Cleo Smith reunited with family as alleged abductor rushed to hospital
WA Premier Mark McGowan has met with Cleo Smith and her family, describing them as “humble” and “well-adjusted”, as police also revealed how she has spent her first day at home.
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WA Premier Mark McGowan has met with Cleo Smith and her family, describing them as “humble” and “well-adjusted” given their daughter’s abduction.
Mr McGowan said he did a “few high fives” with Cleo, who had spent the day playing in the backyard and she was eating an icy pole. he said she had done “a bit of sleeping and a lot of eating, a lot of lying around and cuddling”.
“She is bubbly, playing, friendly and sweet, she was eating an icy pole, she told me it was very sticky to eat, she was just delightful,” he said.
“She was a very bright, upbeat, sweet little girl.”
“She heard the school siren go off, she said that’s my school, she was talking about her doll, we just had a normal conversation like you do with little girls.”
Mr McGowan gave her and her sister Isla two police teddy bears named Cameron and Rod and said he accidentally stepped on one of her Barbie shoes and broke one of them.
“I owe her a pair of shoes,” he said.
Of the family, he said: “Very well-adjusted and very grateful for everything that the police have done, very, just, humble and normal people, that had no complaints, they had no demands, I said to them, there are so many resources here to help you, whatever they need, they knew that, but they weren’t, they were nice people. They weren’t difficult at all.”
Mr McGowan praised police and other staff who reunited Cleo with her family and their “innovative and intuitive police work”.
“I think we’re all very, very proud of the people involved,” he said.
“An enormous amount of work and so many threads brought together.”
Police have yet to charge a man who spent last night in custody after his arrest over the alleged abduction of the four-year-old, whose rescue has made headlines around the world from Manila to Moscow.
WA Police’s Det Supt Rod Wilde said he will probably be charged later today and will likely face a magistrate in Carnavon.
Det Sgt Cameron Blaine said Cleo was found with the lights on, and playing with toys, and they are looking for more CCTV in their investigation.
Cleo had slept well since her rescue but was still “falling asleep in her mother’s arms”.
“There was one occasion she asked if she could come and lay next to mum and have Ellie look at her while she fell asleep,” Sen. Sgt Blaine said.
“It’s really good to see that she is adjusted, getting some sleep. She is playing in the backyard, exactly how you would expect and like how my daughter did when she was four years old. It’s great.”
The alleged offender, 36, was briefly taken to hospital on Wednesday afternoon for a self-inflicted injury after his arrest. However, he returned to hospital for a second time as WA police revealed the four-year-old and her family spent the night together in the same room.
ALLEGED ABDUCTOR BACK IN HOSPITAL
WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch told Sydney radio station 2GB that the arrested man was out of police holding cells and back in hospital with minor injuries.
“There’s no serious injuries, but we’ve had to take him off to hospital again this morning,” Mr Blanch said.
“It is important that police … make sure if we’re going to interview anyone they must be of sound mind, they must be healthy, they have had sufficient rest.”
He added: “If any answers in a police interview are going to stand up in court, we must satisfy those things”.
The alleged offender was briefly taken to hospital on Wednesday afternoon for a self-inflicted injury after his arrest.
Mr Blanch said it was a victory but the hard work had “begun again”.
He said despite the “bags under the eyes” of the men and women working in Task Force Rodia, they know they still had a job to finish. Some still had “a lot of work to do”.
“At the end of the day people have to be held accountable for what’s happened to Cleo and we’ve got to make sure we have collected all the evidence to do that and present it before a court,” he said.
For 18 days the local community of Carnarvon in West Australia – and most of the nation – held its breath as 160 police and intelligence analysts sifted through thousands of pieces of evidence and data.
Then the break came at 12.46am yesterday when police found little Cleo “alive and well”, alone in a locked house just two minutes from the police station.
Forensic officers are still going through his house to find crucial evidence related to Cleo’s disappearance. Key to the investigation will be the sleeping bag she was in when she went missing from the Blowholes campsite, about 80km north of Carnarvon.
CLEO’S FIRST NIGHT AT HOME
Evidence removed from the scene was understood to have been flown to Perth for analysis.
