The devastated mother and grandmother of missing South Australian boy Gus Lamont have been pictured for the first time – two and a half weeks after the four-year-old vanished without a trace from his maternal grandparents’ remote Outback station near Yunta on September 27.
Gus’ mum Jessica, whose blonde wavy hair is strikingly similar to that of her son, was photographed alongside the boy’s father, Joshua Lamont, at the South Australian Music Awards in 2019.
Not only is it the first time that Gus’ parents – who are a couple but live hours apart due to a family dispute – have been pictured together in the press since the child’s disappearance, but it is the first photo to emerge of Jess that isn’t decades old.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail has also obtained an image of Gus’ transgender grandmother Josie Murray from an old Facebook account – marking the first time she has been seen up-close after she was previously only pictured from afar when one of our reporters spoke to her briefly last week.
As reported by this outlet on Friday, public records and local sources indicate that Josie – formerly Robert – began her gender transition following the death of her life partner Shannon Murray’s father, late war hero Vincent Pfeiffer.
The town was accepting of her choice, according to a Yunta source. It is unclear if Josie and Shannon’s marriage is still intact after Josie transitioned, but they do still live together.
The fact it has taken so long for photos of Gus’ close relatives to emerge speaks to the intensely private nature of the family that lives on the remote Oak Park Station.
This was a fact first noted by the public when they took six days to release a photo of the missing boy to the public. By this time, police had already begun shifting their search to a ‘recovery phase’.
Gus’s mother Jessica is pictured with the boy’s father, Joshua Lamont, who is the frontman of Adelaide country band The Cut Snakes
Daily Mail has also obtained an image of Gus’ grandmother Josie Murray – who is a trans woman – from an old Facebook account
The family photos emerge as local police and the Australian Defence Force resumed the search for Gus on Tuesday.
The rare image of Jessica, in which she wears a formal black outfit, with the addition of eight piercings in one ear, shows her supporting her musician partner at a state awards show.
Another picture taken at the event shows them posing in front of a media wall.
Mr Lamont is the frontman of Adelaide country band The Cut Snakes, who won a People’s Choice Award at the Bonython Hall event.
A Yunta local confirmed to Daily Mail that the picture was indeed of Jessica, but said that she was rarely seen around the tiny town on the Barrier Highway.
It is understood the young mum also shares one-year-old son Ronnie with Mr Lamont, who does not live at Oak Park Station.
Other friends have described Jess as ‘introverted’ and ‘shy’, and it’s believed she rarely joined her partner – who is far more outgoing – on the road as he toured rural South Australian pubs with The Cut Snakes.
On Wednesday, a source close to the couple revealed they did not live together because Mr Lamont ‘clashes’ with Josie Murray.
Four-year-old Gus has been missing since September 27. Police this week resumed their search efforts, focusing on a broader area surrounding the family’s Oak Park homestead
Until this week, the only publicly available photo of Gus’ mother Jessica was this picture of her as an infant, sitting on her mother Shannon’s lap
Gus Lamont’s family tree is seen above
The insider explained the couple have a ‘commuter relationship’, with Josh living at a basic farmhouse in Belalie North, near Jamestown – a two-hour drive from Oak Park.
Last Wednesday, Mr Lamont broke cover in Adelaide, where he is staying with relatives, after he earlier joined the search for his son.
His brother Samuel insisted that Mr Lamont – who was once a country music singer performing in SA pubs under the name Billy Tea – was in ‘no state to talk to anyone’.
A musician friend who has played gigs with Mr Lamont posted on Facebook on Monday that ‘Gus’s father is 100 per cent innocent in all this’.
There is no suggestion that any of Gus’ family members have been involved in his disappearance.
Police say the resumed search for Gus will focus on a broader area surrounding the Oak Park homestead, where he was last seen by his grandmother playing in a red sand pile in the front yard.
A former SES volunteer who scoured the region with his partner said there was ‘zero evidence’ Gus remained on the property
Gus’s grandmother Josie Murray was seen from afar last week
Police renewed their search efforts on Tuesday
The disappearance sparked a major search operation, which was scaled back and effectively called off on October 7 after it failed to find a trace of the missing boy and ‘following medical experts’ advice that there was little hope for us to find Gus alive’.
It is unclear what sparked this week’s renewed search effort, though police said they have remained active in the days since.
In a statement released on Tuesday, police said there had been ‘regular and close engagement’ with Gus’s family who were ‘continuing to assist with the investigation’.
Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams assured the public last week that police were investigating further lines of inquiry.
Police said the initial search operation was among the biggest of its kind, involving hundreds of officers, dozens of soldiers, countless volunteers and an Aboriginal tracker.
Despite the unprecedented effort, the closest anyone came to finding Gus was a footprint found some 500m from his family’s homestead.
A former SES volunteer who scoured the region with his partner said there was ‘zero evidence’ Gus remained on the property.
Following Gus’ disappearance, family friend Bill Harbison said the family was ‘devastated’, adding they were still coming to terms with what had happened.
‘It has come as a shock to our family and friends and we’re struggling to comprehend what has happened,’ he said.
‘Gus’s absence is felt by all of us and we miss him more than words can express. Our hearts are aching and we are holding on to hope that he will be found safe and well.’
When he was last seen, Gus had been wearing a grey broad-brimmed hat, a distinctive blue long-sleeved shirt with a Minion picture from the movie Despicable Me on the front, with light grey pants and boots.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .