The following statement can be attributed to Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams.
As mentioned on Friday, the search for 4-year-old Gus Lamont was scaled back following medical experts advice that there was little hope for us to find Gus alive.
Despite that, SAPOL continued the search for three more days with a significant search presence until Friday afternoon. The investigation is now being managed by Missing Persons Section, which is part of Major Crime Investigation Branch, and that's where all long-term cases such as this are managed and investigated.
In addition to the search activity, there has been concurrent inquiries undertaken, which are continuing. Police are actively looking to rule out every investigation opportunity and will search the property when any potential evidence that could be connected to Gus is identified.
On Monday 6 October, a significant search was conducted after a small footprint was located around a dam about 5.5 kilometres west of the Homestead. The search involved numerous resources, including STAR, PolAir and a tracker. The footprint was subsequently found not to be related to Gus. (Note: This is not connected to the footprint discovered by searchers last week.)
On Friday and Saturday night, a significant aerial search of the property was conducted using a special drone with infrared capabilities. This is the same technology that was used in Port Lincoln for the remains of Julian Story. It's quite complex technology, so the results will take some time to work through, but police will investigate any findings through further searches.
We will never give up hope of finding Gus. There are further lines of enquiry being undertaken and the family have continued to cooperate with fully with police.
We still have a public appeal for anyone who has any information about Gus or any concerns, but we will be continuing this investigation and highlight that you may see some other activity up there from time to time, for example, when the results of this search by the drone have been completed.
