4-year-old Australian woman found “safe and sound” more than two weeks after her disappearance

The dreamed-up outcome has taken place. A 4-year-old Australian girl who went missing on October 16 while camping with her parents was found Wednesday November 3 “safe and sound” in a house, police said.

Cleo Smith was missing while camping with her family in Western Australia. Major air, sea and land searches involving around 100 police officers were immediately launched. The girl was found by police at a locked house in Carnarvon, near where she was last seen 18 days earlier.

The police, who forced the entrance to this house around 1 a.m., said they had arrested a man for questioning. He is 36 years old and has no ties to family, said Commissioner Chris Dawson, of the Western Australian Police.

Cleo joined her parents soon after. “Our family is complete again”, rejoiced her mother, Ellie Smith, in a message accompanying a photo of her daughter posted on Instagram. She had recounted her immense despair after discovering at 6 a.m. that the family tent was open and that her eldest daughter was missing.

On the radio, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Col Blanch, called this rescue “Simply amazing (…) It’s very rare. It’s something we wholeheartedly hoped for and it has come true.” Police have not given any details on the exact circumstances of Cloe’s disappearance or how she was found. At the time of his disappearance, Commissioner Rod Wilde said the investigation suggested “that she was taken from the tent” and that the authorities had reason to fear for his safety.