POLICE investigating the disappearance of Cleo Smith want to speak to the driver of a car seen in the area on the morning of her disappearance.
The vehicle was seen turning south off Blowholes Road between 3am and 3.30am at the Blowholes campsite, a remote location north of Carnarvon.
Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said the reported sighting of the car was a “very recent development” in the investigation.
He said: “We want the person or persons who were in that vehicle to come forward and contact police. We want to know who they were and what they were doing.”
Meanwhile, police investigating the possibility someone had been scoping the house in the days and weeks prior to Cleo’s disappearance said there was no evidence the family was being stalked.
Detective Superintendent Wilde said a search for fingerprints and other evidence on the outside of the home was “part of standard investigations of this nature”.
“There’s no evidence, there’s no information that Cleo was stalked at all,” he added.
Read our Cleo Smith live blog below for the latest updates..
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Police: ‘People out there that we want to speak to’
Citing “credible sources” reporting the vehicle in the vicinity, Det Supt Wilde added that there were also other “people out there that we want to catch up with and to speak to”.
Cleo was reported missing in the early hours of the morning last Saturday after her parents could not find her at the campground where they had been staying.
Police have been urgently searching rugged terrain near the remote campsite for the young girl, and now believe she was abducted, saying “grave concerns are held for Cleo’s safety”.
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Cleo’s mother posts another Instagram plea
The mother of missing four-year-old Cleo Smith has again taken to social media with a heartbreaking plea for her daughter to come home.
In a series of Instagram stories, Ellie Smith wrote: “We all need her home” and asked “where are you baby?”, while also describing her as the “best big sister ever”.
Cleo, who is the older sister to seven-month-old Isla, has been missing for 10 days.
Police believe she was likely abducted.
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Police want to interview driver of car seen in area at 3am
Police investigating the disappearance of Cleo Smith want to speak to the driver of a car seen turning south off Blowholes Road between 3am and 3.30am on the morning the four-year-old vanished from a campsite north of Carnarvon.
Detectives believe Cleo was taken from her family’s tent in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said the reported sighting of the car was a “very recent development” in the investigation.
“We want the person or persons who were in that vehicle to come forward and contact police,” Wilde said.
“We want to know who they were and what they were doing.”
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Who is Cleo Smith?
Cleo Smith is a four-year-old Australian girl who went missing while camping with her parents in the outback.
The family were staying at the Blowholes Campsite near Macleod about 50 miles north of Carnarvon, Western Australia.
She was wearing a bright pink pyjama suit with blue and pink flowers and butterflies printed on it when she was last seen.
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Vanished
Justin Borg received a desperate call from Cleo’s parents on Saturday morning, pleading for him to help find a missing preschooler.
He quickly sent his Coral Coast Helicopter Services team out to search for the girl, as his group of “world class” musterers scoured the surrounding area waiting for police to arrive.
Mr Borg’s team spent the whole day scouring the landscape, but saw nothing that shed any light on Cleo’s disappearance.
“We were just running out the block of possibilities asking ‘where do we look next?” Mr Borg told The West Australian.
“We were pretty sure she wasn’t in the area when we conducted our second search.
“When we go and search for somebody, if they are in the area you find them really quick. Especially if you are talking abnormal colours,” he added.
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‘I was horrified to find my daughter had vanished’
Cleo’s distraught mother has revealed the moment she realised her four-year-old daughter was missing.
Ellie says Cleo woke up at 1.30am asking for a drink of water – and that was the last time she spoke to her daughter.
The parents woke up again at around 6am to find Cleo had gone, reports News.com.au.
Ellie said: “I went into the other room and the zipper was open.
“Cleo was gone and that was about it for Saturday morning until everything started.”
The child along with her pinks pyjamas and red sleeping bag were nowhere to be found.
Ellie says the tent “was about 30 centimetres from open…I turned to Jake and said: ‘Cleo’s gone’.”
Read more here.
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‘No evidence that Cleo was stalked at all’
Forensics officers attended the family’s home in South Carnarvon over the weekend.
Police were believed to be investigating the possibility someone had been scoping the house in the days and weeks prior to Cleo’s disappearance.
Detective Superintendent Wilde said a search for fingerprints and other evidence on the outside of the home was “part of standard investigations of this nature”.
