By Olivia Day for Daily Mail Australia
Friday, 15 October
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.
6.23 AM: Ellie dials 000 to report her oldest daughter missing while she searches the camp grounds.
6.30 am: Two officers arrive at Carnarvon’s police station. As a matter-of-priority, they travel to Blowholes with lights and sirens.
6.41 AM: Blowholes receives a second police vehicle with additional two officers.
7.10 am: First police car arrives. Only minutes later, the second arrives.
7.26 a.m.: On the spot, police establish a protected forensic zone which is taped to the public around the tent that Cleo slept in last night.
7.33am: Drone operators are called to perform aerial searches.
7.44 am: Blowholes receive a third police vehicle.
8am: Cleo’s family and friends begin arriving to assist with ground searches.
A second group of detectives searched Cleo’s house briefly to ensure she wasn’t there.
The group then heads to Blowholes, where they stop cars entering and leaving the region.
8.09am: Police requested that an SES Team attend Blowholes’ search. A helicopter belonging to a local business arrived on the scene.
8.24am: Volunteer marine and police searchers called in to help with the search.
8.34am: Blowholes’ entrance is blocked off by roadblocks. Detectives collect the addresses, names and registration details of all those who are coming and going. The police search vehicles.
9.25am: 9 SES persons arrive at Blowholes to help with the search.
Cleo is missing from her home in Australia. This was Cleo’s search by bounty hunters, police officers and investigators (depicted)
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.
11.30am: Major Crime Division homicide detectives call and travel to Perth to aid in the search.
1.30pm: Additional homicide detectives are flying in from Perth.
3:00pm: Carnarvon police officers and search professionals arrive to share their knowledge.
Sunday, 17 October
Ms Smith turns to social media for assistance in finding her missing child.
A Sunday Facebook post that stated: “It’s been more than 24 hours since the sparkle in my girl’s eyes last time I saw it.”
Please help me to find her
For any other information, call 911 immediately!
Cleo might have been taken by police.
Monday, October 18, 2008
Police released an image showing the missing red and gray sleeping bag from Cleo’s tent.
Cleo is interrogated by Mandurah police about her biological father. They ask him to give a statement which he freely gives.
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, October 19, 2009
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith was joined by Jake Gliddon, her partner. They describe how they felt when Cleo went missing.
Ms Smith said that her four year old would have never left the tent all by herself.
To assist the investigation, police release more images of Cleo as well as the pink-and-blue one piece she was wearing on the night she disappeared.
Investigators are asking anyone present at the camp site or nearby on October 15th to call police.
Wednesday, October 20
Cleo could not reach the zipper of the tent because the mother found it hanging open at 6 a.m. on Saturday.
According to officers, they have not ruled out reports that campers heard screeching tires in the early hours Saturday morning.
Daryl Gaunt (Deputy Police Commissioner) confirmed that police are currently investigating whereabouts 20 registered Carnarvon-area sex offenders.
Thursday, 21 October
Cleo is being sought by the WA Government for any information leading to her location, as announced by WA Premier Mark McGowan.
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 25 October
WA Police confirm that Cleo was at the camp site. The footage is from CCTV camera on the beach shack, which is only 20m from where she vanished from.
Tuesday 26 October
On Tuesday, detectives and forensic officers spent a lot of time at Carnarvon home, which is 900 km north of 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 that 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 announces that Australian Federal Police Officers have been recruited to assist with intelligence and forensic investigations.
Friday, 29 October
Blowholes Camp is being reopened by police to conduct aerial surveys of the surrounding area.
As the search nears the two week mark, Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde is back at the Blowholes campsite and joins the hunt for Cleo.
He confirmed that both national and international agencies were involved in the Cleo search.
Sunday, 31 Oct
Cleo lives 5km away from Cleo’s home on Sunday, so detectives went door-to-door.
Monday, November 1,
The roadside rubbish bins are hundreds of kilometres from where the victim vanished. Detectives search through them for clues.
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 1000km area around where the 4-year-old vanished.
Police appeal to more Carnarvon businesses to take footage of an area in the industrial outskirts.
Ellie, Ellie’s mother (pictured here with Cleo and her daughter younger) broke her silence when Cleo was discovered. She shared several love heart emojis via 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 am AEST that Cleo had returned home to her mother and father.
“One of the officers took her into his arms, and asked her her name. He replied. “She replied, “My name is Cleo.”
Ellie Smith wrote to social media, “Our family is complete again”.
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.