Body believed to be missing Alice Springs girl found after five-day search

Northern Territory Police found a body believed to be that of five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby just before midday on Thursday, about 5 kilometres south of a crime scene in Alice Springs, ending a five-day search that had drawn on survival experts and one of the force’s biggest investigations in years.

Police said the girl vanished from the Old Timers/Ilyperenye Aboriginal town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs after being put to bed just before 11:30pm on Saturday, April 25. Her family reported her missing about 1:30am on Sunday, April 26, after she could not be found at the home on Marshall Court.

Officers are still searching for 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, a recently released prisoner who was staying at the house. Police said Lewis was last seen holding hands with the girl on Saturday night and believe he abducted and killed her. Investigators have said the search carried a sense of urgency as the “timeframe of survivability” narrowed.

The girl’s family asked that she be referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby for cultural reasons. Police also said she was non-verbal and communicated mostly through hand gestures, a detail that made the search more difficult and deepened concern about her ability to signal where she was or what she needed if she were still alive.

Forensic results have come back on items found at the scene, including a doona cover, a yellow shirt police say Lewis was wearing, and a pair of child’s underwear. Police have not said publicly how those results fit into the broader investigation, but they have treated the discovery as part of a homicide inquiry.

The search stretched across a small and tightly connected community. Old Timers/Ilyperenye has about nine households and around 40 residents, and it is maintained by Tangentyere Council. Police compared the operation in scale to the search for Peter Falconio in 2001, underscoring how rare and resource-intensive the effort had become.

The girl’s death has left Alice Springs in mourning and renewed attention on the dangers facing Indigenous children in remote communities, where distance, limited services and the vulnerability of children who cannot easily describe what is happening to them can complicate rescue and protection. Police said the family had been formally notified as the search for Lewis continued.