Parents of girl who survived 18 days kidnapped recall realization she was 'gone'

The parents of little Cleo Smith, who was abducted back in 2021, have explained the harrowing moment they woke up to find she'd disappeared from their tent during a family camping trip.

October 16, 2021, the world fell quiet in a remote Western Australian Blowholes campsite that four-year-old Cleo, her younger sister Isla, and her parents, Jake and Ellie, were sleeping.

But hours into the night, unbeknownst to everyone involved, Terence Darrell Kelly was prowling the area with thoughts of stealing a handbag.

Instead, he came away with much more.

With methamphetamine in his veins, the man snatched Cleo from the tent between the hours of 2.40am and 4.40am, with mom Ellie only realizing at 6am when she awoke to the space empty of her daughter and her daughter’s sleeping bag.

Terence Darrell Kelly snatched Cleo Smith in 2021 (60 Minutes Australia)

This sparked one of Australia’s biggest man hunts in history, as horses, helicopters, drones, and search team scoured the dry terrain.

But Cleo wouldn’t be found for another 18 days.

Kelly, who was sentenced to spend 13 years in prison for the abduction of Cleo, wasn’t so easy to find, and it took nearly three weeks of searching to locate him.

Once they did, police were shocked to find that Cleo had been living in a room with a mattress, inside of a home filled with dolls, per The Guardian.

For Ellie and Jake, the pain was immeasurable.

Speaking with 60 Minutes, they recalled the impact of their ordeal five years ago.

“The second we realized she was gone and her sleeping bag was gone. Yeah. That was the second we knew she did not walk away,” said mom Ellie.

Cleo had been missing for 18 days (WA Police)

Recalling that there were 'no drag marks of this sleeping bag', they explained that the then four-year-old ‘couldn't have carried it’ herself.

Ellie went on to say: “I mean, we were hoping she was around the corner and that's it was just a nightmare. You know, deep down we knew. Deep down we knew she did not walk away. She was taken.”

However, while it was obvious she was taken, the parents were shocked to learn that the perpetrator came from the same town as the family, and kept their daughter at his home there, so close to their own in Carnarvon.

“We grew up there. I was born there. And someone that lived there and grew there was the person that did it,” said Ellie.

But despite the trauma, the parents have revealed that Cleo is thriving, and nearly nine years old.

In fact, she has just come home from an overseas trip to Singapore, where she competed in an international gymnastics' competition.

Kelly remains incarcerated at Casuarina Prison, having failed in a bid to reduce his sentence.