Cleo Smith, 4, was seen singing and dancing in a heartwarming clip shared by her family following her harrowing 18-day kidnapping from a campsite in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia
Family reveals heartbreaking new details of Cleo Smith’s disappearance
Kidnapped toddler Cleo Smith is seen singing and dancing in never seen before footage released by her parents following their traumatic ordeal.
The four-year-old was abducted from her tent in October while on holiday with her family at the Blowholes campsite in Western Australia.
It was not until 18 days later that officers found Cleo alive at an address in Carnarvon, around 50 miles from where she was taken.
Her family have recently opened up about their experience and released a video of their brave little girl dancing with joy after being rescued.
Mum Ellie and stepdad Jake shared the moment Cleo began singing and dancing for joy at 7am, just six hours after being reunited at home.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Ellie said: “She was jumping around and we were dancing, singing. She was just so happy.
“That was such a beautiful moment just to see her as the old Cleo but you can still see…it’s still different.”
Ellie said she was shocked when Cleo said “oh I haven’t had dinner for a very long time mum” after she was rescued and taken to hospital for observation.
She told how she is still trying to find out what happened to her little girl who is “still different” and that the family have “a long way to go.”
She said: “As a parent, you want to…make sure that they stay as a child for as long as they can because you don’t want them to be in this big, bad world, and she lost that, that was taken from here.
“She’s probably going to have to be dealing with this for the rest of her life and we’re going to eventually have to find out everything that’s happened and we’re going to have to carry that as well.”
Cleo’s disappearance sparked a huge investigation and gained international attention.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was arrested on the same day Cleo was found and he pleaded guilty to forcibly taking a child aged under 16 at Carnarvon Magistrates Court.
Appearing via video link from the high-security prison Casuarina Prison in Perth, he admitted his guilt and was referred to the WA District Court for a sentence mention in March.
Cleo was awake and playing with cars when police found her at around 1am, Ellie said.
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Police confirmed that the house was as it appeared in photos on social media with toys and dolls while Cleo told her mum that she could hear dogs barking, she added.
Ellie also recalled the heart-wrenching moment she realized “someone had my baby”.
“She was basically nowhere near me and that was the second I realized that someone had her and both my head and my heart connected to that,” she said.
When the pair were finally reunited, Ellie said her daughter’s first words were “hi mummy.”
She said: “Cleo got onto the phone and she’s like ‘hi mummy’ and I was like ‘hi baby’.
“It was such a beautiful moment.”
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