MỘT TRƯỜNG HỢP VÔ CÙNG THƯƠNG TÂM: MỘT TRẺ EM 5 TUỔI BỊ BẮT CÓC VÀ SÁT HẠI DÃ MAN TẠI GẦN ALICE SPRING./-Mt68
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‘I know you’re in heaven’: Mother mourns her Little Baby
after tragic end to Alice Springs search
Hannah
Murphy and Heather McNeill
Updated April 30, 2026 — 7:02pm,first
published 2:25pm
The mother of a five-year-old girl abducted and found dead
near Alice Springs has penned a heartbreaking tribute to her daughter just
hours after police discovered her body by a river bank.
Kumanjayi Little Baby went missing from Old Timers camp on
Saturday night.Rob Roy
The girl, now referred to as Kumanjayi Little Baby for
cultural reasons, vanished from a home in Old Timers Aboriginal Town Camp on
Saturday night. Police believe she was abducted by Jefferson Lewis, 47, who was
staying in the area after having just been released from prison.
The girl’s body was found five kilometres south of the camp
on Thursday in what police have labelled “the worst possible outcome” of the
five-day search.
Her grieving mother, in a statement, said the child was so
loved.
“I know you are in heaven with the rest of the family with
Jesus, and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” she said.
The five-year-old’s family outside the property she was
taken from on Marshall Street on Saturday.Sam Mooy
“Me and your brother will meet you one day, we are giving
our lives to Jesus.
“It is going to be so hard to live the rest of our lives
without [you]. “Ramsiah [the girl’s brother] wants to tell you that when he
sees you in heaven, he is going to give you the biggest hug ever.”
NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole confirmed during an
emotional media conference on Thursday afternoon that the girl’s body had been
found.
3:01
'Worst possible outcome': NT Police speak after
five-year-old girl found dead
The body of missing Alice Springs girl Kumanjayi Little Baby
has been found five kilometres south of the camp where she was last seen,
police have revealed.
“Just before midday today, police members of the search
party located the body of a young Aboriginal girl we believe to be [the]
five-year-old,” he said.
“This is an incredibly distressing development. [The girl’s]
family have been formally notified, and our thoughts are firmly with them at
this devastating time.
“The focus right now is to locate Jefferson Lewis, that is
our sole job in this investigation right now,” he said.
“We say to the family of Jefferson Lewis that we believe
he’s murdered this child. Do not assist him – get him to the police station and
we’ll look after him.
“And I say to Jefferson Lewis: we’re coming for you.”
His comments followed the DNA testing of clothing found near
the camp that allegedly recovered two DNA profiles.
Relatives from across the Northern Territory and Kimberley
had flocked to the small house in Old Timers Camp to offer support to Kumanjayi
Little Baby’s family during the search.
Her paternal grandmother Peggy Rockman, in the hours before
police found her body, tearfully remembered the five-year-old girl’s “beautiful
relationship” with her father – her 29-year-old son.
Peggy Rockman cries for her missing granddaughter hours
before the young girl’s body was found. Sam Mooy
Rockman said she would often babysit the girl and her
brother, and said she remembered holding her hand while walking in community.
She said she “couldn’t wait for her to come home”.
“I love that little girl,” she said. Peggy’s
son is in custody, where it is understood he is receiving updates from police
and community members.
Kumanjayi Little Baby’s great aunt, Rose Spencer, said she
remembered when Lewis arrived at the community after being told by members of
another camp, Yuendumu, that he was not welcome there.
“When people come to camp after prison, it scares us,” she
said.
“We trusted him as a family. He was in [our family], but not
any more. We don’t trust people.”
Speaking to this masthead in the hours before Kumanjayi
Little Baby’s body was found, Spencer remembered her niece as a “happy, pretty
girl”, who called their tiny kitten Yellow and loved watching videos on
YouTube. She said the girl’s older brother was incredibly protective over
her, and said he would pick her up and dust her off every time she would fall
or hurt herself.
More than 160 police and volunteers were involved in the
search on Thursday.
A stretch of the Todd River behind the Old Timers Camp in
Alice Springs. Sam Mooy
Dole said police had believed Lewis was still in Alice
Springs and was being helped to evade detection.
The search for him was further hampered by the fact he has
no mobile phone, bank account or vehicle, forcing police to resort to
“1930s-style” shoe-leather policing.
NT Police have also reached out to neighbouring states, with
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirming his officers had attended Balgo, a
remote Aboriginal community in the Kimberley, where Lewis’ wife lives.
The lounge room of the house where Kumanjayi Little Baby was
abducted from at the Old Timers Camp. The photo was taken a day before her body
was found.Sam Mooy
“The family have made no sighting for the person that
Northern Territory Police are looking for,” Blanch said.
“But at least we’re working closely with all communities
across the northern parts of Western Australia to keep a lookout.”
Rose Spencer (left) and other family members speak with
police at Old Timers Camp on Thursday.Sam MooyNT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro
said she had spoken to the little girl’s mother, who was incredibly distraught.
Kumanjayi Little Baby.NT Police
“We now focus our energy on finding the person who did this
and bringing them to justice,” she said, adding that offering a reward to find
the alleged killer was “on the table”.
“Around 200 people have worked tirelessly around the clock
in searching for this beautiful little girl who went missing five days ago,
five days every Territorian has had their heart in their throat, waiting for
the moment that we got the announcement that she’d been found safe and well,”
she said.
“That news did not come, and it’s fair to say everyone is feeling this loss acutely.”./-