Inside the 18-day search for Cleo Smith
For 18 days a country held its breath, waiting to see if a four-year-old girl would be found after she was snatched from her bed in the middle of the night.
WA News
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Terence Darrell Kelly was sentenced to 13½ years in prison on Wednesday for the kidnap of a young girl near his home in the West Australian Gascoyne town of Carnarvon.
Kelly, then 36, held the girl hostage at his house on Tonkin Crescent for 2½ weeks before police tracked him down and rescued her in a daring early morning raid.
Those 18 days when Cleo Smith was missing gripped WA, as people waited for any news of the girl being found and authorities worked behind the scenes around the clock.
It started on Friday, October 15, 2021 when Cleo, then four years old, arrived at the Point Quobba Blowholes Campground with her family.
The campsite is about a 50-minute drive north of her home town of Carnarvon, which in turn is about 900km north of the state capital, Perth.
Cleo, her mother Ellie Smith, stepfather Jake Gliddon and baby sister Isla had headed to the remote campsite for their first family camping trip.
More than 100 other people were there that night as the family arrived and pitched their new tent, big enough to fit the four of them. The parents put the girls to bed about 8pm and went to bed themselves about an hour later.
DAY ONE
It was about 1.30am on Saturday when Cleo woke to ask Ms Smith for a glass of water. She got the girl a drink and went back to sleep.
Some time between 2.40am and 4.40am, Kelly, who had been using methamphetamine that evening, unzipped a wall of the tent.
He had intended to steal valuables from the tent but decided to make off with Cleo instead.
18-month-old Isla woke Ms Smith again about 6am. She stepped through the divider which separated the rooms of the tent and noticed the tent’s wall flap was open, and Cleo was no longer on her mattress.
“Cleo’s gone,” Ms Smith said to Mr Gliddon, before the two frantically searched outside and around their campsite with no luck.
Triple-zero was called at 6.23am, with the first police car arriving on the scene at 7.10am.
By 8.34am, a mobile policing unit and a drone operator were en route from Geraldton, friends had volunteered to join an SES search party, the scene around the tent had been cordoned off, and the road to Blowholes had been closed.
Later that morning, a public appeal for information was put out on social media, and police and emergency resources were called in from Perth.
“We're not leaving anything to chance,” WA Police Inspector Jon Munday said in a media conference.
DAY THREE
The Monday after Cleo went missing, police released another image of her as well as images of her sleeping bag and the pyjamas she was put to bed in on the Friday night.
Searches were still being carried out by land, air, and sea, and police were questioning people in towns hundreds, and even thousands, of kilometres away from Carnarvon.
Police were reluctant to rule out abduction as homicide squad detectives joined the investigation.
DAY FOUR
On the Tuesday following Cleo’s disappearance, Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon gave their first television interview with the ABC.
“I know she can get through whatever she's going through,” Ms Smith said.
“She'd be terrified, she’d be so scared.
“If you see something, report it … it doesn't matter if it’s small or big or if you’re sure or not … we want our little girl home.”
DAY SIX
WA Premier Mark McGowan announced a $1m reward for information leading to Cleo being found or the arrest or conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
It’s since been revealed by Police Commissioner Col Blanch that no one was ever considered for the reward.
Meanwhile, major crime squad Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde fronted the media in Perth to update them on the ongoing search and announce the formation of Taskforce Rodia.
“Given the information we have gleaned from the scene, the fact the search has gone on for this period of time … that leads us to believe [Cleo] was taken from the tent,” Superintendent Wilde said.
It’s what had been widely believed to have happened since it was revealed the zip to the tent wall was far too high for Cleo to have reached on her own.
DAY NINE
A lead came through that gave investigators hope: two people heading to work along North West Coastal Highway, which intersects with Blowholes Rd, about 3.30am on October 16 spotted a car.
It was pulling out of Blowholes Rd, and while the information was sparse, it was determined the pair had seen a sedan or wagon.
DAYS 10-17
Once the search was well and truly into its second week, the investigation seemed to slow.
The lead involving the car spotted leaving Blowholes Rd had gone nowhere; no one had come forward to claim they were the driver.
Thousands of other tips had trickled into detectives, but almost all also went nowhere.
Officers searched the Carnarvon home of Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon; however, police assured the public it was standard procedure in these investigations.
They were also searching through rubbish collected across the region and scouring the internet – including the recesses of the dark web – to try to find clues as to Cleo’s whereabouts.
Mr Blanch, who was assistant police commissioner at the time, fronted the media on the search’s 17th day – unaware the ordeal was almost over.
“It’s difficult to keep the hope up, there is no doubt about it, the longer it goes,” he said.
“But I know those investigators are still focused absolutely on this case, trying to bring Cleo home.”
Details released during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing painted a picture of what went on in Kelly’s home during this time.
Cleo was allowed to wander around the house while Kelly was home, otherwise she was locked in a bedroom while her captor went about his usual business in the local community.
When Cleo cried and begged to be returned to her parents, Kelly would turn up the radio to drown out the girl and hide her presence from neighbours.
On occasion, Kelly would get angry with her and “smack her” or “rough her up”.
During the 18-day ordeal, no one else visited Kelly’s home.
But detectives had managed to piece together the vital clues they needed, and by November 3, they had the approvals they needed to pounce.
DAY 18
It was about 12.45am on November 3 when officers arrived at a property along Tonkin Crescent in Carnarvon – just a short drive from Cleo’s own home.
They found the house locked and forced entry. This part of the ordeal was caught on camera by WA Police.
Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine was one of four men who led the charge into the house.
They found a young girl sitting on a bed in one of the rooms.
“What’s your name?” Sergeant Blaine asks the girl three times before he gets the answer: “My … my name is Cleo.”
By 4am, the news was officially announced: after 18 agonising days, Cleo Smith had been found.
That same day Kelly was taken into police custody, where he would give two four-hour police interviews.
AFTERMATH
Kelly made his first appearance in a Carnarvon court the following day, November 4, on a charge of child stealing and was due to be flown to Perth on November 5.
That night, as he was being led back to a holding cell in Carnarvon Police Station, Kelly pushed past officers, ran into a room, and used a riot shield to hit at officers’ hands as they tried to disarm him.
He was charged with assault public officer, but this would eventually be downgraded to obstructing police.
On January 24, 2022, Kelly admitted to kidnapping Cleo.
In February, Cleo’s parents announced they were getting married.
Kelly was due to be sentenced in December that year, but the sentencing was postponed and eventually set down for April 5, 2023.
In January this year he pleaded guilty to the obstructing police charge and was fined $1000.
And on Wednesday, the now 37-year-old was sentenced to 13½ years in prison for kidnapping Cleo, backdated to his arrest on November 3, 2021. He will be eligible for parole after having served 11½ years.
That afternoon, Mr Blanch called for privacy so Cleo and her family could finally get some closure, more than 500 days since their harrowing ordeal.
Originally published as Inside the 18-day search for Cleo Smith
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