Body believed to be missing Indigenous girl found, suspect sought in Australia

A body believed to be that of a missing five-year-old Indigenous girl was found south of Alice Springs on Thursday, as police hunted a 47-year-old suspect and a community that had mobilized for her safe return was left facing a grim outcome.

Police said the body was located shortly before midday about 5 kilometers south of the original crime scene, near the Old Timers/Ilyperenye Aboriginal town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs. The girl’s family had asked that she be referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby in line with Indigenous customs. Police also said they were searching for Jefferson Lewis, a recently released prisoner, whom they believe killed the child.

The case has drawn national attention because of the scale of the response and the circumstances around it. Hundreds of people joined land and air searches across the harsh Central Australian terrain, and the search quickly expanded into a fugitive operation after police publicly said they believed the child had been abducted. The girl was last seen at the town camp, which has nine households and about 40 residents and is maintained by Tangentyere Council. Police said she was put to bed just before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and reported missing about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Investigators said forensic testing on a pair of child’s underwear found DNA profiles belonging to both the girl and Lewis. They also said Lewis was identified through body-worn camera footage from an unrelated police visit to the town camp on Saturday night. The family has said the child could not talk and mainly communicated through hand gestures, and relatives described her as a very energetic little girl.

Northern Territory Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Malley said the search for Lewis remained the priority. “The focus right now is to locate Jefferson Lewis. It is our sole job in this investigation right now,” he said, adding to the suspect: “We’re coming for you.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on X that his “heart is broken” and that “no words can measure up to the immensity of the grief her family is going through.”

Beyond the criminal case, the killing has again exposed the vulnerability of Indigenous families in remote Australia. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says First Nations people make up about 3.8% of Australia’s population but 32% of the prison population, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population at 812,000 in the 2021 Census, or 3.2% of the population. The same health agency says suicide deaths among First Nations people were more than twice the rate for non-Indigenous Australians in 2018-2022, and the federal Closing the Gap target to reduce Indigenous adult incarceration by at least 15% by 2031 is not on track.