4-year-old girl vanishes from a tent in Western Australia

[Eldorado]

Police are conducting a major search for a four-year-old girl missing from a campsite in Western Australia's north-west.

Cleo Smith was last seen at 1:30am on Saturday in her family's tent at the Blowholes Shacks in Macleod, about 75 kilometres north of Carnarvon by road.

But when her family woke up at 6am, she was missing.

Cleo was last seen wearing a pink and purple one-piece sleepsuit with a blue-and-yellow pattern.

An air, land and sea search has been underway in the area for most of the day.

ABC News report

[thedutchiedutch]

Poor girl. I hope she will be found safe. Would be nice if tents nowerdays would all be manufactured with child proof zippers from the inside. 
 

[Myles]

I hope there wasn't foul play involved.  

 

[Buzz_Light_Year]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-17/search-for-missing-4-year-old-girl-continues-wa-carnarvon/100545576

Quote

"It's been reported that there is a sleeping bag missing. Other than that, I really am not at liberty at this point to divulge what else we believe may be missing.

Well that sounds like an abduction.

[thedutchiedutch]

11 hours ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-17/search-for-missing-4-year-old-girl-continues-wa-carnarvon/100545576

Well that sounds like an abduction.

Yes, abduction is possible but seriously, the parents must have been passed out or something. I have slept in tents many times and I can tell you that you hear everything happening in and around your tent especially at night. I also understood that the parents had an 'interaction' with the youngster in the middle of the night, which would make me, if I was the parent, extra attentive for the rest of the night. There might be more than meets the eye to this sad story but I sincerely hope that the little girl gets found safe and sound.  

Edited October 18, 2021 by thedutchiedutch

[Eldorado]

Police are "not ruling anything in or out" as homicide and major crime investigators join search efforts for missing four-year-old girl Cleo Smith near Carnarvon in Western Australia.

ABC report at MSN

[Jon the frog]

On 10/17/2021 at 12:12 PM, Buzz_Light_Year said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-17/search-for-missing-4-year-old-girl-continues-wa-carnarvon/100545576

Well that sounds like an abduction.

Or she was simply not there at the camp site, and they are trying to cover their track ? Someone have seen them with her that day? Maybe i'm paranoid... 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Jon the frog

[Myles]

This doesn't look good for her safety. I would think they would have found her if she wondered off and got lost.  

[Eldorado]

Inspector Jon Munday has conceded that if Cleo was taken she “could be anywhere by now”.

He also confirmed Cleo’s biological father Daniel Staines had been questioned in Mandurah, but said that was standard procedure and there was no suggestion Mr Staines had anything to do with the girl’s disappearance.

There were reports a car was heard skidding in the area about 3am on the morning Cleo vanished, but police have not commented further about it.

https://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/were-going-to-find-her-we-have-to-distraught-mum-shares-heartbreak-over-missing-4yo-girl-cleo-smith/news-story/84bc2b29397fcfeeaea254d20da6c71b

[thedutchiedutch]

Here is some more important information from a recent article I found :

Quote snippet from article :

Ellie Smith said she had put Cleo to sleep after dinner on Friday night, seeing her again at 01:30 when she woke up asking for water.

Cleo was sleeping on an air mattress next to her younger sister's cot, in a separate room of the family's tent, Ms Smith said.

She saw the tent open and Cleo gone at 06:00 when she went to give her youngest daughter a bottle, she added.

"We went looking, trekking, making sure she wasn't around the tent," Ms Smith said.

"Then we got in the car and started driving around everywhere... We realised we had to call the cops because she wasn't here."

Unquote article snippet. Link to full article : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58963524

So Cleo was sleeping in a separate room, next to her younger sister, and the tent was open when the parents discovered Cleo missing.
Parents went looking for Cleo outside and around the tent and then went on a search in their vehicle for Cleo and after no success they called the authorities. 

Now I can't help to think why both parents, including the younger sister I assume, got in the car and started driving around to find her.
I mean what if Cleo went on a stroll nearby and returned to the tent and found her whole family gone including their vehicle ?
Wouldn't she not panic and probably go look for her family and get lost ?
Would't it not have been better if one parent stayed at the tent just in case she came back and the other parent got in the car to drive around and search ?

