A MIRACLE RESCUE
OCTOBER 15
Ellie Smith, her partner Jake Gliddon and their children Cleo Smith and Isla Gliddon arrive at the Blowholes campsite, about 75 kilometres north of Carnarvon.
At 8pm Cleo and Isla are put to bed in the family tent.
OCTOBER 16
Ellie is woken by Cleo at 1.30am for a drink of water. Cleo goes back to bed.
Between 3-3.30am a car is spotted at the intersection of Blowholes Road turning south onto the North West Coastal Highway.
Ellie wakes at 6am to find Cleo is gone, she calls police to report her missing.
At 7.10am two police vehicles arrive from Carnarvon to begin their search for Cleo. Two hours later they’re joined by nine SES personnel who begin searching the area around the campsite.
OCTOBER 19
Ellie and Jake make an emotional appeal to the public for help to find their missing daughter.
“We have hope that our girl is (out) there, somewhere,” Ellie said. A $1 million reward is offered by WA premier Mark Mcgowan.
OCTOBER 27
Police searched the family home of Cleo Smith for a third time, particularly focusing on the backyard. Detectives door-knocked a number of homes in the North Plantations, about five kilometres outside of Carnarvon along the North West Coastal Highway.
NOVEMBER 2
Detectives get a lead and start working on it. In “a matter of hours” they take action.
NOVEMBER 3
WA Police officers force their way into a locked house in Carnarvon at 1am. They find Cleo alone in one of the rooms. She is alive and physically well.
A 36-year-old man is taken into custody and questioned by detectives in Carnarvon. Police confirm that he has no connection to Cleo’s family.
After 18 days Cleo is reunited with her family. Ellie shares a post online captioned “Our family is whole again”.