Current 4yo Boy Missing Yunta SA

[Percel]

Agree with this, but if police have given up searching for him on the property, doesn't that imply they are working on an alternative theory or theories? They should be. Because if foul play is a possibility at all, the sooner they rule it in or out, the better for all concerned, especially poor Gus.

Absolutely, they’d have to be running something in parallel, or multiples

 

[DropBearess]

Dropbearess you could be right but I think Gus looks a lot like Grandma. Same features, complexion. Just my observation.

Is there a pic of Grandma?

 

[MP_]

Just looking at things from a different perspective......

A poster suggested earlier that Gus has autism. I don't think there's any valid or verifiable information confirming he's autistic. As far as l know, he isn't, but we don't know.

Another poster suggested he might have Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. This is far more likely to be the case, given some tell-tale signs in his beautiful little face.

I have worked with children and adults in both the above categories over decades. If Gus has one, or even both, predicting his behaviour or setting rationales will be useless, if we're using "normal child" as a control.

Children with challenges can walk far more kms and in a much shorter time than we could ever imagine. We don't know if Gus was toilet-trained. If he was, there should be evidence somewhere. If he wasn't, he would eventually discard his pants, then proceed without them.

He might have walked in any direction and would have had no idea he was in danger until he was. He may have wandered far beyond predictions. He was possibly very resilient, so when hungry might have eaten whatever was available. I wonder how prolific bush tucker is in the area? Purslain and lce Plant are prolific in the sandy soil in my area. I have personally witnessed a very fit autistic gentleman obsessively live on Purslain alone for a week with hardly any water (probably still does!). It's incredibly nutritious and a dietician's dream. I have also witnessed a four year old with FAS gobble huge amounts of Ice Plant because he was so hungry. It's mostly water but very sustainable.

Sadly, I believe time has expired for finding dear little Gus.

Some really valid observations and I guess we just have to wait and see. I used the iNaturalist app just to see what plants/animals have been recorded around there out of interest. Nothing interesting came up, no birds of prey although they would be up there. Given our states lack of rainfall I wouldn’t imagine there is huge amounts of weed vegetation mind you I’m not sure what rainfall they’ve had. That ice plant is very similar to warrigal greens which is native spinach, had a mate who had to use it as toilet paper when out running in the bush , made a mess of his backside haha. There is just so much we don’t know, I’d like to know more about the family dynamics, I believe his father lives in Croydon park in Adelaide but I haven’t seen that verified at all.

 

[Lady O]

Would all have been searched we have to believe the police and ses aren’t that incompetent to not check these things.

Just saw on Facebook a women claiming to have seen Gus with a man in Norwood at a cafe but police won’t take her seriously.

I am not suggesting that the SES/Police are incompetent. Simply that I am personally aware of a case where someone who went missing was eventually found over a year later only 200mtrs from where he was last seen, despite a thorough search! There are other instances of children being found close to where they were last seen (500mtrs). So to suggest that I am calling Police/SES "incompetent" is rather rude.

 

[Lady O]

Does anybody know if those outbuildings around the main house are shearing sheds? Do Gus's family grow for wool?

It's sheep shearing season in SA. I wonder how many seasonal/workers they might have there.

Kids are drawn to those exciting places (which a shearing is), there is also what looks like cattle yards further on.

 

[MP_]

I am not suggesting that the SES/Police are incompetent. Simply that I am personally aware of a case where someone who went missing was eventually found over a year later only 200mtrs from where he was last seen, despite a thorough search! There are other instances of children being found close to where they were last seen (500mtrs). So to suggest that I am calling Police/SES "incompetent" is rather rude.

But it would be incompetence to have not searched there and plenty of people online are saying they need to search sheds and the home which insinuates it hasnt been done already. We have to have hope that this whole search has been thorough by the police and ses and whoever else is involved. I do agree though that things can be missed but again I would hope these sheds etc have been revisited numerous times. I remember watching a murder case where they searched the guys property for a body only to find it two years later buried in the backyard. Even in SA recently a body was found in the backyard of someone who was a suspect over 20 years ago.

 

[Underarrest_]

Is there a pic of Grandma?

Only news videos of her.

 

[DemurePrincess]

Kids are drawn to those exciting places (which a shearing is), there is also what looks like cattle yards further on.

Agreed! But it was only 1/2 an hour between being left on a mound of dirt to the grandmother noticing he wasn’t there.

1/2 is a long time for a child to be left alone but if he hasn’t done this before, what would make him wander off now?

Im sure he’s been around those sheds, dams and cattle yards before so what would be appealing so much to this child to wander off and totally disappear?

 

[MP_]

Agreed! But it was only 1/2 an hour between being left on a mound of dirt to the grandmother noticing he wasn’t there.

1/2 is a long time for a child to be left alone but if he hasn’t done this before, what would make him wander off now?

Im sure he’s been around those sheds, dams and cattle yards before so what would be appealing so much to this child to wander off and totally disappear?

It’s a long time to be left alone but then again look where they live, 43 km from the Town of Yunta, no major road near them. If the kid was normally happy to play by themselves then I do t have a huge issue. However if my kid was a wanderer then no way would I let that much time pass. Still so much we do t know.

 

[Lady O]

Agreed! But it was only 1/2 an hour between being left on a mound of dirt to the grandmother noticing he wasn’t there.

1/2 is a long time for a child to be left alone but if he hasn’t done this before, what would make him wander off now?

Im sure he’s been around those sheds, dams and cattle yards before so what would be appealing so much to this child to wander off and totally disappear?

