South Australia Police officers have continued their search for four-year-old Gus Lamont, who went missing in September last year.
Authorities returned to Oak Park Station in Yunta on Wednesday in what they said was a pre-planned probe in the hunt for clues to the boy’s whereabouts.
Police have returned to the remote property to probe the disappearance of Gus Lamont several times. File image. (ABC News: Isabella Carbone)
Police said recent heavy rain in the region could offer new opportunities in the search effort.
“The recent significant weather event with the rain up there is leading to assessing what other new opportunities might exist in relation to searching, but the current searching was planned,” Acting Officer in Charge of Major Crime Andrew Macrae said.
Gus’s disappearance was declared a major crime on February 5. (Supplied: SA Police)
Record rainfall totals were recently recorded in parts of South Australia, including near the station at Yunta.
Inspector Macrae said he could not comment on what investigators hoped to find because it was part of “an ongoing investigation”.Â
Police have previously conducted several on-ground searches for Gus, involving hundreds of personnel across multiple agencies including the State Emergency Service and Australian Defence Force.
Authorities have also explored several points of interest including a water tank, out house and mine shafts, and said they would return to the station “frequently” as they continued their investigation.
Police say they will continue searching for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont. (ABC News: Rachael Merritt)
Police have previously said two of Gus’s family members were not cooperating with investigators, and have indicated they had a suspect who was living at the property at the time of Gus’s disappearance.
They have repeatedly said Gus’s parents were not suspects.
A cadaver dog searches a property at Grampus around 24 kilometres from Oak Park Station. File image. (ABC News: Rachael Merritt)
Gus’s grandparents, Josie and Shannon Murray, issued a statement saying the family had “cooperated fully with the investigation”.
Police established Task Force Horizon in October to probe the four-year-old boy’s disappearance, which was initially investigated as if he had wandered off.
His disappearance was declared a major crime on February 5.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens previously told ABC Radio the investigation into Gus’s disappearance remained a “top priority”, with police “looking at any opportunity” to bring closure to his parents.
He said police had “all but ruled out Gus having wandered off”.
No formal charges have been laid.