Police are searching for Jefferson Lewis, suspected of abducting 5-year-old Sharon Granites (pictured) in Alice Springs. Photo / NT Police
Police have uncovered critical pieces of evidence believed to belong to a man suspected of snatching a 5-year-old girl from her Alice Springs home as the search reaches its fourth day.
Sharon Granites, 5, is believed to have been abducted from her home at Old Timers Camp in Alice Springs on Saturday, April 25.
NT Police suspect 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis – who they said was at the house at the time of Sharon’s disappearance – may have taken the five-year-old.
Police said Lewis was seen walking out of the house “with the little girl, holding hands” about 11pm.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner Peter Malley said they seized key pieces of evidence at the crime scene on Sunday.
He said the extended crime scene was “really contaminated” by others who were camping at the site, but not involved in the suspected abduction.
“We have seized a number of items from that crime scene, being a doona cover, the shirt that Jefferson Lewis was wearing, and a pair of child’s underwear,” he said.
Police said it was possible the 5-year-old was sexually assaulted.
“Those items have been forensically examined and we should have those results back tomorrow to maybe confirm or deny that,” he said.
“Those items have now been transported to Darwin and they are undergoing forensic analysis and I expect to have that back [on Thursday].”
Malley said police believe Lewis was still in the local area.
He said there had been several roadblocks in trying to track Mr Lewis down, including members of the community who were withholding information.
“[There are] people in the community that are not telling us what we need to hear and that is really frustrating,” he said.
“We believe there are serious offences being committed and people are withholding information from the police.”
He said he believed people were helping hide Mr Lewis from police.
“Let me be clear about one thing in relation to that, we believe that there are members of the community that absolutely know where Jefferson Lewis is,” he said.
“What I want to say to you is tell us. Tell us what you know. Tell us where he is. Tell us how to contact him.
“If you are withholding information because you are frightened, please have confidence that we will treat that information sensitively.”
A lack of digital footprint was also making the search for Lewis harder, Malley told reporters.
“It is very unusual that we have absolutely no contact, no trace and no location of Mr Lewis,” he said.
“This man does not have a telephone, a bank account, a car – so some of the usual practices that we do in 2026 are not applicable, hence the amount of resources we have on the ground.
“We are knocking on doors, going through houses; old-style policing, and it is a hard slog.”
Despite the child being missing for more than 72 hours and no confirmed signs of life, Malley told reporters police still believe Sharon is still alive.
“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,” he said.
“But once again, we’re considering everything, and she may have come to harm, but we still think she is alive and our number-one mission is to find her safe and well.
“We’re on the [survivability] threshold, hence the urgency, but, like I said, yesterday, as time goes on, the chances of finding Sharon alive are well reduced.”
As the search enters its fourth day, police are continuing to scour Alice Springs with the assistance of emergency services and volunteers from the Tangentyere Council and Purple House.
The search has continued in the 20sq km radius of the Old Timers Camp.
So far, police have “extensively searched” 5sq km of the area by foot while the helicopter has scoured more than 80sq km.
“There has been a huge turnout from local community members attending the staging point to assist with the search, boots on the ground is well over 100 people,” an NT Police spokesman told NewsWire.
The major crime unit is also working in conjunction with Alice Springs police, with the fugitive task force called to the town to assist in the search.
Officers from the Western Australia Police have been called in to assist, with police in Queensland and South Australia also on alert.
Lewis has relatives in Western Australia, who have since been contacted by police.
“[WA Police officers] have attended that community and conducted inquiries there,” Mr Malley said.
Old Timers Camp is located on the outskirts of Alice Springs, and is home to about 40 residents spread across nine households.
About 130 volunteers were on the ground as part of the search efforts on Tuesday, with police expecting the same number to assist on Wednesday.
“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,” Senior Constable Karl Von Minden told ABC.
“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.”
He said the search team and volunteers were going over key areas multiple times, and will continue to expand on Wednesday.
He explained the tough terrain was made trickier to navigate due to shoulder-high barrel grass, uneven sand and rocky terrain.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Finocchiaro told 2GB the response from the Alice Springs community had been “incredible”.
“People are walking shoulder-to shoulder through the bush, trying to leave no stone unturned in a very large area of Alice Springs,” she said.
The search will continue on Wednesday morning, with drones, choppers, dozens of volunteers and police.
MFinocchiaro said the search was a “well-co-ordinated exercise” and police were hopeful of locating Sharon “healthy and well”.
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