STRANGE SIGN: Officers found a symbol carved into a nearby tree where Gus’s body was discovered — and it matches something seen weeks earlier on his toy box?
Investigators working at the remote Oak Park Station site — where the body of four-year-old Gus Lamont was recently found — have uncovered a detail that has both police and locals unsettled.
According to early field reports, a faint carving was noticed on the trunk of a eucalyptus tree just a few meters from the area where Gus was discovered. The marking, roughly the size of a child’s hand, appears to be a simple circular shape crossed by two short lines — but what has drawn attention is its uncanny similarity to a symbol seen in old family photos of Gus’s toy box, shared online during the early days of the search.
Detectives have not confirmed any direct connection, but crime scene specialists have photographed and preserved the carving for forensic comparison. The bark sample will be analyzed to estimate when the mark was made.
“We’re exploring all possibilities,” a South Australia Police spokesperson said Thursday. “It could be completely unrelated — or it could help us understand what happened in those final hours.”
Neighbors and volunteers who joined the original search say they remember the toy box clearly — a weathered blue chest with stickers and doodles drawn by Gus himself. “If it really matches, that’s… unsettling,” said one of the local rescuers.
As the forensic work continues, investigators are asking residents to report any similar symbols or carvings seen in the region in recent weeks. Whether coincidence or clue, the small mark on that lonely tree has opened a new and haunting question in the mystery of Gus Lamont.