The mother of a four-year-old girl missing in Western Australia's Gascoyne region says she woke on Saturday morning to find the zip of the tent open and her daughter gone.
Key points:
- Cleo Smith was reported missing from the Blowholes campsite on Saturday
- Her mother says the last time she saw her was at 1.30am when she wanted a drink of water
- The family woke to find the zip of the tent open and Cleo missing, along with her sleeping bag
Ellie Smith says her daughter Cleo Smith had woken in the night at 1.30am asking for water and that was the last time she saw her.
The family had arrived at the Blowholes campsite in Macleod, about 70 kilometres north of Carnarvon, on Friday at about 6.30pm, just before dark.
In an emotional interview, Ms Smith recalled how Cleo went to bed at about 8pm after dinner before the rest of the family, including their other daughter Isla, also settled down for the night.
"I got her some water. She went to bed," she said.
"I checked on Isla, made sure Isla was ok. I got back in bed and that was it really, we went back to sleep, woke up to Isla wanting a bottle.
"As we passed the divider, I went into the other room and the zipper was open. Cleo was gone and that was about it for Saturday morning until everything started."
The family said Cleo's sleeping bag was also missing when they woke at 6am.
She had been sleeping on a mattress in one room of the tent with Isla in a cot next to her.
Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon were on a blow-up mattress in a room next to them.
"I turned to Jake and said: 'Cleo's gone'.
Family's desperate search for 'beautiful, delicate' Cleo
"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 grew up here, we literally grew up 100 metres from where we stayed at the same age. So we just looked everywhere that we went as kids and we couldn't find her.
"We realised we had to call the cops because she wasn't here."
Ms Smith described what she was thinking at the time.
"Where is she, she needs breakfast, what is she doing? Everything's going through my head," she said.
Ms Smith described her daughter as "beautiful" and "delicate".
"She loves rocks. She collects rocks. She loves make-up and dressing up, every day [she] wants to wear a princess dress.
"She's beautiful, so sweet, she's everything you'd want in a little girl to grow up."
Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon want anyone with any information or who saw anything to contact police.
"If you see something, report it," Ms Smith said.
"It doesn't matter if it's small or big or if you're sure or not ... we want our little girl home."
'Someone knows where Cleo is'
She said Cleo was not the sort of child to wander off on her own, and did not even leave her side when they walked to the shops.
"She's lazy when it comes to walking. She won't ride her bike very far. All she wants to do is go in the bottom of our pram," she said.
When she left she was wearing a jumpsuit. She can't go to the toilet without my help unzipping it. She would come and get me, just like she did for her water."
Ms Smith believed someone knew where Cleo was.
"Someone has to. It's been four days—they have to [know]," she said.
"We hold hope that she's here, because if I think about her being taken [and] it's pretty, you know, a million other things cross our mind."
Days of searching for Cleo 'horrendous'
"We haven't really slept. We've had so much family help us, support us," Ms Smith said.
Asked what she thought had happened to her daughter, Ms Smith said she did not know.
"No idea. There's probably a million things that I've thought of and everyone else and as everyone tells us they are searching every angle that we probably have thought of," she said.
"The worst part is, we can't do anything more. It's out of our hands so we feel hopeless and out of control."
Every time they received a phone call, they hoped it would be news Cleo had been found.
"We sit and watch the sand dunes and we just think she's going to run down it and back into our arms, but we're still waiting,'' she said.
Ms Smith said she felt scared and terrified, although they had received huge support from their family and the community.
"We've got people everywhere. We're going to find her. We have to," she said.
Ms Smith works in Carnarvon at a beauty salon and Mr Gliddon works for mining company Rio Tinto.
Cleo, who attends St Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic School in Carnarvon, was "strong from the day she was born".
"I know she can get through whatever she's going through," Ms Smith said.
"She'd be terrified, she'd be so scared."
Mounted police join search as bad weather hampers efforts
The search for Cleo resumed today after it was temporarily suspended due to extreme weather.
Police officers continued to search in and around shacks in the area as they waited for the weather to improve.
Shack owners were asked to come and drop their keys off to police today so their properties could be accessed.
Mounted section officers were also due to arrive today to help in the search.
Premier Mark McGowan said it was a devastating situation.
"Our thoughts are with Cleo's family during what is undoubtedly an extremely difficult time for them and for everyone involved," Mr MCGowan said.
"To every officer and volunteer involved in search can I say thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Smith family.
"To Cleo's family and on behalf of West Australians, we are thinking of you at this difficult time."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTEwLTE5L2NsZW8tc21pdGgtbWlzc2luZy1naXJscy1tb3RoZXItcmVjYWxscy1sYXN0LXNlZWluZy1kYXVnaHRlci8xMDA1NTA4MjLSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAwNTUwODIy?oc=5
2021-10-19 06:38:21Z
52781940990540
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Cleo Smith's mother has 'no idea' what happened to four-year-old missing from Carnarvon Blowholes - ABC News"
Post a Comment