By Olivia Day for Daily Mail Australia
Friday, October 15,
Cleo arrives at Blowholes camping site with her mom Ellie Smith, Jake Gliddon, and Isla Mae.
The couple had a quiet night, and they arrived just before sunset.
Saturday, October 16
Cleo, four years old, asks her mother for water.
6.23am Ellie calls 000 and reports her eldest child missing. She continues searching the camp site.
6.30am: Carnarvon Police Station dispatches the first two officers. As a matter-of-priority, they travel to Blowholes with lights and sirens.
6.41 AM: Blowholes is visited by a second car, with two additional officers and lights.
7.10am: First police car arrives. In a matter of minutes, comes the second.
7.26am: On the spot, police establish a protected forensic zone which is taped to the public around the family tent that Cleo was last seen.
7.33am: The drone operator will search the sky for a missing person.
7.44 am: Blowholes receive a third police vehicle.
8:15am: Cleo’s family and friends begin arriving to assist with ground searches.
Cleo is also being searched briefly by another group of investigators to confirm her absence.
The group then heads to Blowholes, where they stop cars entering and leaving the region.
8.09am: The helicopter of a local firm arrived on scene to search. Police request that the SES team assist the Blowholes search.
8.24 AM: The search is being assisted by the police air-wing as well as volunteer marine searchers.
8.34am: Police set up roadblocks at Blowholes to collect names, addresses and registration information of anyone coming or going. The police search vehicles.
9:25 AM: Nine SES personnel arrive at Blowholes in support of the search.
Cleo is missing from her home in Australia. This was Cleo’s search by bounty hunters, police officers and investigators (pictured)
9.30am: Ellie in distress is greeted by detectives who stay with her for the remainder of the day, while Cleo and other search teams hunt.
11:15am: Major Crime Division Homicide Detectives are summoned and travel from Perth to aid in the search.
1pm: Perth is home to more homicide detectives, search specialists and other investigators.
3.30pm: Carnarvon officers and search specialists arrive to lend their expertise.
Sunday, October 17,
Ms Smith turns to social media for assistance in finding her daughter.
A post on Facebook that was posted at 1.45am Sunday read: ‘It has been over 24hrs since I last saw the sparkle in her eyes.
Please help me to find her
Please call 911 if you have any questions.
According to police, Cleo could have been kidnapped.
Monday, October 18, 2008
Police have released an image of the sleeping bag in red and grey that was missing from Cleo’s tent.
Cleo’s biological dad is interviewed in Mandurah by police and asked for a statement. He does.
With the assistance of SES volunteers, aircraft, and SES officers, the WA Police continue their hunt for Cleo. Officers are also searching the surrounding area for vehicles and shacks.
Tuesday, September 19
Cleo’s mom Ellie Smith, and Jake Gliddon are fronting the media and discuss the moment that they realized the girl was gone.
Ms Smith claims that her 4-year-old daughter would not have been able to leave the tent on her own.
Cleo’s pink and blue one-piece that she wore the night she vanished is now available to police for their investigation.
Police are urging anyone found at or near the site on October 15, to contact them.
Wednesday, October 20
Cleo was unable to access the tent’s zip because it was not high enough for her mother to find.
The officers say that they haven’t dismissed reports by campers that they heard the screeching of tyres early Saturday morning.
Daryl Gaunt (Deputy Police Commissioner) confirmed that police are currently investigating whereabouts 20 registered Carnarvon-area sex offenders.
Thursday, October 21,
Cleo will be located by WA Premier Mark McGowan, and the WA Government is offering a $1million reward.
McGowan expressed his sympathy for Cleo and her family, saying that “all Western Australians’ thoughts are at Cleo’s side during an unbearable time.”
“We all pray for a positive outcome.”
It was unheard of for the reward to be issued so quickly – in just days after her disappearance.
Pictured: A group of police examines rubbish near Blowholes Campground in remote WA
Monday, 25th October
WA Police confirmed Cleo’s presence at camp site. This was confirmed by CCTV footage taken from a camera mounted inside a beach house, just 20 meters from her family tent.
Tuesday 26 October
On Tuesday, detectives and forensic officers spent a lot of time at Carnarvon home, which is 900km north from Perth. They left with two bags full of evidence.
Even though investigators were familiar with the house, it was their first visit to search the interior of the property.
Col Blanch, Acting WA Police Commissioner said that the search of their family home was “standard practice” and didn’t indicate they were suspects with Cleo’s disappearance.
Wednesday, October 27
WA Police forensics officers are back at Blowholes campsite and can be seen taking soil samples from several campfires close to shacks.
Federal government officials announced that Australian Federal Police officers were drafted into support of intelligence and forensic efforts.
Friday 29th October
Blowholes police return to Blowholes camp for aerial analysis.
Rod Wilde, the Detective Superintendent of the Blowholes Campground joins in the Cleo search as it reaches the two-week mark.
He said that Cleo is being sought by both international and national agencies.
Sunday, 31 Oct
Cleo lives 5km away from Cleo’s home on Sunday, so detectives went door-to-door.
Monday, November 1,
Police search for the vanished camper in piles of garbage at roadside bins hundreds of kilometers away.
Material was taken to Perth by forensic officers, who searched through the bags for any items that could have been used in Cleo’s disappearance.
Police ask for footage of CCTV or dash cam footage in the 1000 km radius from where the 4-year-old vanished.
Police appeal to more Carnarvon businesses to take footage of an area in the industrial outskirts.
Ellie (photo with Cleo her younger daughter and partner) was overcome by emotion when her mother broke her silence. They shared a number of love heart emoticons on Instagram.
Wednesday, November 3
Cleo Smith was found alive in November 3 after two and a half weeks of diligent searching.
Col Blanch (WA Police) confirmed shortly before 7 a.m. AEST that Cleo had been reunited and is well.
“One of the officers took her into his arms, and asked her her name. He said. “She replied, “My name is Cleo.”
Ellie Smith shared the following message on social media: “Our family has been restored to its former glory.”
An unidentified Carnarvon male is taken into custody and interrogated by detectives.
Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon, her partner in the venture, fronted media on October 19th and asked the public for any information they could provide.
Thursday, November 4.
Terry Darrell Kelly was 36. He was arrested for multiple infractions including forcing a minor to marry. Kelly appeared naked at Carnarvon Magistrate’s Court wearing only a black shirt and barefoot.
Monday, November 8.
Carnarvon is the scene of specialist police returning to Carnarvon in an effort to “ascertain if anyone else was involved.”