{"id":461473,"date":"2026-02-06T04:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461473\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T04:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:03:14","slug":"gus-lamont-update-josie-murray-shannon-murray-issue-new-joint-statement-on-missing-four-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461473\/","title":{"rendered":"Gus Lamont update: Josie Murray, Shannon Murray issue new joint statement on missing four-year-old"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grandparents of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont have issued a joint statement through their legal representatives, attempting to rebuke a key allegation made by police.<\/p>\n

Josie Murray and Shannon Murray, who lived on the Oak Park Station in Yunta, South Australia, on Thursday, engaged legal representatives after SA Police declared the child\u2019s disappearance a major crime.<\/p>\n

In a bombshell press conference, police revealed a member of Gus\u2019 family who lived at the property, and who was not a parent, was no longer cooperating with officers and was now considered a suspect.<\/p>\n

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On Friday afternoon, the Murrays issued a joint statement through their respective legal teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are absolutely devastated by the media release of SAPOL Major Crime,\u201d the statement began.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family has cooperated fully with the investigation and want nothing more than to find Gus and reunite him with his mum and dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawyers representing Josie and Shannon stated that their clients would not be participating in interviews or commenting further.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice talk to Josie Murray during the search for missing 4yo boy Gus Lamont on a property near Yunta. Credit: 7NEWS \/Adelaide<\/p>\n

The statement contradicts claims made by Det-Supt. Darren Fielke.<\/p>\n

\u201cA person who resides at Oak Park Station has withdrawn their support for police and is no longer cooperating with us,\u201d he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He added that there were \u201cdiscrepancies\u201d and \u201cinconsistencies\u201d in the timelines SAPOL had been given by family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 14 and 15 January, this year, Task Force Horizon investigators attended Oak Park Station and executed a search warrant. Further comprehensive forensic search was conducted of the Oak Park Station homestead. A number of items were seized, including a vehicle, a motorcycle, and some electronic devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these items are now subject to forensic testing.<\/p>\n

\"DetectiveDetective Superintendent Darren Fielke of the SA Police gives an update on the Gus Lamont case and declares it is now a major crime. Credit: ABC News\/ABC News<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person who has withdrawn their co-operation is now considered a suspect in the disappearance of Gus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours after that announcement was made, it was revealed that both of Gus\u2019 grandparents had engaged high-profile lawyers.<\/p>\n

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Gus\u2019 grandparent, Josie, has hired criminal lawyer Andrew Ey, while his biological grandmother, Shannon Murray, is being represented by defence lawyer Casey Isaacs.<\/p>\n

There is no suggestion that either Josie or Shannon Murray were involved in Gus\u2019 disappearance.<\/p>\n

The statement issued on Friday marks the second time the family has publicly spoken about the disappearance.<\/p>\n

Family speak out<\/p>\n

The first time they spoke was back in September, just two days after Gus went missing.<\/p>\n

Family friend Bill Harbison read a letter on behalf of the family on September 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re devastated by the disappearance of our beloved Gus on Saturday afternoon,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has come as a shock to our family and friends and we\u2019re struggling to comprehend what has happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cGus\u2019 absence is felt by all of us and we miss him more than words can express. Our hearts are aching and we are holding on to hope that he will be found and returned safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police have said the family is \u201cvery private\u201d, people who, according to Superintendent Mark Syrus, \u201clike the isolation\u201d of their rural homestead life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a very private family, and they don\u2019t get many visitors up here,\u201d he said on October 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very tough for them. They like the isolation, and over the last six days, they\u2019ve had over 100 people in the area being part of their lives.<\/p>\n

\"AerialAerial shot of the property. Credit: South Australia Police<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave them space because that\u2019s what they needed, just a bit of time to rationalise what has happened and to come to terms with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When did Gus Lamont disappear?<\/p>\n

Gus has not been seen since September 27, 2025.<\/p>\n

On that day, he was last seen by grandmother, Shannon Murray, according to police, before he vanished.<\/p>\n

Initially, SAPOL said Gus had likely \u201cwandered off\u201d. However, months on, a major crime has been declared, and someone who lives at the property, who is not Gus\u2019 parent, is now a suspect and is not cooperating with authorities.<\/p>\n

Multiple, large-scale searches have been conducted involving hundreds from across SAPOL, the SES, the ADF, community volunteers and an Indigenous tracker.<\/p>\n

Dams have been drained, mine shafts searched, and an \u201cextensive\u201d aerial search has been completed. Despite their best efforts, across 132 days, Gus has not been found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grandparents of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont have issued a joint statement through their legal representatives, attempting to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,43,44,1124,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-461473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-south-australia","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}