By Rod McGuirk -
The Associated Press
Police stormed a home in Australia's suburbs of Carnarvon on Wednesday and rescued a 4-year-old girl whose disappearance from her family's tent on the country's remote west coast more than two weeks ago horrified the public. nation.
Investigators wept with relief when they saw the body camera video of a police officer holding the girl, Cleo Smith, who was heard saying, "
My name is Cleo
."
A 36-year-old local man was arrested in the operation, which followed a warning to police on Tuesday.
The girl was given to her mother, Ellie Smith, and her stepfather, Jake Gliddon, shortly after the rescue.
"
Our family is whole again
," the mother said on social media.
"My name is Cleo," the girl said when an officer took her in his arms.Western Australia Police / AP
Western Australia State Police Commissioner Chris Dawson declined to elaborate on what the girl suffered.
She is "as well as can be hoped," she said, "
this has been an ordeal
. I'm not going to go into any more details, other than to say that we are very grateful that she is alive."
Dawson said "stubborn and methodical police work" made it possible to find her.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked the police for finding Cleo and supporting her family: "
It's any parent's worst nightmare
. The fact that that nightmare is over and our worst fears have not come true is a great relief, a moment of great joy, "he said.
So Christopher Ramírez returned home.
They are still investigating why he was missing for three days
Oct. 11, 202102: 27
"This particular case has obviously captured the hearts of Australians by feeling terrible pain for the family," he added.
The
girl had disappeared with her sleeping bag on the second day of a family
camping trip at Blowholes Campground, 50 miles north of Carnarvon, on October 16.
At first a massive land and sea search was organized in the sparsely populated region, assuming he had moved away from the store.
However,
more evidence began to indicate a kidnapping.
A car was reportedly sped away from the area in the dead of night.
The zip of the tent where the girl and her sister slept was too high for the girl to reach.
[They record the dramatic rescue of a boy who was drowning in a pond in Texas]
Forensics examined the exterior of the family home
to see if a predator had stalked the girl and attempted to enter
.
Ellie Smith, her mother, made emotional public calls for information about her daughter's whereabouts that spread throughout Australia.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the commissioner told him she was crying when they found her.
Fuller had called across the country, from Sydney on the east coast to Perth in the west, to congratulate Dawson on the result.
"She broke down and cried, which for a police veteran, you rarely see," Fuller told Sydney Radio 2GB, "says a lot about the amount of effort they put into finding her."
This was the rescue of a child who survived the collapse of the building in Miami
June 24, 202100: 59
"Although we all waited and prayed as the days passed, I think
the chances of finding her alive were very slim,
" he added.
Dawson said the body camera video of four police officers who broke into the home with a search warrant and found the girl touched him.
"It's a really joyous occasion. We don't always get these kinds of results, and even though we were very, very concerned, we didn't give up hope," Dawson said.
Western Australian Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch described seeing experienced detectives "openly cry with relief."
"
We were ... looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it
," Blanch told Perth Radio 6PR.
["I could only pay the ransom of the child": the uncle of the minor found alone at the border tells that he was kidnapped]
"When she said, 'My name is Cleo,' I don't think there was a dry eye between us," Blanch said, quoting the girl's words to the policeman who picked her up.
"Seeing Cleo rescued this morning, I am speechless," Blanch added.
The state government had offered a reward of A $ 1 million ($ 743,000) for information
five days after his disappearance, but Blanch said the money was not expected to be claimed.
On Tuesday, police had received information guiding them to the home, but the breakthrough was the result of evidence gathering by investigators, Blanch said.
"There were a lot of things.
There were movements of cars, there were movements of telephones, there was a history of people, ”he said.
["We have to think that we are going to find him," says the father of the young Latino who disappeared in Chicago]
Carnarvon President Eddie Jones said the local community would be "elated and grateful" when they heard the good news.
“I am beyond relieved.
The nightmare is finally over for Cleo and her family,
”Western Australian Prime Minister Mark McGowan posted on social media.
