Cleo Smith, a missing youngster, miraculously survived 18 days after being pulled from a tent on a remote campsite.
A Carnarvon police team broke into a locked house around 1 a.m. on Wednesday to find the four-year old girl in one of the rooms.
The WA Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed that Cleo was alive and well just before 7am AEST.
‘One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her ‘what’s your name?’ he said.
‘She said: ‘My name is Cleo’
Cleo was reunited shortly after with her parents.
A Carnarvon man is currently being held and being interrogated by detectives.
‘This is the outcome we all hoped and prayed for,’ Deputy Commissioner Blanch said.
It’s the outcome we’ve achieved because of some incredible police work.
I want to thank Cleo’s parents, the Western Australian community and the many volunteers.
And last but not least, I want to say thank you to my colleagues from the Western Australia Police Force.
Police interviewed more than 110 people who were present at the Blowholes campsite the night Cleo arrived home with her family at 10.16.
The little girl was last seen at the campsite on WA’s northwest coast in her family’s tent around 1.30am on that night.
Rod Wilde, Detective Superintendent of Police, stated that the family had stayed at their tent all evening and not interacted with other campers.
After disappearing from a remote campsite in Western Australia, Cleo Smith (pictured), miraculously was found alive
He said that he believed it was more than likely an opportunistic event on Tuesday, before the girl was found.
“We know they got there Friday night, it was dark, and there would not have been much opportunity for people to see Cleo at this time.”
Police stressed that Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith, Jake Gliddon and her partner Jake Gliddon were not suspects.
Investigators spoke to the vast majority who were present at the campsite, but have yet to hear from the driver if he was seen leaving in middle of the night.
“We’ve had more than 1000 calls from the public to Crime Stoppers,” said Supt Wilde.
“We still have a lot to do, and a lot of work ahead of us, but we are making progress.”
Police collected more than 50 cubic meters of rubbish from roadside bins from Minilya to Geraldton this week.
It was then transported to Perth where forensic officers, recruits, and other personnel sorted through hundreds more bags in search for items that might help them find Cleo.
Cleo’s location will be rewarded with a $1,000,000 reward by the state government.
Police say that the girl’s disappearance has been immediately dealt with, even though it took two hours to create a roadblock at the location.
Cleo’s home in Carnarvon was visited several times by detectives. They also obtained CCTV footage from a variety of local businesses. Samples were also taken from a campfire at Blowholes as part of their ongoing investigation.