Jason O’Connell — a former State Emergency Service (SES) volunteer — said he and his small team spent over 1,200 kilometres searching across the harsh, unforgiving Outback surrounding Oak Park Station, where Gus was last seen.
After days of scouring the land, his conclusion was as stark as it was haunting:
“Zero evidence. He’s not on that property.”
A vast land… and an eerie silence
O’Connell described the search area as endless — every fence line, dusty track and clearing combed again and again in hope of finding the smallest clue: a shoe, a scrap of fabric, any sign of life.
But there was nothing.
Aside from a single footprint found near the homestead — one that investigators said “could belong to Gus” — there were no traces of movement, no belongings, no signs of distress.
“We found nothing credible. No footprints leading away, no drag marks, no broken branches. Even the wildlife seemed to avoid the area,” O’Connell recalled.
“The land was silent… unnervingly silent.”
Questions that won’t go away
His doubts were echoed by tracker Aaron Stuart, an experienced bushman who’s helped locate dozens of missing persons across South Australia’s deserts.
He called the finding of a single footprint “highly unusual.”
“If a child had been walking there, you’d expect a pattern — two, three, maybe four prints. But one? That doesn’t add up,” Stuart said.
Police call off the search — but mystery deepens
Police officially suspended the ground search last Friday, confirming that the investigation had shifted into a recovery phase.
In a public statement, they said no physical evidence — no clothing, no personal items, no confirmed tracks — had been recovered after seven days of extensive searching involving hundreds of personnel, aircraft and thermal imaging.
Family members were told the likelihood of Gus surviving in such harsh conditions was “extremely low.”
But for those who spent days in the dust and heat searching for the little boy, the unanswered questions remain.
“I’m not saying I know what happened,” O’Connell said quietly.
“But I know one thing — that child is not there. Not on that property.”
A mystery that refuses to fade
For a nation that followed the story of little Gus with breaking hearts, the volunteer’s words have reopened old fears and new doubts.
If Gus isn’t where everyone believes he vanished…
then where is he?
And who, if anyone, knows the truth?
