{"id":403579,"date":"2026-04-29T17:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/403579\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T17:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T17:36:29","slug":"nt-police-say-some-in-community-absolutely-know-where-missing-alice-springs-girls-suspected-abductor-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/403579\/","title":{"rendered":"NT Police say some in community ‘absolutely know’ where missing Alice Springs girl’s suspected abductor is"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jason Walls and Grace Atta, ABC News<\/p>\n

\"Five-year-old<\/p>\n

\nSharon Granites, 5.
\nPhoto: ABC News \/ supplied\n<\/p>\n

Warning: This article contains content some readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Police say some people in the community “absolutely know” the whereabouts of the man alleged to have abducted a five-year-old Alice Springs girl.<\/p>\n

Sharon Granites was noticed missing from a home in the Old Timers town camp in Alice Springs in the early hours of Sunday morning, and has not been seen since.<\/p>\n

Police have previously said they believe the five-year-old was abducted by a man who happened to be at the camp at the same time, Jefferson Lewis, 47.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon, NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole urged anyone who may be helping Lewis or know where he is to come forward.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

\nMartin Dole and Peter Malley have provided an update on the search for the missing five-year-old.
\nPhoto: ABC News: Tristan Hooft\n<\/p>\n

“We believe that there are members of the community that absolutely know where Jefferson Lewis is,” Commissioner Dole said.<\/p>\n

“What I want to say to you is, tell us.<\/p>\n

“Tell us what you know. Tell us where he is. Tell us how to contact him.”<\/p>\n

Police Assistant Commissioner for Crime and Intelligence, Peter Malley, issued a warning to anyone who may be helping Mr Lewis.<\/p>\n

“I caution anyone giving him a hand, because when we do get him, and it’s only a matter time, you might be in strife as well,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

\nPolice allege 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis has abducted Sharon Granites.
\nPhoto: ABC\/Supplied: NT Police Force\n<\/p>\n

The assistant commissioner also provided an update on items found at the crime scene on the banks of the Todd River, which sits adjacent to Old Timers town camp.<\/p>\n

“We have seized a number of items from that crime scene, being a doona cover, the shirt that Jefferson Lewis was wearing – it was a distinct yellow one – and we seized a pair of child’s underwear from that location,” Assistant Commissioner Malley said.<\/p>\n

“Those items have now been transported to Darwin and they are undergoing forensic analysis, and I expect to have that back tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Malley said despite police “looking all over the place” for Sharon and Lewis, they believed the 47-year-old man was still “local”.<\/p>\n

Ilyperenye\/Old Timers is a town camp south of Alice Springs<\/p>\n

\"Ilyperenye\/Old<\/p>\n

\nIlyperenye\/Old Timers is a town camp south of Alice Springs
\nPhoto: ABC\n<\/p>\n

He also said “intelligence packages” had been given to the police forces in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, and that specific “inquiries” had been made at Balgo in WA, where some of Lewis’s family reside.<\/p>\n

Police reiterated their belief that Sharon is still alive, elaborating by saying they had sought the advice of bush survival experts.<\/p>\n

“We speak to survival experts and we look at if she was wandering around on her own in the bush and how long she could survive for, and we’re still within that timeframe,” Assistant Commissioner Malley said.<\/p>\n

But the assistant commissioner highlighted that “we’re right on the threshold” of Sharon’s survival chances, “hence the urgency” to find her.<\/p>\n

Search taken back to ‘old-style policing’<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Malley said the search for Lewis had been challenging, largely due to his lack of a digital footprint.<\/p>\n

“This man doesn’t have a telephone, doesn’t have a bank account, he doesn’t have a car, so some of the usual practices we do in 2026 aren’t applicable,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Hence the amount of resources we have on the ground – we’re knocking on doors, we’re going through houses. It’s old-style policing and yeah, it’s a hard slog.”<\/p>\n

Despite that, police said they had been able to use data from an ankle monitor Lewis previously wore to identify places he used to frequent, saying the method had “revealed many places of interest”.<\/p>\n

“So anywhere he’s frequented, we’ve been and we’ll continue to go til we get him,” Assistant Commissioner Malley said.<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Malley said if Lewis was listening he should hand himself in.<\/p>\n

“Go to the nearest police station or give us a call and we’ll come and grab you,” he said.<\/p>\n

The search for missing girl Sharon Granites<\/a> has entered its fourth day while police and community members in Alice Springs cling to hope of finding the five-year-old alive and well.<\/p>\n

A large-scale search effort has been under way in the Central Australian outback town since the early hours of Sunday morning when Sharon’s mother first noticed she had vanished from her bed.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Police have previously said the family was visiting the Old Timers town camp at the time, where 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis was last seen holding Sharon’s hand late on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

\nPolice say they expect the dozens of volunteers who turned up to help look for Sharon Granites on Tuesday to again pitch in today.
\nPhoto: ABC News \/ Will Green\n<\/p>\n

Neither Lewis nor the five-year-old have been seen since.<\/p>\n

NT Police search co-ordinator Karl Von Minden told the ABC this morning Aboriginal trackers had worked into the evening yesterday while drones had continued scouring the landscape from the air throughout the night.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\nA crime scene established at the Old Timers town camp where missing Alice Springs five-year-old Sharon Granites was last seen on Saturday night.
\nPhoto: ABC News \/ Will Green\n<\/p>\n

