Four-year-old Gus Lamont went missing from his family’s sheep station near Yunta, South Australia, on September 27. Photo / SA Police

Friends of the heartbroken family of Gus, who has been missing in remote South Australia, have spoken out about vicious “online vitriol”, more than a week after the 4-year-old disappeared.

Gus was last seen playing in the sand at his family sheep station about 40km of Yunta, South Australia, more than a week ago on September 27.

Speaking to the Adelaide Advertiser, former neighbour and friend Alex Thomas said Gus’ family had been dealing with vicious and hateful online comments about their son’s disappearance.

“I really want to gently inform people about the realities of rural life and ask them for their compassion and understanding,” he told the outlet.

“Because this family – this gentle and loving family – they’re not headlines, they are not a spectacle.”

He reminded the public of the reality of the situation.

“They are real people who are hurting beyond belief,” he said.

Second footprint found – and dismissed

On Monday, officers returned to Oak Park Station where Gus was last seen after reports that another “small boot print” was found near a dam.

However, police have since dismissed the find, saying the print was not related to the search.

“A significant search was conducted around 5.5km west of the homestead after a small boot print was located,” Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams said.

“The print was found to be subsequently not related to Gus.”

Case turned over to Missing Persons Section

Williams on Tuesday revealed the case had been moved to the Missing Persons Section.

“The investigation is now being managed by Missing Persons Section, which is part of the Major Crime Investigation Branch, and that’s where all long-term cases such as this are managed and investigated,” Williams said.

“We will never give up hope of finding Gus.

“There are further lines of inquiry being undertaken and the family have continued to co-operate with fully with police.

The search continues for 4-year-old Gus, with the water police searching the remaining dams, police on horses, SES and locals scouring the countryside for any sign. Photo / NewsWire, Dean Martin

Police earlier deployed a special drone in the search, with Williams confirming the “significant aerial search” involved a special drone with infra-red capabilities.

The search was conducted on Friday and Saturday.

“This is the same tech that was used in the search in Port Lincoln for the remains of (alleged murder victim) Julian Story,” she said.

“The results of that drone analysis are still being analysed. We hope to have those results in the coming weeks.”

Police allege Story was murdered by his partner and former reality TV star Tamika Chesser in June.

Story’s head was removed from his body, and police allocated huge resources searching for his remains across Port Lincoln before a member of the public found his skull in bushland on the eastern edge of the town in late July.

Police have also allocated massive resources in the desperate search for Gus, with members of the ADF called in to help find him.

August “Gus” Lamont was last seen playing in the sand at his family sheep station, about 40km south of Yunta and about 320km north of Adelaide, about 5pm on Saturday, September 27.

The police believe he wandered off from the property.

Williams said the results of the drone search were now being analysed.

“The results of that drone analysis are still being analysed,” she said.

“We hope to have those results in the coming weeks.”

SES volunteer’s ‘zero evidence’ claim

A former SES volunteer who has scoured regional South Australia in the search for missing 4-year-old Gus says there is “zero evidence” the child is on the property he was last seen at.

Jason O’Connell, who volunteered with the SES for more than a decade, has spent some 90 hours – with his partner, Jen – assisting in the search for Gus on the Lamont family’s 60,000ha Oak Park Station.

Speaking to The Advertiser, the 50-year-old described the property as “just wide, open land”, adding that “there’s really not much there”.

“With our lights, I’m surprised because we just didn’t find anything,” O’Connell said.

“He’s not on that property.”

The search was carried out mostly by vehicle, with the group checking fence lines and tracks over the span of several days to no avail.

An absence of birds of prey on the homestead also suggested Gus was not there, O’Connell said.

“If he was in a bad way or if he passed away, we’d listen for foxes, look for birds of prey,” he said.

“No birds of prey means he’s not there.”

O’Connell echoed the sentiment in a post on social media, writing: “I personally am very doubtful he is on the property”.

On Friday, SA Police Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott announced that police would scale back their search, saying “we’ve all been hoping for a miracle, but that miracle has not eventuated”.

“We’re confident that we’ve done absolutely everything we can to locate Gus within the search area, but despite our best efforts, we have not been able to locate him, and unfortunately, we are now having to scale back this search for Gus,” he told reporters.

Police have allocated massive resources over the last week, with volunteers, divers, helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and members of the Australian Defence Force fanned out over some 470sq km to try to find the boy, who has been missing for days now without access to food or water.

“Everything we have found to date … indicates that as best as we know, Gus has wandered off from this property and we have not been able to locate him,” Parrott said.

“This is clearly now what appears to be a very tragic set of circumstances. We hold out hope we may be able to find Gus and return him to his family, but clearly that potential is diminishing as days go by … We will not rest until we can try and find the answer.”

The search for Gus has gone for more than one week. Photo / NewsWire, Dean Martin

Tracker and former policeman Aaron Stuart, also speaking to The Advertiser, said it was unusual that only one footprint had been found so far.

“You’d find the next one, and the one after that,” Stuart, who has helped authorities locate missing people and escaped prisoners in the bush, said.

“You don’t find one track, you find tracks. You’d soon find out if it was a decoy or anything like that.

“If it was me, if I had been looking for him, I would have also been looking for other stuff – people trying to mislead you and stuff like that. That’s always in the back of my mind.”