Anyways, it's easy to say and think straight I guess if you are not in their shoes I guess.

On the other hand, In another article I was reading that Cleo's sleeping bag was missing as well and I think that if a kid decides to go for a stroll at night they would not bring their sleeping bag along unless they are looking for another place to sleep.
So both kid, including sleeping bag missing, plus tent open, unzipped, might point towards the possibility that she has been grabbed/taken by someone unfortunately. If so, luckily the younger sister has not been taken.   

I truly hope the girl will be found sound and safe but it's day four now and the longer it takes .........

Edited October 19, 2021 by thedutchiedutch

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Worryingly, the police now seem to believe that the zip on the tent was too high for Cleo to be able to reach it.

[Still Waters]

5 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

Worryingly, the police now seem to believe that the zip on the tent was too high for Cleo to be able to reach it.

I was just about to post that.

Quote

Cleo Smith: WA police say tent zip was undone higher than four-year-old could have reached

Western Australia police say the zipper on the tent in which Cleo Smith was sleeping when she went missing was up so high there was no way the four-year-old could have opened it herself.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/20/cleo-smith-wa-police-say-tent-zip-was-undone-higher-than-four-year-old-could-have-reached

That doesn't sound good at all.

[thedutchiedutch]

Very disturbing developments in this case. According to the police, the zipper on the tent in which Cleo Smith was sleeping
when she went missing was up so high there was no way the four-year-old could have opened it herself.

Also, No witnesses have reported seeing Cleo at the heavily-populated campsite but police are comfortable based on
technological evidence” she was there with her parents and younger sister from Friday night and the account given to
police by the girl’s parents was anything but “accurate and truthful”.

So if no witnesses have reported seeing Cleo at the campsite, meaning no strangers knew she was there, does that mean
that if she was taken, she was so by someone she knew ? Below statement seem to confirm this theory.

The police also stated that  the family were Carnarvon locals and he understood they had set up their tent “in the same vicinity as people they knew”.

Also, if the poor girl was taken by someone she knew, it also makes sense that she didn't make any noise while being taken out of the tent. 

I am still hoping for a happy end somehow. Never give up hope !

 

[MissJatti]

I just hope and pray shes found safe and unharmed in any way.

[Jon the frog]

10 hours ago, thedutchiedutch said:

Very disturbing developments in this case. According to the police, the zipper on the tent in which Cleo Smith was sleeping
when she went missing was up so high there was no way the four-year-old could have opened it herself.

So if no witnesses have reported seeing Cleo at the campsite

 

If only the parents have seen her, I'm feeling less convinced that she was there... I would go to the parents house with a corpse searching dog...

[thedutchiedutch]

1 hour ago, Jon the frog said:

If only the parents have seen her, I'm feeling less convinced that she was there... I would go to the parents house with a corpse searching dog...

The parents arrived on Friday night about 6:30 PM and found Cleo missing around 6 AM Saturday morning so it is quite possible that nobody at the campsite seen Cleo. Furthermore in one of the news articles I was reading earlier today police ruled out any wrongdoing from parents. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by thedutchiedutch

[+joc]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:51 PM, thedutchiedutch said:

Poor girl. I hope she will be found safe. Would be nice if tents nowerdays would all be manufactured with child proof zippers from the inside. 
 

I don't think a 4 year old could possibly unzip a tent if they wanted to.  I don't even think you or I could unzip a tent in the middle of the night without a flashlight...I know I couldn't...and I know a 4 year old couldn't either.  Just sayin'   

[+joc]

1 hour ago, Jon the frog said:

If only the parents have seen her, I'm feeling less convinced that she was there... I would go to the parents house with a corpse searching dog...

Nah...she isn't home.  

A,  She didn't get out of the tent by herself.

B.  Why did they go camping and arrive so late?

C. The parents were the last one's to see her.

D.  The parents dumped her body in a culvert, and went camping as an alibi.

 

[thedutchiedutch]

7 minutes ago, joc said:

I don't think a 4 year old could possibly unzip a tent if they wanted to.  I don't even think you or I could unzip a tent in the middle of the night without a flashlight...I know I couldn't...and I know a 4 year old couldn't either.  Just sayin'   

Could be not sure haven't tried it in a while.

