Cleo spends first night at home with family

Cleo Smith is spending the first night in more than two weeks with her family after she went missing from a camping site on the West Australian coast, in a case that has captured heart of the entire country.

In a remarkable and emotional discovery, the four-year-old was found “alive and well” inside a Carnarvon home in the early hours of this morning, stunning Australians.

The missing four-year-old, who disappeared from her family campsite on October 16, was found inside a locked home at Carnarvon just before 1am (AWST), ending an intensive two-and-a-half week police search.

Cleo was inside the home alone and a 36-year-old man was arrested nearby. Police said he has no connections to Cleo’s family.

“We obviously had real concerns for Cleo’s welfare. And as time passed by, they grew worse. So to see that, it was just amazing,” he said.

Man known the police

Homicide Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde confirmed the man who was arrested was “known to police”.

“He is known but I have to be very careful around that,” Det. Supt Wilde said when questioned by reporters this afternoon.

Police said he had only become a suspect in the case yesterday.

The man in custody sustained head injuries while in his holding cell and has been taken to hospital by police.

Police spent the day collecting evidence and have seized several items, including a rug which was flown to Perth for forensic examination.

He confirmed Cleo was taken from the campsite and that police didn’t believe anyone else had been involved except the man.

“It appears to be opportunistic.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blayne of the Homicide Squad was one of the four officers who rescued Cleo, describing his discovery of her as “complete shock”.

“Quickly followed by elation,” he said.

“To see her sitting there in the way that she was, it was incredible.”

The Senior Sergeant said “it was an honour” to be able to witness the reunion of Cleo and her family at the hospital shortly after Cleo was found.

After seeing Cleo hours after her rescue, he described her as “a little energiser bunny”.

“How she has that much energy, I wish I did, I am about ready to go to sleep. Very sweet, energetic girl.”

He said Cleo was “very trusting and very open” will all the police.

“We all wanted to take turns holding her. It was a really good experience.”

‘Our family is whole again’: Cleo’s family rejoice

Today Cleo’s biological father, Daniel Staines, released a statement on the incredible news of her rescue.

Cleo’s parents are separated and she lives with her mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon.

“We are all absolutely overjoyed at the good news this morning and so happy that Cleo has been reunited with her mum and dad,” Mr Staines said in a statement provided to the West Australian newspaper.

“Thank you to everyone who helped look for her and bring her home, particularly the WA Police, SES and the Carnarvon community.”

Cleo’s mum Ellie Smith posted about the family’s reunion with the little girl on Instagram this morning.

“Our family is whole again,” she wrote.

In a statement, Cleo’s school St Mary star of the Sea Catholic School said they were extremely grateful for the efforts of police.

“We are beyond relieved to hear this news – every member of our school community shares my feelings of gratitude for this outcome,” said school principal, Steve O’Halloran.

“We will continue to pray for Cleo and her family, with respect for their dignity and privacy as they process this event and as the investigation continues.”

WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said a crucial lead about a car had led to police to the house where Cleo was found.

“We followed every lead we could. We had some important information, I can say that the information about a car was really important,” he told 6PR.

Cleo was alone in the locked home when she was found and told one of the officers who picked her up: ‘My name is Cleo’.

“I saw detectives see Cleo in a room, and the look on their faces, and the care that was expressed immediately, and the cuddling, and her looking almost directly at the camera saying, ‘My name is Cleo’,” Deputy Commissioner Blanch told Gareth Parker on 6PR.

Cleo was “alive, well and smiling” in footage he had seen of her after her rescue, Mr Blanch said.

Police officers in tears

Mr Blanch said senior detectives involved with the case were “breaking down and crying” after Cleo was found.

“I know when the officers picked up Cleo and asked ‘What’s your name?’ And a little voice said ‘My name is Cleo’, I think there was no-one that I know in this state that wasn’t crying at that point in WA police force,” he said.

Mr Blanch said police had acted straight away last night after finding a “needle in a haystack”.

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said Police Commissioner Chris Dawson notified him overnight about the successful rescue.

“He sent me a photo of little Cleo in a hospital bed sitting there smiling, it was a wonderful piece of news,” Mr McGowan said.

He joined the nation in expressing his relief that Cleo had been found.

“It is a very exciting day,” Mr McGowan said.

“We are all so pleased and so happy with the great news that little Cleo Smith has been found alive and well. It’s a remarkable, exciting, uplifting news.”

Mr McGowan said the investigation would provide a leading example to law enforcement agencies around the country and the world.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Cleo’s rescue was a moment of great joy.

“The fact that that nightmare has come to an end and our worst fears were not realised, is just a huge relief,” Mr Morrison said in Dubai this afternoon.

“Thank God that Cleo is home and that she is safe.”

Mr Dawson said Cleo’s family had never given up hope.

“They’re strong people,” he said.

“They have good support around them and we will continue to walk them through – this  is a wonderful result today, but it will still be a tough journey for them.”

Police have not ruled out further arrests.

“That speaks volumes,” Commissioner Fuller said.

“I thought the chances of finding her alive were so slim.

“(Commissioner Dawson) said to me, ‘West Australian Police never gave up on Cleo’. It was good old fashion police work that resulted in her being found alive.”

The home where Cleo was found, in Tonkin Crescent, is just a seven-minute drive from her home in Carnarvon.

Police have sealed off the area.

One of the neighbours spoke to Today reporter Joshua Dawe, saying she was shocked to learn Cleo had been “so close”.

“I actually got a call about 4.30am from my nephew and he said, ‘Aunt, I just put the news on and she’s been found’,” the woman said.

“I got up and then I also had a call from my son who was on his way to Perth Airport to go to work. And he said, ‘Mum, the kid’s been found’. I jumped out of bed and I’ve been awake since then.”