Dep Comm Blanch also revealed Cleo spent her first night at home with mum Ellie Smith and stepdad Jake Gliddon.
“I’m pretty sure they all slept in the same room, just cuddling all night,” he said.
“Ellie and Jake have been through 18 days of hell and I know Australia felt that with them … I thought they probably were never going to give her a cuddle again.”
Dep Comm Blanch said police would now look to interview Cleo about what had happened in the 18 days since she vanished, but said investigators would have to “be careful”.
“We’ve got to be really careful … we will be talking to Cleo but we have to do it very carefully,” he said.
“We have professional child interviewing experts, who will try to get information out of her about those 18 days, it’s really hard, slow process … but if she doesn’t want to tell us that’s OK, too.”
Detective Sergeant Rod Wilde revealed the man, believed to have been known to police, only emerged as a suspect in the hours before his arrest.
Sgt Wilde said it had been a methodological investigation trying to piece together “who was where and at what time”.
“There is no other person that we suspect was involved,” he said.
CRUCIAL EVIDENCE COPS ARE EXPLORING
He confirmed crucial evidence centred on the movements of a car, seen on CCTV, for what he described as “an opportunistic” crime.
He said CCTV footage was analysed within 1000km radius of Carnarvon.
“That is the level of detail you go to with these type of investigations,” he said.
According to Nine, Carnarvon Shire President Eddie Smith, who had been in constant contact with the parents of Cleo, said the town was “right behind” the family throughout the ordeal.
“Her parents have been to hell and back. But they have stood up strong and they got their girl back,” he said.
“The community was behind them 110 per cent. We knew that it was nothing to do with them. They really did get dragged through hell and back by those people that (trolled them).”
Mr Smith said he had been flooded with messages of support from people around the world.
“I am so proud of everybody. I am still getting emotional talking about it and this is ten hours after being told about it. It is more than that, actually. It is just wonderful,” he said.
“The community has stayed so positive and just got behind Ellie and Jake and totally supported them.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said today as a father of four himself, he knew what happened to Cleo was every parent’s nightmare — but he said the whole nation had a smile on its face today.
“When I came out of the building and was told by Federal Police that she had been found, I had goosebumps up my arms and I think the country just had a massive sigh of relief,” he said.
“Our smiles were all a bit brighter yesterday and my wife is telling me about how all of our friends are crying over the course of the day.
“I'm sure there are lots of grandparents out there and sisters and brothers and a purchase felt the raw emotion of this most beautiful little girl who has been found.”
WORLD REACTS TO CLEO’S DISCOVERY
Cleo’s story has received major media attention internationally, including in the UK where the BBC reported: “Missing girl found alive weeks after vanishing”. It was the most-read news story of the day.
British newspaper The Sunsplashed with the story online, saying: “Unanswered questions about Cleo Smith disappearance as missing girl is miraculously found by police”.
Meanwhile, ITV’s Ken Goodwin described Cleo’s story as “the ultimate happy ending”.
Cleo has been compared with missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who disappeared during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007. She has never been found.
A source told The Sun that the discovery of Cleo’s whereabouts had given the McCanns “hope”.
The Evening Standard published the story on its homepage saying Cleo had been “miraculously found alive”.
British morning TV also heavily focused on Cleo’s story, with one BBC presenter fascinated by the footage of Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine.
Sgt Blaine had earlier revealed officers raided a property in Carnarvon, a coastal town 900km from Perth, about 1am on Wednesday morning, finding Cleo alone inside.
Sgt Blaine told reporters he was in shock at first but that feeling “quickly followed by elation, obviously”, when he realised it was Cleo.
“Wow,” host Sally Nugent told the BBC’s Shaimaa Khalil. “A real sense of mission accomplished.”
"She looked at me and said "my name's Cleo""
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) November 3, 2021
Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine describes the moment he and other officers found 4-year-old Cleo Smith 18 days after she went missing in Australia.https://t.co/PEZmQBwaNcpic.twitter.com/VC5rk0pBOl
“It has captured Australia’s heart from the moment she was announced missing to the moment that she was announced alive and well and rescued,” Khalil continued. “This is a huge moment of relief … an outcome that the family, the police and the whole country has hoped for”.
