Missing 4-Year-Old Australian Girl Found ‘Alive and Well’ Weeks After Disappearance

By Darby Jones November 5, 2021
"We are so thankful that our little girl is back within our arms and our family is whole again,” said the girl’s parents.

Four-year-old Cleo Smith vanished in the middle of the night while camping with her family in a remote area of Western Australia. She was found “alive and well,” and the prime suspect in her alleged abduction was taken to a maximum security prison.

“We are humbled by the love and support that we have received from not only our local community but the whole of Western Australia and across the country,” said the girl’s parents, Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon, in a statement. “We are so thankful that our little girl is back within our arms and our family is whole again.”

Cleo was found after the police broke into an empty house in Carnavon, the same town where she and her family live. Detectives began to cry upon finding her, and the police later detained a 36-year-old man who had no apparent connection to the family. 

“One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her ‘What’s your name?’” Col Blanch, Western Australia’s deputy police commissioner, said in a statement. “She said, ‘My name is Cleo.’ This is the outcome we all hoped and prayed for.”

“When she said, ‘My name is Cleo,’ I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house,” he added. “This morning I have seen seasoned detectives openly crying with relief.”

Image source: CNN