Another man said he had seen the moment Cleo was carried out of the house.

“One (neighbour) reached out and said, ‘They got a little girl. It might be Cleo’,” he said.

“We came out and we saw the detective holding her in his arms and, yeah, put her in the back of the detective’s car.”

Another woman said the situation made her frightened for her young son.

“My mother lived in this house for 17 years and nothing like this ever happened before,” she said.

“It’s a quiet street, everybody knows everybody.”

A Carnarvon baker who works with Cleo Smith’s grandmother has said she was too overwhelmed to speak when he got in touch this morning.

“Overwhelming, I can tell you,” Joseph Nguyen said.

“Even this morning, very early in the morning we called Cleo’s grandma and she’s just so happy. She can’t say anything. She’s just like ‘We are so happy’.”

Carnarvon Shire President Eddie Smith released a statement praising Cleo’s parents and the work of the police.

“This is a joyous day,” he said.

“Cleo is back home safely with her family, our hopes and prayers have been answered.

“To the Carnarvon community – you have shown what community is all about.

“You have supported Ellie and Jake, you have supported the police, you have taken every measure to help bring about this result.

“I have never been prouder to be the Shire President of Carnarvon.”

Missing for weeks

Cleo disappeared from her family’s campsite early in the morning of October 16 at the Carnarvon Blowholes.

She and her sleeping bag were both gone from the family’s tent, prompting initial fears Cleo had wandered off and was lost.

The Blowholes campground is very isolated, situated just behind a beach and surrounded by sand dunes and a lighthouse.

But after a mass search of the area, police announced they believed Cleo may have been abducted.

Detectives door-knocked homes in the Carnarvon region this week in a search for answers.

A $1 million reward was announced during the search for any information leading to the missing girl.

Her mother, Ellie Smith, posted repeatedly on social media pleading for the return of her child.

In a public plea last week she spoke about the pain the family was going through.

Ms Smith described the situation as “heartbreaking”, “heart-wrenching” and “completely scary”.

“How are you meant to feel?” she said.

“The whole time, you’re trying to look through tears. It’s nothing that I’d ever wish upon anyone.”

The family’s ordeal struck a cord with the town of Carnarvon, which provided an outpouring of support.

Vigils were held, while shops and cars were plastered with posters and stickers calling for anybody with information about Cleo to report it.

A hundred police officers were involved in the investigation, with 50 in Carnarvon alone.

Just yesterday, police confirmed they were looking into using satellite vision in an attempt to establish what had happened to Cleo, due to limited CCTV in the isolated area.

There were thousands calls to Crime Stoppers during the investigation as well – but it’s not yet known what led police to the house where Cleo was found.

Expert insight into police hunt

Criminologist Xanthe Mallett told Today police deserved to be applauded over the successful end to a very complex investigation.

“There was lack of technological help. There weren’t any CCTV cameras, there were no dash-cam footage on people’s cars, it wasn’t in suburbia for example,” Associate Professor Mallett said.

“The police have a lot of persons of interest look at. Anyone in the campsite anyone with family travelling there. Anyone with relevant criminal history in the local community. There were a lot of leads to follow in the early days.”

She said police had opted for the right course in bringing on a large task force early.

“They learnt some of the mistakes from other child abduction cases from here and abroad and determined not to allow that happen in Cleo’s case,” she said.

“The feel was that Cleo would be the next William Tyrrell and next Madeleine McCann. We would never find out what happened.”

Associate Professor Mallett also slammed online trolls who had targeted Cleo’s family in the wake of her disappearance, saying this kind of pressure could “break a family apart”.

“It puts them under pressure day in and day out with everyone looking at them,” she said.

Police said throughout the investigation that they did not suspect Cleo’s family had anything to do with her disappearance.

Associate Professor Mallett said the Cleo Smith case could potentially throw a wrench into current law enforcement presumptions.

She said if it was found that Cleo had been abducted, it was “extraordinary” that she had been kept alive for so long.

“She’s obviously been fed and given water and kept physically safe for the last 19 days,” she told 9News.

“That is not to speak to any psychological trauma as a result of being taken away from her family.”

“If a child is taken, the likelihood of them being found safe and well diminishes over time and the first few hours are key to finding them,” she said.

“This is really going to test all of the behavioural knowledge we have of these type of offenders.” 

Criminologist and former detective Terry Goldsworthy suggested the remote location may have actually benefited police once the investigation shifted its focus.

“So it limited, in reality, the suspect pool for them once they determined it was looking like a kidnapping or a homicide potentially,” Dr Goldsworthy told Today.

He said the timing of the raid overnight could indicate that police were acting on information they had only just received.

“The circumstances of how (Cleo) got there will now be the focus of their investigation,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

“So they’ll be trying to work back from the locating of her this morning, back to her disappearance 19 days ago and the role that person played and I guess the role any other person may have played in the last 19 days.”

Dr Goldsworthy said proactive policing had given investigators an advantage.

The early posting of a $1 million reward, normally only resorted to after traditional techniques had been exhausted, ensured incoming tips and information stayed at a high volume.

Dr Goldsworthy also praised the police’s media campaign, which kept the Cleo search at the front of the national consciousness. 

Murdoch University forensic biologist Paola Magni said it would be “really important” to preserve the scene at the Carnarvon home where Cleo Smith was found.

“Because we have degradation of evidence. With evidence, they don’t stay still as stone all the time,” Ms Magni told 9News Perth’s Tracy Vo.

“It is important that nobody goes and (modifies) whatever is there.

“Because in some cases we can find the evidence but we can not backtrack from how long the evidence is there.”

Ms Magni said it is important to “understand the dynamic of what happened in all of these 18 days”.

CLEO SMITH FOUND: WHAT WE KNOW