In the US, the New York Post reacted to Cleo’s discovery, saying she had been found “safe and sound”, while the New York Times led with “My name is Cleo”: Girl, 4, is found 18 days after vanishing from campsite.
Cleo Smith, a 4-year-old who disappeared while camping with her family in Western Australia, was found “alive and well†18 days later in a locked house, the authorities said. The police detained a 36-year-old man with no known connection to the family. https://t.co/X3blrQCZy1
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 3, 2021
'Loner oddball' seen buying nappies by neighbours before Cleo found safe https://t.co/xJMkuRCqSE
— The Sun (@TheSun) November 3, 2021
Cleo’s story, Girl, 4, who was “snatched from camping tent” weeks ago is back with family, was among the most read on NBC News.
“The disappearance had captivated the nation,” the story said.
And on CBS: “Police smashed their way into a suburban house on Wednesday and rescued a 4-year-old girl whose disappearance from her family’s camping tent on Australia’s remote west coast more than two weeks ago both horrified and captivated the nation.”
Bangkok, Ireland, Qatar and Scotland were also among those to feature Cleo in “most read” overnight. Reuters and even Russia covered the good news story.
FIRST IMAGES OF ABDUCTOR
Meanwhile, the first images of Cleo’s suspected abductor showed a man lying in bandages in an ambulance.
A 36-year-old man has been taken into custody and is being questioned by police. No charges have been laid.
It came after the four-year-old was found just seven minutes away from her family home in the modest, working class suburb of Brockman, on the outskirts of Carnarvon on Wednesday morning
The scene of her rescue was also just two minutes from the police station and the makeshift task-force headquarters set up in the frantic search for the four-year-old.
Brockman is a tiny WA suburb not even one square kilometre in size, with little more than 1000 residents and less than 450 homes on large blocks of more than 700 sqm.
It is perched on the northwestern edge of the coastal town of Carnarvon, a small town of about 4500 people, a 10-hour non-stop drive north of Perth, on the coastal highway used by many travellers heading to the popular tourism spots of Broome and the Kimberley region.
It is a sleepy town, which is also at the gateway to the famous Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Areas, and has its own airport.
The town is known for its tropical weather, thriving fishing industry, and referred to as the fruit bowl of the state because of its huge banana and avocado plantations.
It also has been home to Cleo’s mum Ellie and stepdad Jake Gliddon, who both grew up there and as children went camping at the Blowholes site 70km further north where Cleo was abducted from their tent.
In Tonkin Crescent, the street where Cleo was found, the houses were built around the late 1970s as part of a housing subdivision by the public housing authority in Western Australia known as Homeswest.
During the past couple of decades some of the public housing has been sold off to private owners but there remains a mix or private and state-owned housing. One neighbour said many of the houses in the street needed fixing up.
The house where Cleo was found is also registered to the State Housing Commission.
Carnarvon real estate agents say it is an unremarkable and quiet residential area.
Locals say parts of Tonkin Crescent are known as quiet, while another part of the street has been dubbed as “rowdy”.
There was certainly plenty of activity at 1am with residents happily telling the media they were out playing basketball when they witnessed police arrive before breaking down the door of a home and carrying out a shocked and frightened Cleo.
The suburb itself is lined with mainly three-bedroom, one bathroom homes made of brick veneer which rent for about $270 a week and have a median house price of $287,500.
Along parts of Tonkin Crescent, the homes back onto bushland and are a short walk away from a bridge which joins the area to the popular tourist attraction of Babbage Island.
Most of the population in Brockman are couples with and without children with a median age of about 36.
But in Tonkin Crescent there are many children living near and around the home from where Cleo was rescued.
Which may explain why residents who said they had heard a little girl crying near the home, didn’t for a moment think it was little Cleo.
FOUR WORDS BROUGHT JOY TO NATION
With just four words, 18 days of horror for one family was brought to a close and gave tear-filled joy to a nation that had held its collective breath.
