“I CANNOT LOOK AT THE PERSON WHO KILLED MY SON.” — THE WORDS THAT LEFT AN ENTIRE TOWN SILENT As Police Narrowed In on a Suspect, Gus Lamont’s Parents Fled Town in Grief — Then Came the Evidence So Shocking It Reportedly Caused the Family to Collapse in Disbelief

The small Perth Hills town of Mundaring is holding its breath.

In a single, devastating sentence spoken yesterday afternoon outside the family home, Sarah Lamont — mother of missing four-year-old Gus — crystallised three weeks of national anguish into six words that silenced a community:

“I cannot look at the person who killed my son.”

The statement came hours after Sarah and her husband quietly packed their remaining children into a relative’s car and left Mundaring for an undisclosed location. Police confirmed the family has temporarily relocated “for their safety and wellbeing” as the investigation reaches its most sensitive phase.

Behind those six words lies an unbearable truth: the Lamonts believe the man arrested on 9 February — 38-year-old Daniel Robert Kellett of Kalamunda — is responsible for Gus’s death. Until yesterday, police had carefully avoided confirming or denying that belief, describing the charge of abduction and deprivation of liberty as “a significant step forward” while stressing the search for Gus remained active and hopeful.

That fragile hope shattered late yesterday when detectives made what one senior officer called “the most disturbing discovery of the entire investigation.”

According to sources with direct knowledge of the case, investigators recovered a small, partially burnt piece of fabric from a fire pit on property linked to Kellett — fabric forensic testing has now matched to the lining of the blue hooded jacket Gus was wearing the afternoon he disappeared. The fire pit also contained traces of what police believe to be human hair consistent with Gus’s colour and texture. DNA results are pending but are not expected until early next week.

When the development was relayed to the Lamonts yesterday evening, the family reportedly collapsed in disbelief. Witnesses describe Sarah falling to her knees on the driveway, screaming “No, no, no” while clutching the photograph of Gus she has carried everywhere since 28 January. Her husband had to be physically supported by relatives as he was led back inside.

A family friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “They held on to the hope that he was alive, hidden somewhere, waiting to be found. The idea that someone took him and… did something to him — it’s destroyed them. Sarah kept saying ‘I can’t look at him, I can’t look at the person who killed my son.’ She can’t even say his name.”

The revelation has plunged Mundaring — and much of Australia — into collective grief. Yellow ribbons that once symbolised hope now hang limp on fences and trees. Vigils planned for this weekend are shifting tone from prayers for a safe return to memorials for a child many now fear is gone forever.

Daniel Kellett remains in custody. He has not entered a plea. Police have upgraded the charge sheet to include murder, though they stress the formal charge awaits forensic confirmation. The abandoned mine-shaft theory has not been entirely discarded — officers say it is possible Gus was taken to the shaft system and the jacket fragment was burned elsewhere to destroy evidence.

Sarah’s sister released a single-line family statement this evening:

“We are broken. We just want our boy back — or to know where he is so we can bring him home. Please keep Gus in your hearts.”

Australia is crying with them.

A four-year-old boy vanished from his backyard. A blue toy truck was found in a collapsed shaft. A burnt fragment of his jacket was recovered from a fire pit.

And a mother has said the six words no parent should ever have to speak.

The investigation continues. But for Gus Lamont’s family — and for a nation that has followed every twist with bated breath — hope has given way to the heaviest grief imaginable.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.