{"id":312579,"date":"2026-03-04T12:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/312579\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:56:18","slug":"sa-police-confirm-two-members-of-gus-lamonts-family-are-not-cooperating-directly-with-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/312579\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Police confirm two members of Gus Lamont&#8217;s family are &#8216;not cooperating&#8217; directly with police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Eva Blandis and Sara Garcia, ABC<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTMF1O_LAMONT_MISSING_ABC_1_jpeg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"590\" alt=\"Four-year-old Gus Lamont has been missing since September 27, 2025\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nGus Lamont vanished on his family&#8217;s property late last year.<br \/>\nPhoto: ABC\/SUPPLIED: SA Police\n<\/p>\n<p>South Australia&#8217;s Police Commissioner has said that two members of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/world\/579860\/police-to-recommence-search-for-4yo-gus-six-mine-shafts-to-be-searched\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">missing boy Gus Lamont<\/a>&#8216;s family are &#8220;not cooperating&#8221; with investigators, but a police spokesperson said they could not comment further on the number of suspects in the case.<\/p>\n<p>Police declared the four-year-old boy&#8217;s disappearance a major crime on 5 February, saying a person who resides at Oak Park had withdrawn their support for the police and was no longer cooperating with them, and police were considering that person a suspect.<\/p>\n<p>The next day,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/world\/586145\/gus-lamont-s-grandparents-absolutely-devastated-by-major-crime-declaration\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gus&#8217;s grandparents, Josie and Shannon Murray<\/a>, issued a statement saying the family had &#8220;cooperated fully with the investigation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told ABC Radio Adelaide &#8220;members&#8221; of the family were &#8220;not cooperating&#8221; with police.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As far as I&#8217;m aware, it&#8217;s status quo, from the most recent reports, we are still working with Gus&#8217;s mum and dad and there are other members of the family who are no longer cooperating,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He was unable to confirm if either of Gus&#8217;s parents, Jess or Josh, are living at the family&#8217;s station.<\/p>\n<p>Following Stevens&#8217;s interview, a SA Police spokesperson confirmed &#8220;that two family members are only communicating [with police] via their legal representatives&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>When asked by the ABC if there were any further suspects, a police spokesperson said they were &#8220;unable to make any further comment at this point&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Stevens also said the investigation into Gus&#8217;s disappearance remains a &#8220;top priority&#8221; with police &#8220;looking at any opportunity&#8221; to bring closure to his parents.<\/p>\n<p>Gus was reported missing from his family&#8217;s station, in SA&#8217;s Mid North, last September.<\/p>\n<p>Police established Task Force Horizon in October to probe Gus&#8217;s disappearance and were initially investigating whether the boy had wandered off.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday morning, Stevens also confirmed investigators will return to the station but that he was not sure when or where.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTMF1O_LAMONT_MISSING_ABC_5_jpeg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"698\" alt=\"Police first launched a search for Gus in late September.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nAustralian police first launched a search for Gus in late September.<br \/>\nPhoto: ABC\/SUPPLIED: SA Police\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The task force, which comprises over a dozen people, detectives, forensic specialists &#8230; will clearly be looking at any opportunity to provide closure to Gus&#8217;s mum and dad,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will be going back to the property, I can&#8217;t say when, I can&#8217;t say what the reasons will be, that&#8217;s entirely up to the Task Force but the work is ongoing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gus&#8217;s disappearance &#8216;top priority&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The commissioner said that the task force, and necessary resources, will be kept on the case &#8220;whilst there&#8217;s work to be done&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Gus Lamont is one of the top priorities for South Australia Police,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The resources that are necessary will be kept on the task force until such time as the assessments are that would be a waste of those resources because of the diminishing work that can be undertaken by a team of that size.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stevens said he is only briefed on &#8220;significant milestone events&#8221; in the case, and when funding is needed for &#8220;specialist activities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m allowing the task force to do its work,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JSAGF2_gus_avif.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" alt=\"Detectives searched a property owned by Gus Lamont\u2019s family last month but did not find anything.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nDetectives searched a property owned by Gus Lamont&#8217;s family last month but did not find anything.<br \/>\nPhoto: ABC News:\/Rachael Merritt\n<\/p>\n<p>Not &#8216;one single piece&#8217; of evidence Gus &#8216;wandered off&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Stevens reiterated that police &#8220;have all but ruled out Gus having wandered off&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There has not been one single piece of evidence that we have located during that searching exercise, the most extensive search I think arguably in the history of South Australia, that has given us any indication that he did wander off,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, police arrested and charged Josie Murray, 75, with unrelated firearms offences following a search at the station.<\/p>\n<p>Last week Gus&#8217;s parents released a new image and video of Gus, as well as a statement appealing for any information that could help to find the four-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our lives have been shattered, and every moment without him is unbearable,&#8221; they said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We know someone out there may have information.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If someone knows what happened, we are pleading with that person &#8211; or anyone who may have seen or heard anything &#8211; to please come forward.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even the smallest detail could give us the answers we so desperately need.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Stevens told ABC Radio Adelaide that it &#8220;must be their darkest days&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can&#8217;t imagine what this family is going through, as they say this must be their darkest days,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Eva Blandis and Sara Garcia, ABC Gus Lamont vanished on his family&#8217;s property late last year. Photo:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-312579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}