[+joc]

40 minutes ago, thedutchiedutch said:

Could be not sure haven't tried it in a while.

I go camping probably once or twice a year.  

But...we had a similar story where a toddler went missing in the middle of the night from the parents house.  After questioning the parents, the father told them he put her out in the alley as punishment for not drinking her milk (at 3am) and feared the coyotes got her.  They searched and searched for days and weeks.  Then someone found her...in a trash bag stuffed in a culvert a couple of miles away.  

I would be asking who the last person to see the kid was while the kid was with the parents.  Question where did they go after they left home...stopped for gas...shopping for food...etc.  Create a timeline and then chip away at the story.  And check GPS of the car...check the navigation GPS.  Check cameras along the road they would have been on ...see if the kid shows up on any video.  I don't care what the parents say or how convincing they sound.  They are at this point the only suspects.

Just checked Google and sunset at Carnarvon is at 6:34 pm.  So it got dark right after they got there.  Doubtful anyone saw the child in the campsite.  Very suspicious.

Edited October 21, 2021 by joc

[Still Waters]

Australian authorities offer A$1 million reward for missing 4-year-old Cleo Smith

The Western Australian government has offered a 1 million Australian dollar ($750,000) reward for information that leads to the whereabouts of a 4-year-old girl missing for six days in a remote coastal area.

Police now believe she was abducted.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/21/australia/cleo-smith-missing-reward-intl-hnk/index.html

[Myles]

It depends on the tent.   I have a tent that the zipper goes down and around to the side of the tent.  There is a zipper mechanism (I think they are called sliders) on both the top and the bottom side.  We would use the bottom side if we just wanted to open it enough to put something out or get something that was right outside.  Sometimes this was left partially open.  It's possible that the 4 year old just crawled out.

[thedutchiedutch]

13 hours ago, joc said:

I go camping probably once or twice a year.  

But...we had a similar story where a toddler went missing in the middle of the night from the parents house.  After questioning the parents, the father told them he put her out in the alley as punishment for not drinking her milk (at 3am) and feared the coyotes got her.  They searched and searched for days and weeks.  Then someone found her...in a trash bag stuffed in a culvert a couple of miles away.  

I would be asking who the last person to see the kid was while the kid was with the parents.  Question where did they go after they left home...stopped for gas...shopping for food...etc.  Create a timeline and then chip away at the story.  And check GPS of the car...check the navigation GPS.  Check cameras along the road they would have been on ...see if the kid shows up on any video.  I don't care what the parents say or how convincing they sound.  They are at this point the only suspects.

Just checked Google and sunset at Carnarvon is at 6:34 pm.  So it got dark right after they got there.  Doubtful anyone saw the child in the campsite.  Very suspicious.

That's a pretty sad story. In this case, the police stated several times that the parents are not suspects and there must be a reason for that.
Understand that the police knows way more about this case than we do. I also learned that the police found plenty of evidence and clues to assume Cleo was really there, in that tent. I have to admit that I was skeptic about the parents in the beginning as well but after reading about this case and keeping up to date with it I doubt that the parents have anything to do with Cleo's disappearance. Let's hope she shows up somewhere sound and safe. It has been six days now and I just noticed that West Australian Premier Mark McGowan announced a $1 million reward to anyone who has information that can help authorities find the missing girl. Let's hope money talks. 

[+joc]

Looks like an unconventional tent...more like a tarp of sorts...still...in the dead of night...in the dark...I am quite not getting how an abduction could take place.

And the  police said that she could not have unzipped the tent herself.

To be abducted...someone would have to go into the tent...how does that happen at 1:30am without waking Mama and Papa bear?  

Plus the sleeping bag was gone.  V e r y   suspicious and I don't care what the parents say.

Edited October 21, 2021 by joc

[Eldorado]

You would be able to spot the terror on her face, said the mother of missing four-year-old Cleo Smith, as the entire nation was asked to keep an eye out for the suspected kidnapping victim.

"She wouldn't look comfortable, she would be terrified, she would be so scared," said Ellie Smith.

The young girl has been missing without a trace for a week today.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/cleo-smiths-disappearance-sparks-one-of-was-largest-search-operations-amid-abduction-fears/ar-AAPQjIG?