Cleo Smith: Police Say Another Person Could Be Involved In Alleged Kidnapping
Published
Police are investigating whether anyone else was involved in the alleged abduction of Cleo Smith.
Cleo was initially reported missing on October 16 after vanishing from her family’s tent at a campsite. Earlier last week, on November 3, she was discovered alive and well in a locked house in Carnarvon, around 75km from where she’d disappeared, and has since been reunited with her parents.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, has since been arrested and charged with a number of offences relating to the alleged kidnapping of the four-year-old girl, including one count of forcibly taking a child under 16. He was taken into custody as officers recovered Cleo, however, he wasn’t at the house when police arrived, nor does he have any connection to the family.
Officers are continuing their investigation in Carnarvon this week, with forensic specialists scouring Kelly’s home. Details recently emerged regarding his alleged obsession with Bratz dolls, with photos of his ‘doll house’ circulating on social media and one earlier post of him out on a drive, captioned, ‘I love taking my dolls for drive arounds and doing their hair and taking selfies in public.’
Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine, who helped recover Cleo, said police have ‘more work to do’ but couldn’t offer many other updates regarding the case, the MailOnline reports.
‘Our focus this week is for us to ascertain whether there was anyone else involved. That’s why we are still here,’ he said.
‘So, we just ask that if there was anyone that had any contact with Mr. Kelly, whether you saw him, whether you met with him, whether you spoke to him on the phone during the relevant period to please make yourself known to police.’
Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon, Cleo’s mother and step-father, said they were ‘humbled by the love and support that we have received from not only our local community but the whole of Western Australia and across the country’ in a statement following their daughter’s safe return.
There’s no further update on Kelly’s case at the time of writing.
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