Cleo Smith, who had been missing for 18 days after disappearing from the family tent at the Quobba Blowholes campground, was found "alive and well" in the early hours of Wednesday morning at a residential address.
A criminologist has revealed the strange details of Cleo Smith's case that sets it apart from other abduction cases not only in Australia, but throughout the world.
University of Newcastle's Xanthe Mallett said she had "never seen anything like this" when talking about the four-year-old girl's discovery after her 18-day disappearance.
"I've looked at a number of cases not only in Australia but in the UK and US have never seen anything like this when a child is taken by a stranger. Sadly they are normally killed quickly during the first three hours," Dr Mallett told the ABC.
"So when we stretched into 24 hours, 48 hours, and the days progressed I became more and more fearful that the news would be bad."
She said she was "elated" when she heard that Cleo had been found alive and well, adding seeing those images of her smiling in the hospital "was really special".
Cleo disappeared from her family's tent at the Quobba Blowholes campground near Carnarvon on October 16.
Police released this image of Cleo Smith being checked in hospital after her rescue. Photo / WA Police
She was rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning after police found her inside a locked house in Carnarvon, just minutes from her own family home.
A 36-year-old man has been arrested and has been questioned by police, with charges expected to be announced today.
Speaking to Sunrise this morning, Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said police are now trying to piece together exactly what happened inside the house where Cleo was discovered.
When asked if anyone else other than the suspect had entered the home during this time, he said that was not the "immediate information" police had at this time.
"That is all subject to the investigation and the investigation is under way at the moment about the circumstances of those 18 days in that house," he told the programme.
"It is not our immediate information that that is the case but certainly we have to go through each day forensically and work out who came, who didn't and what the circumstances were and what took place in that house."
The first image of the man arrested over the alleged abduction of Cleo Smith. Photo / Simon Hydzik/7 News
He told 2GB that police have to be "really careful with Cleo" and that they have been giving her time with her family before interviewing her.
"We will be talking to Cleo, but we have to do it very carefully. We have professional child interviewing experts and we will try to get information out of her about those 18 days," Deputy Commissioner Blanch said.
"That is a really hard, slow process and it is okay if she doesn't want to tell us."
Critical decision that led to Cleo's discovery
Fresh details have emerged of the critical moment police made the decision to break into a Western Australian home in the dead of night, which led to Cleo's discovery.
She had been missing for 18 days when investigators received a late-night lead, which led officers to a house in Carnarvon.
Investigators believed the four-year-old may be inside, though Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said officers really had no idea what waited for them on the other side of the locked door.
"They really did not know what they were going to encounter," he said
"It was the hard work of the team that did it. Analysing all that information, gathering it and finding the needle in the haystack."
Officers acted within a "matter of hours" of the new lead, breaking into the home at 12.46am where they found Cleo alone, physically uninjured and playing with toys.
Deputy Commissioner Blanch announced Cleo had been found "alive and well" on Wednesday morning.
"A police team broke their way into a locked house in Carnarvon about 1am. They found little Cleo in one of the rooms," he said.
"One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her 'what's your name?' She said – 'My name is Cleo'."
Cleo was reunited with her parents a short time later.
Incredible 1am call to Cleo's mum
The incredible moment Cleo Smith's mum heard her daughter's voice for the first time in 18 days has been revealed.
At about 1am on Wednesday, Ellie Smith received the phone call she had been hoping to receive every day since her four-year-old daughter went missing on a family camping trip.
Cleo was in the car with homicide squad Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine and family liaison officer Detective Sergeant Hutchinson on the way to the hospital when the call was made, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
"We've got someone here that wants to speak to you," Smith was reportedly told.
Deputy Commissioner Blanch told 2GB's Ben Fordham that Smith and Cleo's stepdad Jake Gliddon spent all night cuddling her after she was returned to them.
This is the moment four-year-old Cleo Smith was rescued by police. Photo / WA Police
"Ellie and Jake had been through 18 days of hell and I know Australia have felt that with them," he said.
"I'm pretty sure they all slept in the same room just cuddling all night."
Suspect was arrested before Cleo's rescue
A 36-year-old man was also taken into custody in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He is currently being questioned by police and charges are yet to be laid.
The West Australian revealed the man was pulled over by police in a car and arrested near Carnarvon at about midnight, with officers then breaking into the home to rescue Cleo.
Officials said the man only became a suspect in the case on Tuesday.
Police have released minimal details about the man, who is believed to be a Carnarvon local, with Commissioner Dawson only revealing "there is no family connection" between him and Cleo's family.
"I'm not going to elaborate further in terms of that man, other than to say he is a local man from Carnarvon, and we will be having something further to say later," he said.
Yesterday, 7 News captured video footage of the man in the back of an ambulance.
A photo provided to NCA NewsWire showed the man under heavy police guard with what appeared to be a bandage wrapped around his head.
Deputy Commissioner Blanch told 2GB he had to be taken to hospital for a second time on Thursday morning, though he had "no serious injuries".
Cleo disappeared from her family's tent at the Quobba Blowholes campground near Carnarvon in on October 16.
"Police have a very clear role under law that if we are going to interview anyone they must be of sound mind, they must be healthy, they must be fed, they must have had sufficient rest," he said.
"If any answers in a police interview are going to stand up in court, we must satisfy those things."
Henry Dodd said he saw the moment Cleo came out of the house being held tight on a detective's shoulder.
"She looked at me and she was a bit scared," he told 9 News.
'Real concerns for Cleo's welfare'
Superintendent Wilde detailed the extent of the resources engaged in the 18-day-long search for Cleo during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
"We collected a lot of data. That is what we do in these situations. It is a thorough investigation. You would have seen officers going around to every single CCTV location around Carnarvon, within 1000km. That is the level of detail you go through in these kinds of investigations," he told reporters.
"We analyse, we find what we are looking for, and we are lucky that we found it.
"It was the hard work of the team that did it. Analysing all that information, gathering it and finding the needle in the haystack.
Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said police reacted "in a heartbeat" after extensive searches – including of critical phone data – presented their "needle in the haystack" late Tuesday night.
"We had a strategy very early on from day one to collect everything," he said.
"We had to find that needle. Now, last night, that needle in the haystack came out and they acted in a heartbeat.
"It's a big jigsaw, you know, everything contributed, certainly phone data helped us and that will come apparent.
"But there were lots of things, that when we put the puzzle together it all led to one place, and that's where we found Cleo."
He added that information received Tuesday night rapidly "snowballed" and resulted in the discovery of Cleo.
Cleo's mum, Ellie Smith shared a short message to Instagram on Wednesday morning after being reunited with her daughter writing: "Our family is whole again".
Smith later revealed in a Facebook group that her daughter had seen missing posters displayed around town and thought they were "beautiful".
She was responding to a comment suggesting the missing signs be taken down out of respect for Cleo's family, but many argued it was a way they could display their continued support.
"Cleo has seen her photo.
She thought it was beautiful," Ms Smith wrote in a comment.
Cleo's biological father, Daniel Staines, also spoke out following Cleo's rescue.
"We are all absolutely overjoyed at the good news this morning and so happy that Cleo has been reunited with her mum and dad," the typed statement, handed to the West Australian, read.
"Thank you to everyone who helped look for her and bring her home, particularly the WA Police, SES and the Carnarvon community."