“My name is Cleo,” four-year-old Cleo Smith said as she smiled to a veteran Detective, armed with a bodycam, before she was told she was going to be taken to see her mummy.
Looking shocked but amazingly composed with lights in her face, Cleo was carried out in the arms of a WA Police officer and was spoken to by a senior Detective who worked on the case.
When he introduced himself as Cameron then asked if she was OK, little Cleo nodded her answer.
He then told Cleo they were going to take her to her mummy and daddy and asked if that was good, she nodded vigorously but never said a word.
One of Australian law enforcement’s largest and most complex cases ended at 12.46am Perth time when the toddler was rescued from a locked room, in a locked empty house just seven minutes away from her Carnarvon home.
The property was also only two minutes from the police station where 100 detectives, data analysts and specialist investigators working under Task Force Rodia had been frantically looking for her since October 18 when she vanished from a camping trip in Quobba Blowholes in Macleod about a 50-minute drive away.
“We were looking for that needle in the haystack then late last night they found that needle,” an emotional WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said.
“It was just an amazing moment, I have never seen seasoned detectives break down and cry with such relief and I know that is the sentiment that is shared across the community … from the commissioner down we have all had tears in our eyes this morning, a massive outpouring of relief.”
MUM REACTS: ‘WE ARE WHOLE AGAIN’
With her mum, Ellie Smith, and stepfather, Jake Giddon, at her side, Cleo was said to be chatty and smiling despite her ordeal – the extent of which has yet to be fully revealed.
Ms Smith sent a short message to Instagram and to the hundreds of new supporters she has garnered.
“Our family is whole again” she wrote, reposting an earlier image of a smiling Cleo and a love heart emoji. That post came eight hours after an earlier one she sent appealing for help that suggests police moved very quickly on the suspect.
Cleo’s biological father Daniel Staines has also spoken about the miraculous rescue.
“We are all absolutely overjoyed at the good news this morning and so happy that Cleo has been reunited with her mum and dad,” he said, thanking all agencies who worked to bring her home.
FORENSICE POLICE SEARCH
Police said forensic officers would be spending several days going through the house where she was found in Tonkin Crescent, Brockman – ironically just a six minute drive from her family home.
Cleo was camping at Blowholes Campground 70km north of Carnarvon with mum Ms Smith, stepdad Mr Gliddon and her younger sister Isla on October 16 when she was allegedly snatched in the darkness.
Initially it was believed she may have wandered off; she was awake at 1.30am when she asked for some water but was gone by 6am when Ms Smith woke to feed Isla.
But police believed quickly they were dealing with an abduction with her sleeping bag missing and her tent’s zipper open to a height that would have been beyond a child.
Her family made an emotional national appeal for help to find Cleo but in some quarters, despite public assurances to the contrary from police, they were labelled as suspects, bringing to mind other famous cases like Azaria Chamberlain and the British Maddie McCann case.
But then news broke of her being found alive and a 36-year-old man taken into custody.
Police revealed there was no connection between the man who was still being questioned and the family.
The search for Cleo was one of the biggest mobilisation of resources ever seen in WA – and possibly nationally – as 100 detectives were joined by tech and communication analysts and specialist investigators, drone operators on loan from the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Army and hundreds of volunteers notably searching the dunes around the long stretch of coastline about the camp site.
Then within a week the police took the unusual step of offering a $1m reward, which police described as a game changer in getting the community to seriously engage in their case.
There was not a single tip that led to the suspect and the Tonkin Crescent property where Chloe was found alone, but rather a collective pattern of suspicious activity backed by telephone “pinging” location data technology.
“There were lots of things, there were car movements, there were phone movements, there were antecedents of people, the jigsaw fit the puzzle,” Mr Blanch said.
“But it took really good intelligence analysts and detectives and specialists to look at all of that information, put it together, and go: ‘You know what? that doesn’t seem right to me. I’ve been doing this a long time and we’re gonna act on it’. That’s how we get results.”
WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said it was old fashioned policing with modern technology.
“We followed every particular lead we had, it was methodical it was dedicated, it was dogged … there was some really skilled work in finding her,” he said.
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