04/28/2026, 09:1304/28/2026, 09:13
The story moves Australia: Since the weekend, the police have been intensively searching for a five-year-old girl in the outback around the small town of Alice Springs. Little Sharon disappeared on Sunday night (local time) from a house in the so-called Old Timers Town Camp on the outskirts of the city.
Five-year-old Sharon has disappeared.Image: Northern Territory police
Investigators now believe that the child was kidnapped. The focus is on a 47-year-old man who is said to have been in the house in the indigenous settlement at the time of the crime and had only been released from prison a few days earlier.
According to police, he had served an 18-month prison sentence for serious violent crimes. He is said to have had a “loose connection” with the child’s family. According to investigators, he was last seen holding the child’s hand late Saturday evening. Since then there has been no trace of either of them. The motive behind the crime was still unclear.
The police are looking for this man.Image: Northern Territory police
Search with drones and indigenous trackers
A huge search operation is underway in the remote desert region. Hundreds of emergency services, supported by volunteers, comb through an impassable area of dense bushland – on foot, with off-road motorcycles, horses, drones and helicopters. Experienced indigenous trackers are also on duty. They have deep, traditional knowledge to read traces of people or animals in nature.
Alice Springs is located in the so-called “Red Center” of Australia, almost exactly in the geographical center of the continent in the Northern Territory. The remote desert city in the outback is characterized by enormous distances: the nearest major cities – Adelaide in the south and Darwin in the north – are each more than 1,000 kilometers away.
Officials and volunteers are searching for the missing child in Australia.Image: www.imago-images.de
Dangerous conditions in the wilderness
With every hour the worry grows. According to their own statements, the officials still hold on to the hope that the girl is still alive. However, the search is difficult: the terrain is confusing, the grass is partly high, and the temperatures fluctuate greatly between cool nights and hot days. These conditions can quickly become dangerous for a five-year-old child.
Support comes from the population. Dozens of volunteers are helping with the search, and local organizations are coordinating operations. The girl’s family is being cared for by a crisis team. “The return of Sharon to her family remains the Northern Territory Police’s top priority,” said Acting Chief Constable Peter Malley. (dab/sda/dpa)