00:01This is such a distressing and tragic update in what has already been an extremely traumatic
00:09time for the Alice Springs community and of course for the family of this little five
00:15year old girl.
00:16We will now be referring to her as Kumijai little baby.
00:20That is for cultural reasons and also at the request of her family.
00:25As you just mentioned there, this has been an extremely extensive operation, a search
00:31desperately trying to locate this little girl since she went missing over the weekend.
00:36It's involved hundreds of volunteers, a very large number of police resources have been
00:42poured in to try to locate her over the last couple of days and just a short time ago we
00:48did get an update from Northern Territory Police.
00:51It was fairly brief.
00:52Police essentially said that they're not in a position to be answering too many questions
00:57or providing too many details at this stage.
00:59But what we can tell you is that as you said, her body was found just before midday, just
01:05a little way south of that community town camp where she was last seen on Saturday night.
01:12Police said that at this stage they can't comment on her cause of death or how long she might
01:18have been deceased before her body was located.
01:22They said a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
01:26A criminal investigation is still very much on foot and a coronial investigation will also
01:31be commenced.
01:33Of particular concern in this investigation are some items that were located near the crime
01:41scene during this surge for Kumanjai little baby and that included a pair of underwear which
01:47they believe did belong to that little five-year-old girl.
01:51Those items, including that pair of underwear, were sent for forensic testing over the last
01:5624 hours and police were able to tell us today that those results have been returned.
02:01Two DNA profiles were located or identified on that pair of underwear.
02:08One they believe matches that of that little five-year-old girl and the other matches the
02:15DNA profile of 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis, the man who police are still trying to find.
02:22Now our police commissioner and police during that press conference just a short time ago
02:29gave a message to Jefferson Lewis.
02:32Take a listen to what they had to say.
02:35The focus right now is to locate Jefferson Lewis, it is our sole job in this investigation right
02:43now.
02:44So I say to the family of Jefferson Lewis that we believe he's murdered this child, do not
02:52assist him, get him to the police station and we'll look after him.
02:56And I say to Jefferson Lewis, we're coming for you.
03:01We're coming for you, though, is the words from police to that 47-year-old man who remains
03:08at large at this stage.
03:11This has been such an incredible effort from the community of Alice Springs over the last
03:17few days.
03:17As you say, this is the news that everyone was dreading.
03:21Police said that this is the worst possible outcome.
03:24It's obviously going to be an extremely difficult time for the family and for the community of
03:29Alice Springs.
03:30This search has been really difficult, made no easier by the extremely challenging conditions
03:36currently down in Alice Springs, where they've been searching people working night and day
03:41through difficult weather conditions, you know, trying to make their way through waist-high
03:46grass.
03:47But as I say, every possible resource has been diverted to trying to locate her.
03:52And of course, this now comes an extremely tragic update.
03:56But of course, this investigation certainly isn't over.
03:58And I'm sure that there will be more updates to come over the coming hours and the coming
04:02days.
04:02Please.
04:02Please.
04:02All right.
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