“There’s no evidence, there’s no information that Cleo was stalked at all,” he added.
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No information to suggest Cleo taken from WA
WA Police commissioner Chris Dawson said there is no information pointing to Cleo having been taken out of WA but police were not ruling anything out.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said.
“WA is the largest police jurisdiction by landmass in the world, so it’s a very, very large geographic area but at the same time we’ve had very strict border controls in place for now over 18 months.
“So I’m confident that we’ve got the main thoroughfares thoroughly controlled and that’s what’s kept Covid out.
“But at the same time, it’s a very large area and that’s why we want the community’s assistance.”
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Cleo’s disappearance gains national interest
Cleo Smith’s disappearance has drawn national attention, with many Australians taking to social media to express their anguish for her family.
Her mother, Ellie, has described waking at 6 am to find the tent unzipped and her oldest daughter missing.
In an interview with local media Wednesday, she urged Australians to help “bring our little girl home”.
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‘There is still hope’ for Cleo
The mother of a West Australian girl kidnapped and killed more than two decades ago has said “there is still hope” in Cleo’s disappearance.
Margaret Dodd, whose daughter Hayley was abducted and killed by Francis John Wark in 1999, told 7 News she could “feel the pain” Cleo’s loved ones were going through.
“It just brings it all back, because you know what you’ve gone through and you’re hoping that your little one will be found alive,” she said.
“Everything has been thrown at looking for this little girl and that really makes me very happy. There is still hope.”
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Cleo voice heard on CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks
Rod Wilde also revealed Cleo’s voice was heard on the CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks the day before she disappeared.
“It was just after they arrived, it’s motion-sensitive so it was by (their vehicle),” he said.
“It’s very limited … we’ve reviewed that and we believe it’s Cleo’s voice that’s heard on the CCTV.”
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Who is Cleo Smith?
Cleo Smith is a four-year-old Australian girl who went missing while camping with her parents in the outback.
The family were staying at the Blowholes Campsite near Macleod about 50 miles north of Carnarvon, Western Australia.
She was wearing a bright pink pyjama suit with blue and pink flowers and butterflies printed on it when she was last seen.
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Cleo voice heard on CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks
Rod Wilde also revealed Cleo’s voice was heard on the CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks the day before she disappeared.
“It was just after they arrived, it’s motion-sensitive so it was by (their vehicle),” he said.
“It’s very limited … we’ve reviewed that and we believe it’s Cleo’s voice that’s heard on the CCTV.”
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WA Premier says every resource being used to find Cleo
Mark McGowan, said every resource had been directed to finding Cleo and he urged anyone with information to come forward.
“We all feel for her and her family and we just want to make sure that we find her as soon as we can, and that every effort is made to uncover her location so that the family can find out where she is,” McGowan said on Sunday.
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Heartbreaking moment Cleo’s Smith’s best pal pleads for her to come home
THIS is the heartbreaking moment Cleo Smith’s best friend pleaded for the “abducted toddler” to come home because “she needs to stay with her family”.
Lenaya “Naya” Forbes posed beside a drawing she made for her pal who vanished from her family’s remote campsite in Western Australia last Saturday morning.
“I still miss her,” little Naya told 7News. “And I reckon she got taken from the tent.
“I still miss her cause she’s lost and I want her to come back.”
Read the article in full here.
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Police want to interview driver of car seen in area at 3am
Police investigating the disappearance of Cleo Smith want to speak to the driver of a car seen turning south off Blowholes Road between 3am and 3.30am on the morning the four-year-old vanished from a campsite north of Carnarvon.
Detectives believe Cleo was taken from her family’s tent in the early hours of last Saturday morning.
Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said the reported sighting of the car was a “very recent development” in the investigation.
“We want the person or persons who were in that vehicle to come forward and contact police,” Wilde said.
“We want to know who they were and what they were doing.”
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‘I was horrified to find my daughter had vanished’
Cleo’s distraught mother has revealed the moment she realised her four-year-old daughter was missing.
Ellie says Cleo woke up at 1.30am asking for a drink of water – and that was the last time she spoke to her daughter.
The parents woke up again at around 6am to find Cleo had gone, reports News.com.au.
