Cleo Smith was found ‘alive and well’ by police locked in a house in her hometown – just seven minutes drive from her own family home – after a terrifying 18-day ordeal
Little Cleo Smith will have a very clear recollection of parts of her 18-day ordeal but detectives face a race against time to extract key details from the youngster, a leading psychologist has warned.
The four-year-old was reunited with her family barely 24 hours ago after police rammed their way into a rundown house in Carnarvon just before 1am on Wednesday morning.
She went missing 18 days earlier from her family’s tent at the remote Blowholes campsite 73km away from the town, sparking a massive police search operation.
Forensic psychologist Dr Celine Van Golde said Cleo may only remember specific ‘events’ during her abduction and should be interviewed as soon as possible to minimise any memory loss.
‘If it was 10 years later, it would be a different question,’ she told News Corp. ‘But at this point if she’s interviewed in an appropriate way, she can recall a lot of details.’
The University of Sydney senior lecturer said specially-trained officers who know how to interview children may get the best results by asking her about specific points during her abduction.
She said children often have very detailed memories of particular moments or events, rather than a general recollection of what happened to them.
The first picture of Cleo, safe and sound in hospital, after she was rescued from a house in Carnarvon, in northwest Western Australia, where she was held for 18 days
In Cleo’s case, she may be able to clearly recall the finer details of being taken from her family’s tent.
‘What we find is that you are able to get very accurate details if you go for example by the event that happens,’ Dr Golde said.
The youngster’s memory may have been affected by any trauma she suffered, the expert claimed, but Cleo would be forthcoming if asked the right questions.
‘She could have issues with remembering specific details. However, with appropriate interviewing techniques, details can be retrieved as well from a memory,’ the expert said.
The police investigation into her disappearance dramatically shifted after officers raided the Tonkin Crescent house and found Cleo in one of the rooms at 12.46am on Wednesday morning.
Hopes were fading fast the toddler would be found alive but a ‘tip off’ late on Tuesday night was the ‘final piece of the puzzle’ police needed to pounce.
Her suspected abductor, a 36-year-old man (pictured), was taken to hospital after his arrest
Cleo’s suspected abductor, 36, was arrested about an hour before she was found after being bundled out of a car in the town and rushed to hospital.
The intel from the public contained ‘really important information about a car’ which was later confirmed with phone data and ‘a lot of forensic leads’.
The first images of the suspect have been revealed showing the man in the back of an ambulance with bandages wrapped around his head.
He spent Wednesday morning being interrogated by detectives before being rushed to Carnarvon Hospital where he is now being guarded by three police officers.
A reward poster for missing Cleo Smith is seen on Wednesday outside Carnarvon Airport (pictured) hours after the four-year-old was miraculously found alive and well
Cleo is now back in the arms of her mum Ellie and stepfather Jake (pictured together with younger daughter Isla) after 18 agonising days of searching for their little girl
Neighbours who witnessed the dramatic police raid, after which officers were seen carrying a crow bar and a battering ram out of the house, described how Cleo was carried to safety.
‘We stood back and waited but after that, we saw someone, on the detective shoulder. We thought it might be the little girl, which it was,’ Henry Dodd said.
‘I went closer to the detectives car and I saw her in the back of the car with the detective, he was holding her. They put her in the back and I came over, rushed over here and seen her there. She looked at me, a bit scared.’
Mr Dodd said he was shocked he had been just metres away from her while the nationwide hunt was going on for her.
‘I just can’t believe it and get over the fact that she is just the house down from us and locked up here for a couple of weeks,’ he added.
‘Going on three weeks, she is straight across from us. I’ve got little sisters there…’
Shocked neighbours (pictured) woke up to the news that Cleo Smith was found by WA police on their quiet street
Cleo was found in her hometown of Carnarvon in Western Australia, 75km from where she went missing on October 16
Police feared Cleo could have been spirited away to anywhere in the country – but instead she was under their noses all along just 3km from her home and 75km from the campsite.
Cleo was likely already locked up in the house when her parents Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon awoke at 6am to find she was no longer lying next to them and her baby sister Isla in their tent.
Police initially believed she had simply wandered off but investigators soon came to the worrying conclusion she had been snatched by a brazen child predator in the dead of night.
Source: DailyMail