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Northern Territory police say a five-year-old Aboriginal girl who disappeared from her Alice Springs home may have been abducted.

Sharon was reported missing by family members at 1.35am on Sunday. She had last been seen in her bed in the family home in the Old Timers camp at 11.30pm on Saturday evening.

A police acting commander, Mark Grieve, told reporters on Monday that the force was searching for a 47-year-old man named Jefferson Lewis who had disappeared from the camp about the same time.

“We do believe Sharon has been abducted and we believe Mr Jefferson may be able to provide us with some information,” Grieve said.

“He currently 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 at this point.”

Grieve said Lewis was known to authorities for domestic and family violence-related offences. He added that Lewis had recently been released from prison but was not subject to any supervision orders.

Waking up to find a child gone was every family’s “worst nightmare”, he said, and Sharon’s mother had been provided with extensive support including alternative accommodation.

“It’s a terrible situation to have such a young child go missing,” he said. “We’re just over 24 hours now, so it’d certainly be my worst nightmare as a parent. We’re wrapping around the mother.”

Sharon was last seen wearing a dark blue short-sleeve T-shirt with a white stripe around the neck and sleeves, and a pair of black boxers-style underwear.

Police said they believed Lewis was not related to Sharon but was “peripherally known” to the family and was “in and around the house at some stage”.

There is a large-scale ground and aerial search, including drones, mounted police and canine units, as well as community volunteers, scouring the area around the camp, including the nearby Todd River and bushland.

A separate criminal investigation was being handled by major crime detectives, Grieve said.

“If you’ve got any information, regardless of how small in detail you think it may be, please let us know,” he said. “We want to find Sharon healthy, and we want to get her back to her family.”