Missing four-year-old Cleo Smith was found by Western Australia Police overnight at a locked home in Carnarvon.
Police broke into the home in Carnarvon at 1 am on Wednesday, November 3rd and found Cleo in one of the rooms.
She was believed to have been abducted from her family’s tent during a camping trip on October 16th. The occupant of the home was not at the address at the time. A 36-year-old man with no known relation to the family is in custody.
“It’s my privilege to announce that in the early hours of this morning, the Western Australia Police Force rescued Cleo Smith. Cleo is alive and well,” WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said.
“A police team broke their way into a locked house in Carnarvon about 1am. They found little Cleo in one of the rooms.
“One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her: ‘What’s your name?’ She said: ‘My name is Cleo.’”
Cleo was reunited with her parents shortly after she was rescued. Her condition has not been revealed in explicit detail, but WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said she was “as well as we could expect in the circumstances.”
Ellie Smith, the mother of Cleo, has taken to Instagram to share a statement after being reunited with her daughter. “Our family is whole again,” she wrote.
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In an interview with ABC local radio in Perth this morning, WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said that Cleo’s parents Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon were “delighted” to have her back in their arms.
“She’s alive, well, smiling, so it is a wonderful, wonderful result,” says Dawson. “They’re strong people, they are really strong people. They have good support around them. It’s a wonderful result today but it’ll be a tough journey for them.”
