As the first anniversary of four-year-old Gus Lamont’s disappearance approaches, his grandmother says the family will search eagle nests and insists she believes he was taken from the remote property

The mystery surrounding missing four-year-old Gus Lamont has taken another turn, with his grandmother saying she plans to search eagle nests at the remote South Australian sheep station where he was last seen.

Josie Murray said the possibility that a wedge-tailed eagle could have taken Gus should not be completely dismissed, although she acknowledged it was highly unlikely.

‘The eagle aspect should be looked at,’ she told 7News. ‘It’s highly unlikely, but it’s not impossible.’

Gus disappeared on September 27 while playing near his grandparents’ homestead at Oak Park Station, about 40km south of Yunta.

Despite extensive searches by land and air, there has been no confirmed sighting of the boy since that afternoon.

With the anniversary of his disappearance approaching, Ms Murray said she remains convinced that Gus was abducted from the property because, in her view, no other explanation makes sense.

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Four-year-old Gus Lamont was last seen playing near his grandparents’ remote homestead in South Australia on September 27

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His grandmother, Josie Murray, believes he was abducted and says she will search eagle nests around the property for any trace of him

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Police have searched Oak Park Station 11 times since Gus vanished last September

‘Then he just disappeared’

Speaking to 7News, Ms Murray became emotional as she pointed towards the area where Gus had been playing.

‘It brings me to tears that he’s not here… Just down here. And then that was the last he was seen, and after that he just disappeared,’ she said.

She also appealed to investigators not to focus their attention on her.

‘For me to know they are wasting their time, and their time would be better spent trying to find out what did happen to him, is enormously frustrating,’ she said.

Ms Murray and her husband own and live at the remote station.

Police have searched Oak Park Station 11 times since Gus vanished, according to the report.

Ms Murray later confirmed that police had told her she was the main suspect in the case. She has consistently denied any involvement.

No charges have been brought and no arrests have been made.

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Josie shows a 7NEWS Adelaide reporter where Gus was last seen by Shannon

Police previously suspected someone known to Gus

In February, South Australian Police said they believed someone known to Gus may have caused his death, either deliberately or accidentally, before his disappearance was reported.

Investigators said that person lived at Oak Park Station and was known to Gus.

Police also stressed that the person they were referring to was not Gus’s mother, Jessica Murray, or his father, Joshua Lamont.

Joshua lived at Belalie North, around a two-hour drive from the property.

In recent weeks, police have declined to say whether they still consider a particular person to be of interest in the investigation or whether other suspects have been identified.

Ms Murray’s lawyer, Andrew Ey, previously told the Daily Mail that his client had consistently denied involvement in Gus’s disappearance.

‘My client has always remained steadfast in her denial of being involved in Gus’s disappearance,’ he said.

Months of searching have found no trace

The initial search for Gus involved police, the Australian Army, the State Emergency Service, an Aboriginal tracker and local volunteers.

Teams searched the surrounding land, airspace and a dam over several weeks, but found no trace of the missing boy.

The disappearance initially saw police support the family’s calls for privacy as they dealt with the uncertainty surrounding Gus’s whereabouts and diminishing hopes that he might be found alive.

However, the relationship between Ms Murray, Shannon and investigators from Task Force Horizon deteriorated in January.

Police subsequently confirmed that the investigation had become a major crime inquiry.

For Gus’s family, the search for answers continues nearly a year after the four-year-old was last seen playing near the remote homestead.

His grandmother now says the family intends to examine eagle nests around the property while continuing to pursue her belief that Gus was taken from the station.

Police have not publicly confirmed that an eagle was involved, and the theory remains unproven.