Australian police ended an extensive 18-day search for a missing 4-year-old girl. She was found by officers at a house in the small town of Carnarvon, Australia.
A video, recorded by the agents, recorded the moment when a police officer picked up the child and asked: “What’s your name?” The girl then replied: “My name is Cleo”.
Cleo Smith’s rescue came more than two weeks after she disappeared from her family’s tent at a remote camp in Quobba Blowholes, a popular tourist spot on the country’s coast, about 950 kilometers north of Perth.
Cleo’s disappearance triggered a massive police search that initially covered several square kilometers around the site and then spread across the country.
On Wednesday, police said the evidence led them to that specific house, a short drive from the family residence, where Cleo’s parents spent weeks anxiously waiting for updates on the police investigation.
“We were looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it,” Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch told local radio 6PR.
Police officers entered the locked house and found Cleo alone in one of the rooms, Blanch said. “When she said ‘My name is Cleo,’ I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house,” he added.
“I saw experienced detectives openly crying with relief. I’m speechless, which is very rare. This is something we’ve all been waiting for in our hearts and it came true.”
Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, who had made numerous requests for help finding her daughter, posted on Instagram: “Our family is whole again.”
A 36-year-old local man “with no family connection” is in police custody, WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson told ABC Radio Perth.
He was not at home at the time of the invasion, Blanch said, and was interrogated. Police do not suspect that anyone else is involved.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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