The Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole will be providing an update this morning on the search for missing five-year-old girl Sharon Granites to ABC Radio Alice Springs.
NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole will be speaking to ABC Radio Alice Springs this morning to provide an update on the search for five-year-old Sharon Granites.
Just nowWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:50pm
Police confirm Jefferson Lewis wasn’t on bail
Police have previously told the media that Jefferson Lewis had only been released from prison six days prior to the day Sharon Granites went missing.
Commissioner Dole confirmed in this instance, Mr Lewis was not on bail, instead he was released from prison after his full sentence had been served.
“So he wasn’t subject to any conditions,” Commissioner Dole said.
4m agoWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:45pm
Police explain why they believe Jefferson Lewis is in Alice Springs
Commissioner Dole offered reasoning for police’s belief that Jefferson Lewis is still in Alice Springs and being helped by some members of the community.
“The evidence is the lack of information. It is the absence of any sightings, anybody seeing him since the sighting at [Old Timers] camp that evening, that is highly unusual,” Commissioner Dole said.
“By now we would have some information, somewhere that somebody would have said, ‘Yes we have seen that man somewhere in the last four days,’ and in that absence [it] tells us someone is assisting.”
The commissioner added that “extensive searches” had also been done in communities outside of Alice Springs where police know Jefferson Lewis has “linkages”.
A lack of any sightings from people in those communities has led police to believe he is still in Alice Springs.
“People in communities know when there’s somebody that’s there that shouldn’t be there or somebody that’s not normally there, that’s not the information we’ve got, so we’re quite confident that he’s not in any of the areas that we know he’s got linkages to.”
13m agoWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:36pm
Sharon’s non-verbal communication ‘complicates’ search
Commissioner Dole acknowledges family reports that Sharon Granites is non-verbal, often communicating with her hands.
He said that this factor does “complicate” the search in a variety of scenarios.
If she is with Jefferson Lewis still, it means “she’s unable to communicate needs”.
And if she’s wandered off at some stage, it makes searching “difficult” because “she’s not able to communicate with searchers”.
18m agoWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:31pm
Commissioner says resources poured into search similar to Falconio case
Commissioner Dole says the investigation into the case of Sharon Granites is “the biggest one I can recall in a very long time”.
Noting comparisons to the Peter Falconio case, the commissioner said “that is the type of resources we’re pouring into this”.
“We’ve got specialist sections here, we’ve got assistance from interstate, we’ve had offers from interstate all over the other jurisdictions, we’ve got inquiries happening in other jurisdictions, and we’re pouring every available resources down here to assist,” he said
“And overwhelming support from the community as well.”
25m agoWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:25pm
Police believe people are assisting Jefferson Lewis
NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole says he is still adamant that there are people who know information about the whereabouts of Jefferson Lewis.
“Our hope is that piece of information comes through, that someone in the community knows something and that they let us know,” he said.
“There’s people out there who are assisting, and that do know something, and that aren’t feeding that information into the authorities.”
32m agoWed 29 Apr 2026 at 10:18pm
NT police commissioner speaking to ABC Radio Alice Springs
This morning NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole will be speaking to ABC Radio Alice Springs to provide an update on the search for missing five-year-old Alice Springs girl Sharon Granites.
Today marks day five of the search for little Sharon, who vanished from a home at Old Timers town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs.
Sharon Granites has been missing since Saturday night. (Supplied: Rob Roy)
Police have been treating her case as a major crime, with suspicions that a 47-year-old man named Jefferson Lewis abducted her late on Saturday night.
If you’d like to listen to the interview live, you can stream it on ABC Listen, but I’ll also be bringing you updates as it airs.
Relatives of missing Alice Springs girl Sharon Granites are all holding onto hope she is still alive, as the search enters a fifth day.
NT Police suspect a recently released prisoner, 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, abducted the five-year-old from a house at the Old Timers town camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs late on Saturday night.
Sharon Granites was last seen on Saturday night. (Supplied: Rob Roy)
Police have said Mr Lewis was staying at the house where Sharon disappeared, sparking a frantic search that is now entering its fifth day.
Police believe people in the community “absolutely know” where Mr Lewis is, and have urged anyone who may be helping him or know where he is to come forward.
“We believe that there are members of the community that absolutely know where Jefferson Lewis is,” Commissioner Dole 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.”
Martin Dole and Peter Malley have provided an update on the search for the missing five-year-old. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)
Police are looking for Mr Lewis in Alice Springs, Central and Western Australia and have alerted other interstate police forces.
Assistant Commissioner Peter Malley said the search for Mr Lewis had been challenging, largely due to his lack of a digital footprint.
“”This man doesn’t have a telephone, doesn’t have a bank account, he doesn’t have a car, so some of the usual practices we do in 2026 aren’t applicable,” he said.
“Hence the amount of resources we have on the ground — we’re knocking on doors, we’re going through houses.
“It’s going back to 1930s policing without that digital footprint.”
Police found several personal items at a crime scene at the town camp, which have been sent for forensic testing in Darwin.
Alice Springs community bands together in search for little girlLoading…
Local residents have continued to turn out in their dozens to help the increasingly desperate search for Sharon.
Parts of the foot search area are overgrown with buffel grass, making the search slow going.
‘Only a little baby’: Family of missing 5yo Sharon Granites speaks
Police have been joined by Defence personnel, Aboriginal corporations, organisations, politicians, community volunteers and everyday residents.
On Wednesday, police said search teams had covered around five square kilometres on foot looking for Sharon.
Sharon’s grandfather Robin Granites said his family was devastated, but that police were doing all they could.
He said he was grateful for the community for banding together.
Robin Granites says Sharon is “only a little baby” and her family has been “crying, crying” since she went missing. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)
“The only thing we can do is being on the sorry business and crying, and that’s not what we want, we want to be going out and searching for her, she’s only a little baby,” he told the ABC.
Police have urged anyone with information to call them on 131 444, or Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
What we know about the night Sharon went missing
Sharon and her mother were visiting a home at the Old Timers / Ilyperenye Aboriginal camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs.
Five-year-old Sharon went missing from Alice Springs’ Old Timers town camp. (Supplied: NT Police Force )
The town camp is a small community, with only nine households and about 40 residents, which is maintained by the local Aboriginal corporation Tangentyere Council.
Police have said Sharon and her mother were visiting the home of some people they knew well, to do some Saturday laundry.
As the evening went on, police say a party was held at the house for a “social occasion”, with several people in attendance.
One of those people was Jefferson Lewis, a 47-year-old man who was staying at the home at Old Timers after having been released from prison six days prior.
History of man police are searching for over 5yo missing girl
Police said at 11pm that night Mr Lewis was seen by those in the area for the last time, and he was with a little girl believed to be Sharon.
“He was last seen with the little girl holding hands,” police said on Tuesday.