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Huge joy in Australia: about two and a half weeks after the mysterious disappearance of little Cleo Smith from a campsite in the west of the country, the police have found the four-year-old safe again.
The child was freed by the police from a locked house in Carnarvon, 75 kilometres from the campsite, as Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said early Wednesday morning (local time). A 36-year-old suspect from the village is in custody and is being questioned.
The police had left the house early Wednesday morning at just before 1: 00 a.m. (local time), Blanch said. This result was achieved thanks to incredible police work.
"we were looking for the needle in the haystack, and we found it," said Blanch to the local radio station 6PR. "when she said," my name is Cleo, "there was no more eye dry in the house." Experienced investigators burst into tears with relief.
On Twitter, the police shared a video showing the moment of rescue. It can be seen how the girl is carried by an investigator on her shoulder, while another official talks to the four-year-old.
Mother Ellie Smith: "our family is complete again"
When she was reunited with her parents, Cleo had only "Mummy!" Shouted, then there were lots of tears and hugs, said Obersergeant Cameron Blaine, who witnessed everything up close, at a press conference. The parents were beside themselves with joy.
The girl & APOs; s mother, Ellie Smith, wrote on Instagram, & quot; our family is complete again. & quot; According to the authorities, Cleo was first taken to a hospital and looked after and examined there.
Western Australia & APOs; s police published on Twitter a picture showing Cleo vigorously waving in the hospital bed, wrapped in a white blanket. "the miracle we were all hoping for," they said. Meanwhile, the girl is already at home again. According to the police, she is physically unharmed.
The family lives in the place where Cleo was found. With her mother, her partner and her little sister, the girl was camping at the blowholes on the coast on 16 October, about 900 kilometres north of the regional capital Perth.
Girl disappeared out of the tent at night
According to her mother, at about 6: 00 a.m., she noticed that the blonde girl and her sleeping bag had disappeared from one of the family & APOs; s two rooms. There her daughter slept next to the little sister.
The tent zipper had been open up to a height that the four-year-old himself could not have reached. Since then, there has been no trace of the child. The blowholes-sea caves from which the surf splits-are a popular excursion destination on the Indian Ocean. The government of the state of Western Australia had suspended a reward of one million Australian dollars (around 650,000 euros) for clues leading to the girl & APOs; s finding.
"this was stubborn, methodical police work," said police Commissioner Chris Dawson. The investigators would have collected thousands and thousands of forensic exhibits, data and information from the community and carefully examined each clue. "then this one showed up here and they informed me and said," look, we think we've come across something here, "said Dawson. Shortly afterwards, he received the news of saving the child.
Premier Scott Morrison thanks the police
Australia & APOs; s Premier Scott Morrison thanked the police via Twitter. "what a wonderful, lightening news. Cleo Smith was found and is healthy and cheerful at home," he wrote.
Parliamentarian Tanya Plibersek said via Twitter, "what this family has been through is the worst nightmare of all parents."
The sympathy was huge after the girl & APOs; s disappearance-not only in Australia. On Instagram, people from Scotland, the USA and Germany, among others, tried to encourage the family. & quot; Please Don & APOs; t give up! our thumbs are pressed that she & APOs; s found healthy. All love from Germany! & quot; wrote a user.
Parents turned to the public with calls-case reminded of Maddie McCann
The desperate parents had repeatedly turned to the public with dramatic calls-in the hope of persuading the perpetrator or perpetrators to release the girl. According to the evidence, there was only one plausible explanation: little Cleo was kidnapped.
Neither the mother, the partner of life, nor the physical father of the girl who lives with Perth would be regarded as a suspect. The police had suspected that she had been kidnapped by an "opportunistic" perpetrator, as the Australian news agency AAP reported. There were about 100 officials in the Special Commission.
Cleo & APOs; s disappearance had awakened gloomy memories of the case of the then three-year-old British Maddie McCann, who had disappeared from an apartment complex without a trace on 3 May 2007 in Portugal. The unexplained fate of the girl still makes headlines today.
As investigators last year surprisingly announced that a German is suspected of murder, there was at least hope for late certainty. So far, however, there has been no breakthrough in the investigation. (DPA / ANK / THP)
