{"id":405216,"date":"2026-04-30T15:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405216\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:54:12","slug":"hunt-for-abductor-ramps-up-after-tragic-discovery-in-outback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/405216\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt for abductor ramps up after tragic discovery in Outback"},"content":{"rendered":"

The outback search for a missing girl<\/a> has ended in tragedy and a chilling warning to her accused abductor and killer.<\/p>\n

A manhunt for recently released prisoner Jefferson Lewis has ramped up after a search party discovered a body before midday on Thursday, about 5km from where the five-year-old girl disappeared.<\/p>\n

Police said the body was believed to be that of the girl, referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby at her family’s request, pending formal identification.<\/p>\n

The heartbreaking find followed days of intensive land and air searches across harsh desert country surrounding Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

“This is an incredibly distressing development,” Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole told reporters.<\/p>\n

“[Her] family has been formally notified and our thoughts are firmly with them at this devastating time.<\/p>\n

“I want to be clear, we are not in a position to provide answers as to the cause of [he] death or how long she has been deceased.”<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi vanished after being put to bed at a residence in the Old Timers camp near Alice Springs on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"Sharon<\/p>\n

Sharon Granites, five, was suspected of being abducted from her home at Alice Springs. (Source: NT Police) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

It sparked a major search for the non-verbal girl and 47-year-old Lewis, who police suspected abducted the child just six days after being released from prison.<\/p>\n

Her body was discovered on the fifth day of a widespread search.<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Peter Malley said forensic testing on items seized from the crime scene had strengthened their focus on Lewis.<\/p>\n

He said a pair of child’s underwear found during the investigation had been linked by forensic analysis to both Lewis and the girl.<\/p>\n

“The focus right now is to locate Lewis \u2013 it is our sole job in this investigation right now,” he said.<\/p>\n

In a stark message to the suspect’s relatives, Malley urged them not to harbour or assist him.<\/p>\n

“To the family of Jefferson Lewis: we believe he has murdered this child \u2013 do not assist him,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Get him to the police station and we’ll look after him. And I’ll say to Jefferson Lewis: We’re coming for you.”<\/p>\n

\"Jefferson<\/p>\n

Jefferson Lewis. (Source: NT Police) (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Police previously said there were people in the community who “absolutely know” where Lewis was and urged them to contact police.<\/p>\n

They had been adamant that Lewis was still in the Alice Springs area, warning anyone sheltering him would face charges.<\/p>\n

Lewis was sentenced to 64 months in prison, between 2016 and 2025, for offences including aggravated assaults, breaching domestic violence orders, bail and resisting police.<\/p>\n

Scores of police, emergency services workers, defence personnel, Aboriginal trackers and community volunteers had scoured the area with helicopters, drones, horses, dogs and all-terrain vehicles during the search for the girl.<\/p>\n

Police said support from the Alice Springs community and from across Australia had been “overwhelming”, urging locals to continue supporting one another as the investigation entered its next phase.<\/p>\n

A post-mortem examination, expected to be conducted within days, will be crucial in determining the cause and timing of the girl’s death, police said.<\/p>\n

A coronial process and full criminal investigation are now underway.<\/p>\n

Pathologists will look for signs of injury, trauma and any trace evidence that could further connect Jefferson to the death, with results to feed into both the homicide investigation and a future coronial inquiry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The outback search for a missing girl has ended in tragedy and a chilling warning to her accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-405216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405216","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=405216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}