Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting our website.

Carnavorn missing toddler Cleo Smith: Aboriginal bush trackers help after campsite disappearance

Carnavorn missing toddler Cleo Smith: Aboriginal bush trackers help after campsite disappearance 2

[ad_1]

Cleo Smith’s family have brought in local Aboriginal bush trackers to help find the four-year-old after she disappeared from a campsite in the dead of night.

Ellie Smith last saw her daughter about 1.30am on Saturday inside the shared family tent at Blowholes campsite, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia. 

Cleo’s parents had an ‘interaction’ with the youngster in the middle of the night, but she was nowhere to be seen when they woke up at 6am.

A friend of the family assisting in the search told Daily Mail Australia Ms Smith is ‘overwhelmed’ by the situation and mammoth search ahead.

Forensics teams from Perth, SES crews and volunteers are being assisted by local Indigenous bush trackers who know the area well, the friend said.

Cleo Smith went missing while camping with her family at the Blowholes campsite near Carnarvon in Western Australia (pictured, four-year-old Cleo left with mum Ellie)

Cleo Smith went missing while camping with her family at the Blowholes campsite near Carnarvon in Western Australia (pictured, four-year-old Cleo left with mum Ellie)

Cleo Smith, four, was last seen at about 1.30am on Saturday at the Blowholes campsite on the coast at Macleod, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia

A GoFundMe page has been set up to donate money to two local helicopter businesses which have been working in the search

Ms Smith also confirmed trackers have arrived to assist in the search. 

The camp ground is located 75km from Carnarvon and 875km from Perth with nothing but bushland and scrubs in between. It is bordered by the ocean on one side and desolate, rugged terrain on the other. 

Bush trackers have historically assisted in baffling missing persons cases. Most recently, the family of ‘miracle boy’ AJ Elfalak called in experienced tracker Jake Cassar to help find their three-year-old son.

Mr Cassar told Daily Mail Australia the role of a tracker is to think outside of the box. 

‘I’m here to keep an open mind,’ he said.

‘The way I see it, if you’ve got two feet and a heartbeat anything is possible. Doesn’t matter if you’re a 97-year-old woman or a three-year-old.’ 

Police hold grave concerns for Cleo’s safety, noting it is an unusual and disturbing case. 

Police Inspector Jon Munday said experts have advised the four-year-old could have wandered up to 5.2km from her last known position if she is lost in the bush

Police Inspector Jon Munday said experts have advised the four-year-old could have wandered up to 5.2km from her last known position if she is lost in the bush 

A desperate search for a missing four-year-old girl has entered its third day with police releasing footage of the remote campsite from where she disappeared

A desperate search for a missing four-year-old girl has entered its third day with police releasing footage of the remote campsite from where she disappeared 

Professional bush tracker Jake Cassar (pictured) was brought in to help find little AJ Elfalak after he disappeared. He said the role of a bush tracker is to keep an open mind and think outside of the box

Professional bush tracker Jake Cassar (pictured) was brought in to help find little AJ Elfalak after he disappeared. He said the role of a bush tracker is to keep an open mind and think outside of the box

Thousands of strangers who were moved by the missing person’s report have since joined in the search in any way they can – from volunteering to help on the ground to simply sharing her picture online.

Psychic mediums have reportedly offered to assist in the search, but it’s not clear if any are working directly with the family.

One friend of the family said they’re willing to try ‘anything’ to be reunited with their little girl.

Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that Cleo was abducted, and officers have been stopping cars and caravans to search vehicles as they exit the campsite.  

Inspector Jon Munday described the case as ‘extremely concerning’ and said the state’s ‘best investigators’ have been called to the scene. 

According to 9News, those detectives include members of the homicide squad.    

‘We are trying to paint the picture of who was around here during the window of opportunity between the early hours of Saturday morning and 6am Saturday and what leads that could give us,’ he said. 

A frantic search is underway after Cleo Smith disappeared from her family's tent during the early hours of Saturday morning. Pictured: Cleo in the outfit she was wearing when she went  missing

A frantic search is underway after Cleo Smith disappeared from her family’s tent during the early hours of Saturday morning. Pictured: Cleo in the outfit she was wearing when she went  missing

Locals joining the search have been told to check garbage bins and roadsides for a red sleeping bag that was being used by Cleo and that went missing with her (pictured, locals have urged more people to join the search by taking to social media)

Locals joining the search have been told to check garbage bins and roadsides for a red sleeping bag that was being used by Cleo and that went missing with her (pictured, locals have urged more people to join the search by taking to social media)

Locals have been told to check garbage bins and roadsides.

A red adult-sized sleeping bag believed to have been Cleo’s for the trip has been reported as missing with her.  

Mr Munday said detectives were no closer to finding the little girl or clues about her mysterious disappearance.

He said it was very unusual for a child to disappear from a tent they shared with their parents during the middle of the night. 

Cleo Smith, four, was last seen at about 1.30am on Saturday at the Blowholes campsite on the coast at Macleod, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia (pictured, the campsite Cleo went missing from)

Cleo Smith, four, was last seen at about 1.30am on Saturday at the Blowholes campsite on the coast at Macleod, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia (pictured, the campsite Cleo went missing from)

‘Unfortunately we have not had any major breakthroughs,’ he told reporters on Sunday.

‘[The disappearance] is extremely concerning and not something we come across very often at all.

‘We are throwing everything at this, but at this point in time we do not have any answers about where Cleo is.’

Police urged every newsroom in Western Australia to broadcast details of the missing girl. 

Police are probing all possibilities of Cleo's mystery disappearance - including kidnapping - and have been scouring bushland and stopping cars and caravans in search of the missing girl

Police are probing all possibilities of Cleo’s mystery disappearance – including kidnapping – and have been scouring bushland and stopping cars and caravans in search of the missing girl 

[ad_2]

About The Author