This was the moment when Cleo Smith is rescued by the Australian police after being kidnapped for 18 days

The Police of Australia found this Wednesday alive and locked in a house to Cleo Smith, a four-year-old girl who disappeared on October 16 when she was with her family in a campsite.

Cleo Smith was found in a locked house in the town of Carnarvon, about three kilometers from where the minor lives with her family and about 75 kilometers from the place where she disappeared.

Four officers broke into the house around 1 a.m. local time and found the minor alone in one of the rooms.

“I wanted to be absolutely sure it was her. I said, ‘what’s your name?’ She did not answer. I asked her three times and then she looked at me and said, ‘my name is Cleo’“Police officer Cameron Blaine, who found the minor, told the media.

The rescue, which according to the authorities was based on the analysis of thousands of information and not on a specific call or clue, happened without the police having time to notify the girl’s relatives.

After bringing the little girl to safety, an agent called Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, and said, “There is someone who wants to talk to you.”

The rescue of the minor alive was described by criminologist Xanthe Mallett as a “miracle” since, as she explained to local television channel 9, “it is highly unusual to find a kidnapped girl alive and well after so long.”

DETAINED, NO LINK TO THE FAMILY

Shortly after finding the little girl, the police detained a 36-year-old man with no connection to Cleo’s family.

Authorities continue to question the resident of Carnarvon, although they prefer to be cautious with this case that was compared in the oceanic country with the disappearance of the British girl Madeleine McCann when he was in 2007 in Portugal with his parents.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson avoided giving “more details about that man” at a press conference from Carnarvon, stating only that he is a resident of the town.

The authorities, who have not yet brought charges against the suspect, indicated that they expect to file a formal accusation against the detainee in the next few hours.

The Police released on social networks a photo of Cleo, who is already with her family, in which she appears smiling on a hospital bed, with an ice cream in one hand and waving at the camera.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacted on Twitter to the aforementioned photograph with a message: “A moment of great joy.”

CLEO BACK HOME

“Our family is whole again,” said the child’s mother, Ellie, in an emotional message posted on Instagram.

At the time of her disappearance, Cleo were inside a tent in the Blowholes campsite, about 875 kilometers north of Perth, with her mother and stepfather, Jake Gliddon.

The girl had woken up at one in the morning on Saturday, October 16 to ask for water, but five hours later, when the mother and her partner got up, they discovered that Cleo and her sleeping bag had disappeared.

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