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Police Find Missing Four-Year-Old Cleo Smith After 18-Day Search

Cleo Smith's parents have released a statement after their four-year-old daughter was found following an 18-day search. 
Credit: @WA_Police/Twitter

Police have rescued four-year-old Cleo Smith, from Australia, 18 days after she was reported missing. 

According to reports, the child, who disappeared from a campsite, was found in the coastal town of Carnarvon in a ‘locked house’.

She is believed to have been located thanks to a ‘tip-off’ and a 36-year-old man has now reportedly been arrested.

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Opening up about the moment the discovery was made, Detective Sergeant Cameron Blaine told reporters: “I said, ‘What is your name?’ She didn’t answer, I asked again and she didn’t answer. I asked a third time and then she looked at me and said, ‘My name is Cleo’.  And that was it. Then we turned around and walked out of the house.”

Lead investigator superintendent Rod Wilde added that all the officers on the case were ’emotional’ when they realised they’d found her and they all broke down in tears over the ‘amazing moment’.

“We all cried,” he said. “Most definitely. It was an amazing moment. Suddenly after hearing that, we were on such a high. It was fantastic.”

The child’s mum, Ellie Smith, has since taken to social media and stated that her family is ‘whole’ again.

When Smith initially went missing, detectives were reportedly under the impression that she had wandered out of the tent by herself.

However, it was soon discovered that the zipper compartment in the tent she and her sister had been sleeping in was ‘too high’ for her to have reached.

According to police, the man who was taken into custody has yet to be ‘charged’.

It’s believed that he has no connection to the child’s family.

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Written by Editorial