widely shared image purporting to show Gus being forced into a vehicle was identified as AI-generated, and Meta AI surfaced conflicting summaries, prompting warnings to verify information before sharing.
• South Australia Police have not named any suspects, say current information indicates Gus likely wandered off, and ask the public to follow official channels for confirmed updates.