Child missing in Australia

[MyLifeNow20]

In the news. Cant stop thinking about it. Poor child and her family x

@FortunesFave

I should have updated that the detectives have returned to the home for the third time today.

Three times in one day or for the third time in total including the earlier visits?

It was said on the news that the police have said the parents are not suspects. People coming up with reasons for them searching the home is nothing but speculation.

The police have said that a forensic search of the home is completely standard practice and the parents are completely cooperating.

I don't recall any other high profile cases like this where they've returned three times and searched for hours.

They've gone back to the campsite now and been sifting through campfire remains.

It was said on the news that the police have said the parents are not suspects. People coming up with reasons for them searching the home is nothing but speculation. actually what the police are saying now is that the parents are cooperating. That’s not the same as saying they aren’t suspects, although they obviously may not be.

But the police aren’t going to say openly who they consider to be a suspect until they have enough evidence to either make an arrest or locate the child.

Searching the family home would of course be standard, e.g. to locate DNA from the child etc, if she was only in the tent for a short time there may not be enough DNA to go on there so they may have gone back to the family home to retrieve DNA samples.

But searching the family home for hours at a time on several occasions really isn’t the norm. They’re quite obviously looking for something.

Still no sign of little Cleo

Hoping for the best outcome here

I have a four year old daughter. This case makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Is that true, that they took a few hours to call for help?

@HeartsAndClubs

It was said on the news that the police have said the parents are not suspects. People coming up with reasons for them searching the home is nothing but speculation. actually what the police are saying now is that the parents are cooperating. That’s not the same as saying they aren’t suspects, although they obviously may not be.

But the police aren’t going to say openly who they consider to be a suspect until they have enough evidence to either make an arrest or locate the child.

Searching the family home would of course be standard, e.g. to locate DNA from the child etc, if she was only in the tent for a short time there may not be enough DNA to go on there so they may have gone back to the family home to retrieve DNA samples.

But searching the family home for hours at a time on several occasions really isn’t the norm. They’re quite obviously looking for something.

I agree. I keep seeing people saying the parents have been "ruled out"

They haven't. There's been no official statement to say that. The forensics have been at the house three times and they have again interviewed the parents at the police station yesterday.

It would be outrageous if the police eliminated anyone from an ongoing missing child case, especially so early on without an iron clad alibi. Which you can't have if you are asleep in a tent in remote rural WA in the middle of the night.

The police have ruled out the possibility that the family was stalked.

A post has, however surfaced online where an abduction of a child was attempted at the same campsite in 2014.

9 News Perth on Facebook for anyone interested in where it says the parents are not suspects.

The WA police have issued a revised timeline stating that Cleo's parents called them at 6:23 AM on Saturday16th, rather than four hours later (as was originally reported in the media). I queried Cleo's mum Ellie's reasons for waiting so long in an earlier post - so Ellie, if you're reading, I'm so sorry.

My heart aches for this little girl and her family. Their torment has gone on so long and it seems inconceivable that a child could be taken and yet there is no DNA evidence, no CCTV capture, no mobile phone records that can help the police identify the perpetrator. I'm still clinging to the hope of Cleo being found safely. I pray for this every day, but it is so hard.

and yet there is no DNA evidence, no CCTV capture, no mobile phone records that can help the police identify the perpetrator

We don't really know if that's the case. The police certainly haven't said that they have those things, but also they have not said they do not. They have given what are basically 'no comment' answers about aspects of the investigation, and I think that means they are controlling what info reaches the public domain, rather than there's an absence of info. They'll only release information that they believe will help the search for Cleo and/or a criminal, not every piece to satisfy armchair detectives.

Yes, it's sensible for them not to disclose too much because whoever did this will be watching.

An interesting description of the camp site and more context
www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-30/police-focus-on-locations-central-to-cleo-smith-disappearance/100573046

Interesting article.

Where have the family been staying the last couple of weeks with their baby?

Aside from the car seen early hours there literally seems like there is no clue for the police to follow up.

The campsite must have been pitch black so how did the person see where they were going in the dead of the night.

That is an interesting article, I keep thinking on little Cleo and really hoping that there is news soon.

This is horrific news. Absolutely chilling

Theres no way she let herself out of the tent. Her sleeping would have been found by now wouldnt it?

And the campsite is so remote that whomever took her would have needed a vehicle

It's terrifying. The poor wee girl.

@Windows01

Interesting article.

Where have the family been staying the last couple of weeks with their baby?

Aside from the car seen early hours there literally seems like there is no clue for the police to follow up.

The campsite must have been pitch black so how did the person see where they were going in the dead of the night.

There may have been a moon? I live in Australia and whilst those sorts of places are pitch dark at night, if there's a moon, you can see ok.

I think the family are staying with their family. The police have access to a lot of CCTV from businesses in Carnarvon, half an hour away. The car seen leaving at 3.00 am-ish was heading on the road to Carnarvon so one of the businesses there may have caught it on camera.

But the police are being tight lipped about what they've got because they don't want to scare the perpetrator I suppose. I read a piece from a criminal psychologist...well known one...who says it's highly likely the police have way more than they've revealed.

Police are now door knocking homes in the North Plantations area.

www.9news.com.au/national/cleo-smith-detectives-door-knock-wa-homes-in-search/f1466d64-4868-4e23-a3c9-399010f2e72a

Just read all of this thread. Absolutely horrific. A lot of reported supposed sightings now but it isnt looking good is it. :(

Well, it's 17 days in, and there's nothing that has been made public that shows how the investigation is progressing.

I really hope the lack of official updates is part of a police strategy,

The police are now saying they think it was an opportunistic abduction and they are scouring the Dark Web. Poor baby.

As a rule police do generally have an idea as to what has happened, and often do cover all ground until they reach the conclusion they’ve been aiming for.

But in this instance it really does seem they don’t have a clue. They seem more and more to be clutching at straws with clearly very little to go on. And yes, I realise that not everything is revealed to the media, but they have been jumping from one theory to another, without even having any evidence.

“Random abduction” really does sound like “we don’t actually have a clue.”

TBH I don’t think many sightings in these cases have any credibility. There’s a reward on offer, people will report seeing any child with the same colour hair/build etc and then say it’s a sighting.

When Madeleine McCann went missing there were hundreds and hundreds of so called sightings, and even MN’ers who said that they had been approached by strangers questioning who their child was. And on the other side there were MN’ers who posted that “I saw a blonde child who looked very like Madeleine at my local park/soft play/the supermarket,” and others were urging them to call the police “after all, if it’s innocent then the parents won’t mind, but you could possibly help save a child.” Bloody ridiculous IMO but it’s not uncommon.