Kumanjayi Little Baby’s relatives have released a statement saying they felt “helpless” when they heard she was missing, and hope their community can unite in grief.

“A life so precious, so full of innocence, gone far too soon,” the Gurindji families said of the five-year-old Warlpiri girl, who was found dead in Alice Springs on Thursday evening – five days after she had gone missing from her bed in the Old Timers town camp.

Jefferson Lewis, 47, was arrested in connection with her disappearance and is expected to be charged as soon as Saturday.

“From a distance, [we] first heard the sounds on TV – a child missing, abducted, taken and ripped away from her mother’s life,” the Gurindji families said in the statement shared by Northern Territory senator and minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy.

“We felt helpless, holding on to hope that someone, somewhere would bring news – an update, a sign, anything.

“Then came the voice of the police commissioner, echoing with heartbreak. In that moment, we knew she was gone.

“The pain of that reality will stay with us.”

Kumanjayi Little Baby’s grandfather called for calm on Friday after unrest outside the Alice Springs hospital, where Lewis had been taken after being assaulted at the town camp.

“It is time now for sorry business,” Robin Granites, a senior Warlpiri elder, said.

“Everyone is feeling very upset and emotions are very high. Our children are precious, of course we are feeling angry and hurt at what has happened.”

Lewis was later transferred to Darwin due to safety concerns and was discharged into police custody.

“We’re expecting police to lay charges today,” the NT chief minister, Lia Finnochiaro, told Channel 7’s Sunrise on Saturday morning.

“Obviously, they’re being left to do their important work, and no one wants to jeopardise anything that gets in the way of bringing the person who did this to justice.

“But I think Territorians and Australians, who are incredibly invested in this outcome, would expect to see the police make a move today.”

Hundreds of volunteers joined emergency services personnel in the five-day search for Kumanjayi Little Baby.

“We’ve had extraordinary numbers, hundreds and hundreds of people, coming together to try and find this beautiful little five-year-old girl, and obviously everyone’s heart is just completely broken right now as we move into grieving,” Finnochiaro told Sky News on Saturday.

She said the scene outside the hospital after the arrest was “really, truly truly horrific, but it was isolated”.

“We had police officers injured, firies, ambulances … it has been dealt with, and we move forward stronger as a community and wait to see what charges police lay.”

She said everyone she spoke to had condemned the unrest, and that she had met with Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother on Friday.

“She was just as appalled as everyone else is,” she said.

The Gurindji families thanked everyone who helped in the search for the child.

“It is [our] hope that this unity we have seen – people coming together, standing strong – will continue to grow, so we can walk forward together, shoulder to shoulder, as one community,” they said.

• Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Mensline on 1300 789 978

• This story and its headline and picture caption were amended on 2 May 2026, to give the culturally correct name for the girl: Kumanjayi Little Baby