WA Police have released audio that will melt your heart, featuring the incredible moment the missing Cleo Smith was found by officers in a Carnarvon house during a raid. 

“We’ve got her, we’ve got her,” one of the officers can be heard saying. “Hey, hubby, come here. I’ve got you, bubby, you’re alright,” another adds. When Police Sergeant Cameron Blaine then asks what her name, her little voice replies, “My name is Cleo.” “Hello Cleo,” another officer says.

Cleo was thankfully found “alive and well” after going missing on October 16th during a camping trip with her family in Western Australia.

The man suspected of abducting her was taken to hospital after self-harming twice. As per News.com.au, he has now faced court charged with the alleged abduction of four-year-old Cleo. The 36-year-old was taken into custody and questioned before police released a statement late on Thursday, November 4th, stating that he’d been charged with “various offences” including one count of forcibly taking a child under the age of 16.

The suspect was briefly taken to face Carnarvon Magistrates Court and was then remanded in custody for four weeks. “Given this matter is now before the court, police are unable to make any further comment on the charges at this stage,” police said.

Superintendent Rod Wilde, meanwhile, revealed that Cleo was “physically fine” after her ordeal, but police still have to establish exactly what happened during the 18 days of her disappearance, which was obviously a “traumatic event.”

“Obviously there’s a process to go through with our child specialist interviewers that are here now,” Wilde explained. “Depending on how she is … we intend to start that (part of the investigation) today.”

Just after Cleo was eventually found, her mother – who had been accused my many of being involved in her daughter’s disappearance – shared her happiness on Instagram, saying “our family is whole again.”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine