Former William Tyrrell investigator says SA police looking ‘at other possibilities’ in disappearance of boy

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The former lead investigator into the disappearance of NSW boy William Tyrrell believes South Australian police have learnt lessons from the high-profile case in their search for four-year-old Gus Lamont.

Augustus “Gus” Lamont was last seen playing on a mound of dirt at his family’s sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north about 5pm on Saturday, September 27.

Police are scaling back their search for missing boy Gus, last seen near Yunta, South Australia.

The boy was reportedly left alone for half an hour before his grandmother attempted to call him inside, only to find him missing.

The family spent three hours searching the property before calling police.

State emergency services, helicopters and Aboriginal trackers then joined the search, which covered the sprawling 60,000-acre property in South Australia’s north-east. Despite an exhaustive search lasting 10 days, no trace of Gus has been found.

Speaking on Nine’s Today, former homicide detective Gary Jubelin, who led the investigation into the disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell in NSW, said he was “heartened” by signs that South Australian authorities had learnt lessons from the mistakes made in Tyrrell’s high-profile case.

“Children disappearing at that age is a rare event,” he said.

“What police would be looking for is, has the disappearance been a result of wandering off … and getting lost, or is there some form of intervention involved in his disappearance?

“It’s now been over 10 days. It’s a remote location. It looks for all intents and purposes like an extremely thorough search, and they’ve found no clues at this stage.”

Jubelin, reflecting on his experience with the Tyrrell case, said South Australian Police appeared to be considering all possibilities.

“They’re looking at all options,” he said.

“The fact that they’re doing that, I think, [is] lessons perhaps learnt from the William Tyrrell investigation, where the whole focus was on finding the little boy lost, and an investigation wasn’t started immediately.

“The focus [with Tyrrell] was on looking for a little boy lost, and, invariably, that ends happily, and the child’s found. What I’m seeing now [is] … they’re looking at the other possibilities that there was perhaps intervention.”

South Australian police released a photo of the missing boy on Thursday.

In 2020, Jubelin was fined $10,000 and convicted for making illegal recordings during the Tyrrell investigation. With a career spanning 25 years, he resigned from the force in 2019 after being accused of wrongdoing.

He has since become a prominent media figure, with his own podcast, I Catch Killers, where he discusses high-profile criminal cases in Australia.

The search for Gus, which was centred around the family station near Yunta, about 300 kilometres north-east of Adelaide, was officially scaled back on Tuesday, with police shifting their hopes of finding the boy alive.

A family member described Gus as a shy but adventurous child who is a good walker, though he has never ventured beyond the family property before.

On Tuesday, South Australia Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott confirmed that the search for Gus would be scaled back, with the missing persons investigation section now overseeing the investigation.

“In addition to the search activity there have been concurrent inquiries undertaken as a matter of course when a four-year-old child goes missing. These inquiries are continuing,” he said.

Police have ruled out a boot-print that was found as “subsequently not to be related to Gus”.

“We are investigating and looking to rule out every option at this stage.”

Despite the significant resources committed to the initial search, Parrott said no tangible evidence has been found to help find Gus.

Parrott said that senior police had met with Gus’s family on Tuesday night and prepared them for the possibility that the boy may no longer be alive, considering the length of time he has been missing, his age and the rugged terrain.

“This assessment was based on medical evidence from a doctor who is recognised by the Australian rescue authorities as an expert opinion on time frame for survival,” he said.

“While those involved in the search have been hoping for a miracle, over the past 48 hours, the search has shifted to a recovery operation.”

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