While it might seem to be "vast"areas to you, the sheds that look like shearing sheds seem to be about 450m (according to google). Now it is 500mtrs from my house to my front gate, and we live on a relatively small property. Takes only 20 mins there and back at a slow walk.

 

[DemurePrincess]

It’s a long time to be left alone but then again look where they live, 43 km from the Town of Yunta, no major road near them. If the kid was normally happy to play by themselves then I do t have a huge issue. However if my kid was a wanderer then no way would I let that much time pass. Still so much we do t know.

It was stated he was adventurous but not a perpetual wanderer so maybe that wasn’t a concern

 

[dc3]

Absolutely, they’d have to be running something in parallel, or multiples

There is a lot of pressure on SAPOL as they don’t exactly have the greatest track record with large profile cases (rightly or wrongly)

They would have been looking at every possibility and would have gathered a lot of data (triangulation of phones, sms , emails , financials ) of anyone close to gus

 

[DemurePrincess]

While it might seem to be "vast"areas to you, the sheds that look like shearing sheds seem to be about 450m (according to google). Now it is 500mtrs from my house to my front gate, and we live on a relatively small property. Takes only 20 mins there and back at a slow walk.

4yo’s aren’t just going to beeline for a shed without stopping and touching things of interest along the way. So what takes you 20 minutes slow walking would take a curious kid a lot longer I would think!

 

[CodyRose]

Here’s a screenshot of the property from google maps, you can see the dams to the south. The only vegetation appears to be saltbush and maybe the odd tree. It’s hard to believe if he wandered off that the search crews couldn’t find anything given it’s not dense coverage of mallee trees.
View attachment 2448899

Dams make me nervous

 

[CodyRose]

There is a lot of pressure on SAPOL as they don’t exactly have the greatest track record with large profile cases (rightly or wrongly)

They would have been looking at every possibility and would have gathered a lot of data (triangulation of phones, sms , emails , financials ) of anyone close to gus

May WA police could help they found Cleo

 

[MP_]

Dams make me nervous

Yeah as a parent who lives in a town on the Murray I was always nervous when we took the kids out. Same with swimming pools, they just make me nervous around kids

 

[Lady O]

4yo’s aren’t just going to beeline for a shed without stopping and touching things of interest along the way. So what takes you 20 minutes slow walking would take a curious kid a lot longer I would think!

Yeah sure. He could see it from the homestead. No reason for him to stop if something interesting was happening.

This isn't a competition, you don't have to keep correcting people, you know. We are all entitled to our own opinion.

 

[DemurePrincess]

Yeah sure. He could see it from the homestead. No reason for him to stop if something interesting was happening.

This isn't a competition, you don't have to keep correcting people, you know. We are all entitled to our own opinion.

What? Calm down. Whose correcting? It was an opinion to yours

 

[Underarrest_]

Would 5 or so usually be about knock off time on a sheep station if shearing?

 

[MP_]

Would 5 or so usually be about knock off time on a station?

Don’t think farmers work by standard 9-5 times. There’s always jobs that need doing or suddenly come up. But I’m assuming you are alluding to other people working on the property too?

 

[Underarrest_]

Don’t think farmers work by standard 9-5 times. There’s always jobs that need doing or suddenly come up. But I’m assuming you are alluding to other people working on the property too?

Yes of course they work all hours but they might start pack up for shearing around this time. Early start would make a long day.
Might be a busy time for Grandma making sure everything’s in order for the day.

 

[Kurve]

Don’t think farmers work by standard 9-5 times. There’s always jobs that need doing or suddenly come up. But I’m assuming you are alluding to other people working on the property too?

I don't know if if they're growing wool but I suspect they are as SA is well known for good wool and sturdy sheep, as I'm told by a Victorian shearer.

From AI which I'm pretty sure is correct.

Here is a breakdown of the typical shearing day in South Australia:

• 7:30 am: First shearing run begins.
• 9:30 am: First 30-minute "smoko" break.
• 10:00 am: Second shearing run begins.
• 12:00 pm (noon): One-hour lunch break.
• 1:00 pm: Third shearing run begins.
• 3:00 pm: Second 30-minute "smoko" break.
• 3:30 pm: Fourth and final shearing run begins.
• 5:00 pm: Working day ends.

 

[MP_]

I don't know if if they're growing wool but I suspect they are as SA is well known for good wool and sturdy sheep, as I'm told by a Victorian shearer.

From AI which I'm pretty sure is correct.

Here is a breakdown of the typical shearing day in South Australia:

• 7:30 am: First shearing run begins.
• 9:30 am: First 30-minute "smoko" break.
• 10:00 am: Second shearing run begins.
• 12:00 pm (noon): One-hour lunch break.
• 1:00 pm: Third shearing run begins.
• 3:00 pm: Second 30-minute "smoko" break.
• 3:30 pm: Fourth and final shearing run begins.
• 5:00 pm: Working day ends.

Yeah they’d have to be doing sheep or cattle, only 200mm of rain annually not good cropping area. The Yunta area is supposedly a know pastoral area for Merino wool.

 

[Sqotty from office works]

4yo’s aren’t just going to beeline for a shed without stopping and touching things of interest along the way. So what takes you 20 minutes slow walking would take a curious kid a lot longer I would think!

We had a little 5yo girl that took off on a very small bike with tiny wheels.
She went non stop to grandfathers 14 kilometres on a hot day.
Every so called "expert" said it she couldn't of got there in that time and must've got a lift.
The girl told us she went faster because she was thirsty.
Changed a bit of my thinking.

 

[Kurve]

Police found a footprint they believe is Gus about 500m from the homestead. Not the one near the dam.