In the early hours of Sunday morning, the family of five-year old Sharon Granites reported her missing with Granites’ family saying that she was last seen when she was being put to bed just before 11:30pm on Saturday night.
Today, Northern Territory Police believe the toddler was abducted, with the main suspect described as a 47-year-old man named Jefferson Lewis, who has a long criminal history.
Since Sunday, police have been unable to locate the missing girl nor the suspect, who had recently been released from prison and was believed to have been staying at Sharon’s home on Marshall Court in the Old Timers Aboriginal town camp.
Today, officers resumed foot searches, with helicopters, a dog unit, horses, motorcycles and heat sensor drones being deployed. They have also repeated calls for public assistance. Currently, over sixty volunteers and members of both Northern Territory Emergency Services and NORFORCE (North-West Mobile Force) are searching for the missing girl.
According to ABC, the force’s elite Territory Response Group from Darwin are expected to join the search in the 20 square kilometres of “dense bushland.”
Acting Commander Mark Grieve told the media that the suspect “remains one of the few people who were in Old Timers Camp at the time and who has not made themselves known to police, nor have police been able to locate him.”
“We do believe Sharon has been abducted,” he said on Monday.
“He’s the only person that we haven’t been able to locate and speak to who was in and around that area at the time. Considering himself and Sharon went missing at around about the same time, it certainly brings about those suspicious circumstances and we’d like to speak to him about that.”
Acting Commander Grieve said police were “wrapping around” Sharon’s mother by providing “other accommodation just to provide her with some extra support.”
“Obviously it’s a terrible situation to have such a young child go missing,” he said. “We’re over 24 hours now so it’d certainly be my worst nightmare as a parent.”
“Please, if you’ve got any information, regardless of how small in detail you think it may be, please let us know,” he added. “You just don’t know what piece of information might complete the jigsaw puzzle. We want to find Sharon healthy and we want to get her back to her family.”
Anyone with information about Sharon’s disappearance are urged to call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 and quote reference number P26120934.
Image Credit: NT Police Force