Ellie said: “I went into the other room and the zipper was open.
“Cleo was gone and that was about it for Saturday morning until everything started.”
The child along with her pinks pyjamas and red sleeping bag were nowhere to be found.
Ellie says the tent “was about 30 centimetres from open…I turned to Jake and said: ‘Cleo’s gone’.”
Read more here.
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Has Cleo Smith been found?
Cleo Smith has not yet been found.
The search for Cleo resumed on Tuesday, October 18, 2021, after it was temporarily suspended due to bad weather.
The public have been urged to check bins and roadsides for a red sleeping bag that Cleo was sleeping in the night she disappeared.
The police hold grave fears for the girl and say all circumstances surrounding her disappearance are being considered.
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Posters of Cleo plastered across Western Australia
As the search for Cleo Smith continues, missing child posters have been plastered far and wide across Western Australia.
The public have been trying to help law enforcement find answers to her tragic disappearance.
Posters and photos have been plastered all round the city of Port Hedland, 850km north of Cleo’s last known location. They have also been placed around Perth and it’s Central Business District in hopes that people will come forward with clues.
In another town centre, Exmouth, and at local supermarkets, the posters feature QR Codes that when scanned bring people to the Facebook group ‘Bring Cleo Smith Home’ which has more than 55,500 members.
The signs also encourage people to use the hashtag #BringCleoSmithHome on social media.
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‘No evidence that Cleo was stalked at all’
Yesterday forensics officers attended the family’s home in South Carnarvon.
Police were believed to be investigating the possibility someone had been scoping the house in the days and weeks prior to Cleo’s disappearance.
Detective Superintendent Wilde said a search for fingerprints and other evidence on the outside of the home was “part of standard investigations of this nature”.
“There’s no evidence, there’s no information that Cleo was stalked at all,” he added.
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Cleo voice heard on CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks
Rod Wilde also revealed Cleo’s voice was heard on the CCTV footage from nearby beach shacks the day before she disappeared.
“It was just after they arrived, it’s motion-sensitive so it was by (their vehicle),” he said.
“It’s very limited … we’ve reviewed that and we believe it’s Cleo’s voice that’s heard on the CCTV.”
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Police cannot give description of spotted car ‘at this stage’
Superintendent Rod Wilde said two people who were travelling together along the North West Coastal Highway in the early hours of Saturday, October 16 saw a car turn right off Blowholes Rd between 3am and 3.30am.
Supt Wilde said he could not provide a detailed description of the car at this stage.
“I don’t want to narrow it down by giving descriptions, I imagine at that time and I obviously it’s very dark out there,” he said.
“The witnesses have told us they saw that vehicle, it turned out of the T-junction there, right into the Northwest coastal highway and headed south towards Carnarvon.”
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Carnarvon president promises to support Cleo Smith’s family
Shire president Eddie Smith has promised Carnarvon will support Cleo Smith’s mother Ellie and her partner Jake as the search for the little girl continues.
Speaking of support, Shire president Eddie Smith says Carnarvon: “look after our own.”
“We are a stoic lot,” Mr Smith said of Carnarvon. “We look after our own. Carnarvon is like that.”
Mr Smith continued to say: “The community is doing its very best, in a very sad situation,
“There is a lot of anxiety and wondering what the outcome is going to be. (But) I’d implore the whole community to stay positive.
“You can’t give up on hope. It’s important we stay as positive as we can. Everybody is doing their best.”
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‘Extensive land, air and sea search’
More than 100 cops, soldiers, volunteers and local Aboriginal bush trackers are currently involved in an “extensive land, sea and air search”.
Members of the homicide squad joined the search for the girl at the weekend.
Police fear that Cleo could have been snatched and driven eight hours before police even reached the camp site on Saturday.
They said the child “could be anywhere.”
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Has Cleo Smith been found?
Cleo Smith has not yet been found.
The search for Cleo resumed on Tuesday, October 18, 2021, after it was temporarily suspended due to bad weather.
The public have been urged to check bins and roadsides for a red sleeping bag that Cleo was sleeping in the night she disappeared.
The police hold grave fears for the girl and say all circumstances surrounding her disappearance are being considered.