“I spoke to our ALOs yesterday – Aboriginal Liaison Officers – they’ve been searching and using their tracking skills throughout the evening as well,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Some of them are fairly weary because it’s been going for four days but their morale’s still high so they’re still going out there every day and doing what they can.<\/p>\n

“This morning at first light we’ve started our team briefings, we’re splitting the ground teams up into a number of large search teams and continuing the efforts that we’ve done in the last few days.”<\/p>\n

Von Minden said local residents had continue to turn out in their dozens to help the increasingly desperate search for the missing five-year-old.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had probably about 40 volunteers rock up this morning, it’s fairly fluid, people are coming as they’re available which is fantastic,” he said.<\/p>\n

“People who are attending early straight up are getting straight out there and searching so we hope to get 130 at least, if not more.”<\/p>\n

\"Community<\/p>\n

\nCommunity members have joined NT Emergency Services volunteers to help in the ongoing search for the missing five-year-old.
\nPhoto: ABC News \/ Will Green\n<\/p>\n

Von Minden said the air search had now covered almost 80 square kilometres while about 5km2 of a 20km2 ground search area had been line searched on foot.<\/p>\n

“We’re going over some key areas a couple of times from different directions as well and expanding that out,” he said.<\/p>\n

Parts of the foot search area are overgrown with buffel grass, making the search slow going.<\/p>\n

“The search area, it’s made up of both urban and rural environments, so we’ve got tall grass, it’s especially high for this time of year due to the amount of rain that they’ve had here, which has made it very challenging,” Von Minden said.<\/p>\n

\"Search<\/p>\n

\nSearch dogs have joined foot patrols, drones, helicopters and mounted police in the search now in its fourth day.
\nPhoto: ABC News \/ Will Green\n<\/p>\n

“Then we’ve got the river bank as well, a lot of sand and bush area, trees, and then the urban side of it, buildings and structure that we’re going through.”<\/p>\n

Police have previously searched the remote communities of Lajamanu and Yuendumu and Von Minden said “if new information comes to light” the current search would be expanded outside Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

“There’s a number of possibilities that we’re working on and we’re trying to direct our search efforts to accommodate all of those possibilities, so we’re not ruling anything out still at this stage,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re looking for Sharon, that’s our main focus, trying to locate Sharon, that’s our mission and has been since the disappearance was reported to us.”<\/p>\n

‘We will find her’: NT Speaker joins search<\/p>\n

Independent member for Araluen in the NT parliament, Robyn Lambley, who joined the search yesterday, said Alice Springs was “heartbroken”, with residents “doing everything they can to help find little Sharon”.<\/p>\n

Lambley told the ABC she was part of a group of about 60 volunteers “combing through very high buffel grass” following “a very wet summer” in the Red Centre.<\/p>\n

\"Robyn<\/p>\n

\nRobyn Lambley says helping search for Sharon on Tuesday was “a very solemn and sobering experience”.
\nPhoto: ABC News: Pete Garnish\n<\/p>\n

“The buffel grass is extremely high, up to our waist and sometimes our chest so you could barely see your own feet let alone what was on the ground,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It was a very solemn and sobering experience … you don’t imagine that you’d ever be in a situation of potentially looking for a lost little girl.”<\/p>\n

Lambley said waking up this morning with no good news from overnight had been “deflating”, with locals “all quite distraught about this”.<\/p>\n

“I woke up several times during the night, I had dreams about it, the first thing I did was walk out and turn the radio on and see if there was any good news about Sharon,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone is doing everything they can to try and find this poor little girl but I guess we’re all very mindful of the fact that as time goes on that prospect becomes less but look, optimism has to drive us all, we’ve got to get out there.<\/p>\n

“Every single person in a small community is valued and has a place and a purpose and they are valued, when one of us goes missing we are all on board to try and find them so it’s a very emotional time.<\/p>\n

“If she’s out there, we will find her, one way or another.”<\/p>\n

Family ‘reeling’ after disappearance<\/p>\n

The head of the Aboriginal organisation that maintains the town camp where Sharon was last seen said he had spoken with her devastated family.<\/p>\n

Tangentyere Council chief executive Walter Shaw said the organisation had been providing her family with food and comfort, while helping to co-ordinate the search.<\/p>\n

“I’ve visited the house with the family, they were sitting out on the verandah, I managed to have a conversation with them – I’ve had a long-standing history with the family through my community work,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Walter<\/p>\n

\nWalter Shaw says Sharon “needs to be back in the arms of her mother”.
\nPhoto: ABC News: Xavier Martin\n<\/p>\n

“They’re obviously reeling from the circumstances they’re facing with the missing child, but they are appreciative of the work and co-ordination with the police, Tangentyere Council and other key organisations and volunteers within the community.<\/p>\n

“This shows that there is community solidarity and social cohesion with the community to band together to support the family in this very trying time with finding this missing child.”<\/p>\n

Shaw said Sharon’s disappearance was a time for police and the wider community “to band together for a safe and secure rescue of this child”.<\/p>\n

“We want a favourable outcome for the return of this child back to the family,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Society’s got a responsibility to look after our most vulnerable and this is a five-year-old child, a dependent, that needs to be back in the arms of her mother.”<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jason Walls and Grace Atta, ABC News Sharon Granites, 5. Photo: ABC News \/ supplied Warning: This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-403579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}