Missing girl Sharon Granites’s family urges anyone with information to come forward

Young girl in pink dress does peace sign with fingers

Five-year-old Sharon has been missing for more than four days.  (Supplied: NT Police Force)

In short:

Family members of Sharon Granites, a missing five-year-old girl who police believe has been abducted, are appealing to members of the public for any information that could help find her.

They describe her as a “very energetic” girl who is “only a little baby” and say they are holding out hope she will be found safe.

What’s next?

Police are continuing to search for Sharon, as well as 47-year-old man Jefferson Lewis who is suspected to have abducted her.


Family members of a missing five-year-old believed to have been abducted in Alice Springs have spoken to the ABC for the first time, pleading for anyone with information that could help find their “energetic” little girl to come forward.

Sharon Granites was reported missing from the Old Timers town camp in the early hours of Sunday, with police alleging she has been abducted by 47-year-old man Jefferson Lewis, who they are also trying to locate.

Police have been appealing to the public for information to help find the pair, saying they believe some community members are withholding information about Mr Lewis’ whereabouts, and now family members of the little girl have joined the pleas.

Sitting outside the house in Old Timers town camp, where Sharon was allegedly abducted from, her kinship grandfather Robin Japanangka Graniteswept and called for her safe return.

Robin sits outside the town camp

Robin Japanangka Granites says Sharon is “only a little baby” and her family has been “crying, crying” since she went missing. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)

“A very terrible thing, a horrible thing, and we wanted to try and see if we could get her back, but we can’t,” he said.

“[We’ve been] crying, crying, and doing what we meant to be doing, and being out there with our family crying… and that’s not what we want, we want to be going out and searching for her.

“She’s only a little baby.”

Family members have told the ABC that Sharon is unable to talk and communicates mostly through hand gestures.

Her great-uncle Rob Roy, who lives in the remote NT community of Kalkarindji, said he was urging anyone with information to come forward.

He said Sharon and some of her family had visited him not long ago, and described her as “very energetic”.

“She’s one of those little girls who roam around, run around, not fussed about anything,”

he said.

Close up of middle aged Indigenous man with beard

Rob Roy says Sharon is a “very energetic” little girl. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)

He said he remembered how, during her last visit, five-year-old Sharon had sung by babbling along to the music.

“I know for sure she’s one of those girls who likes her TikTok or YouTube.

“If you give her a little iPad or phone, she’ll just sit one place and not move because she’s being entertained by what she’s watching.

“Every night when I sit down I wonder, ‘What would she be doing now, what would she be eating?’”

‘We still have our hopes up’

Bess Nungarrayi Price, a Warlpiri Alice Springs community leader and a member of the little girl’s extended family, said Sharon’s mother and grandmothers were distraught.

A woman looks seriously at the camera. She has curly grey, shoulder-length hair. A man is sitting next to her.

Bess Price says Sharon’s family members are calling on Jeffererson Lewis to come forward. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)

“We are hoping, the family’s hoping, that she’s still alive, and hopefully they can return her to her grandmothers, and her mother,” she said.

“We still have our hopes up and we hope that we do find her. The whole family is just traumatised, but we still hope that we can find her and that she’s okay.”

Ms Price, who is also a former NT government child protection minister, said the family was appealing directly to Mr Lewis — a recently released prisoner — to provide them with any information he may have about where Sharon is.

History of man police are searching for over 5yo missing girl

A mugshot of an Aboriginal man, serious expression looking directly at camera, yellow / orange pigment behind brown eyes.

A man being sought in connection with the alleged abduction of five-year-old Sharon Granites near Alice Springs has a long history of violence and prison time in the Northern Territory.

“The family really want the man to be brought in so they can question him as to whether he’s been involved or not,” Ms Nungarrayi Price said.

“It is important that they do, or he surrenders himself to the police or to somebody, and just gives us some information at least as to where the girl might be.

“What the family are saying is we want to ask him, or for him to tell whoever he’s been staying with, if she’s safe and where they can find her, if he has got her.”

They fell silent when they saw it.” 😶
A local resident involved in the search said the atmosphere changed instantly when police found an object near Sharon Granites.
Not because of what the object was — but because of its origin.
And that connection is something police still haven’t fully explained… 💔👇

 

The search for five-year-old Sharon Granites, which drew hundreds of volunteers into the unforgiving terrain of the Northern Territory, reached a psychological breaking point not when the search ended, but when a specific physical object was recovered near the site. According to local residents who were assisting the tactical response group, the atmosphere shifted from one of frantic energy to a heavy, stunned silence the moment an officer signaled a discovery in the brush. The object itself was reported to be a common household item, something that would normally be overlooked in a residential setting, but its presence in the middle of the outback was a jarring anomaly. However, the true source of the investigators’ silence was not the item’s function, but its origin—a connection that reportedly links back to a location associated with Jefferson Lewis that should have been impossible for him to access.

This mysterious object has become a central pillar of a new investigative hypothesis regarding the logistical support Lewis may have had. While DNA has firmly placed Lewis at the scene, the origin of this specific item suggests it was sourced from a high-security environment or a private residence miles away that had no official connection to the suspect. If the item was part of a “set” or a “kit” that Lewis could not have legally obtained, its presence near Sharon Granites implies a level of premeditation and preparation that exceeds the capabilities of a man living on the fringes of society. The silence of the police regarding this origin is whispered to be because the item points toward a “third-party connection” or a failure in the monitoring of Lewis following his recent release from prison, a detail that could have significant legal and political repercussions.

The connection between the object’s origin and the suspect is something the Northern Territory Police have kept under a strict gag order, leading to intense speculation within the Alice Springs community. One theory posits that the object was a piece of specialized equipment that would only be found in a specific type of vehicle or a government-regulated facility. If Lewis was seen in the CCTV footage carrying a bag or a container, investigators believe this object was the contents of that package. Its origin provides a “digital-physical” link; while Lewis had no phone or bank account to track, the unique serial number or manufacturing mark on this object serves as a physical GPS, tracing his movements back to a primary location that the public has not yet been told about.

Furthermore, this object’s origin might finally explain the “clean shoes” paradox. If the item recovered was a protective barrier or a specific type of flooring material used to line a transport vessel, it would confirm that Sharon was never allowed to touch the red earth during her final journey. The silence of the searchers when they saw it was the realization that they weren’t just looking for a lost child; they were looking at the remnants of a calculated, organized effort to conceal a human being. The object acted as a signature of the perpetrator’s recent history, a breadcrumb from a life he tried to leave behind that followed him all the way to the Todd River.

The impact of this discovery on the volunteers has been profound, with many describing a sense of “instant dread” upon seeing the officers’ reactions. It was the moment the community realized that the disappearance of Sharon Granites was not a random tragedy of the bush, but a crime involving a specific “source” and a deliberate “path.” For Sharon’s mother, the news of the object’s origin was reportedly another layer of the “unforgettable” information she received on that longest night, as it linked her daughter’s fate to a place she never imagined. The object remains in a forensic locker, a silent witness to a logistical trail that leads directly to Jefferson Lewis, even as the authorities refuse to explain how such a connection was ever allowed to form.

As the case updates continue to surface, the mystery of the “unlisted object” and its origin remains the most guarded secret of the prosecution. It is the piece of evidence that bridges the gap between the “sickening detail” of the CCTV footage and the discovery of the body. Until the police provide a transparent account of where that item came from and how it reached the riverbed, the story of Sharon Granites will be haunted by the shadow of a third location and the silence of a search team that saw a truth they weren’t prepared to process. The object stands as a grim testament to the fact that in the outback, everything has an origin, and every origin eventually tells a story.