A retired US detective believes three-year-old Lachie Jones' body was dumped to stage a drowning

The Gore toddler died in 2019, found in a council oxidation pond about a kilometre from his home.

His father, Paul Jones, believes he was murdered - despite Police quickly concluding he drowned.

The Otago Daily Times reports former American major crimes detective, Karen Smith, told the Coronial inquest she thinks Lachie died earlier in that day.

She says there are many gaps in the evidence - and everything is contrary to an accidental drowning.