A new detail emerged in the case of Cleo Smith, an Australian girl who disappeared from a campsite on Saturday.
According to The Guardian, Western Australia police stated a zipper on the tent that Cleo slept in was up too high for a 4-year-old to reach. Inspector Jon Munday announced that authorities were gravely concerned for the missing child’s safety after discovering the zip opening.
“The positioning of that zipper for the flap is one of the circumstances that has caused us to have grave concerns for Cleo’s safety,” Munday said on Wednesday. “That tent has been thoroughly examined by our forensic team and I believe it has been seized and I would imagine that would make its way down to Perth at some point.”
“When we are satisfied from a land search point of view … that Cleo is not here, certainly it becomes more possible that that nightmare scenario [that she was abducted] is the one that we have to face.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, family members reported Cleo Smith missing on Saturday morning. The child was last seen with her family at the Blowholes Campground in Macleod, where they were staying in a tent.
Cleo’s family told authorities that they woke up to find her missing at around 6 a.m. on Saturday. They reportedly last saw at around 1:30 a.m. that morning.
Munday previously announced that police are not ruling anything out at this point. Shortly after, Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, sat down with ABC News and explained what happened the night before her daughter vanished.
“I got her some water. She went to bed,” Smith said. “I checked on Isla, made sure Isla was ok. I got back in bed and that was it really, we went back to sleep, woke up to Isla wanting a bottle.
“As we passed the divider, I went into the other room and the zipper was open. Cleo was gone and that was about it for Saturday morning until everything started.”
Smith added that Cleo had been on a mattress in one section of the tent and used a sleeping bag. Smith and her boyfriend, Jake Gliddon, were sleeping on a blow-up mattress on the other side of the tent.
So far, there have been no witness reports of spotting Cleo, but police confirmed that “technological evidence” helped them determine that Cleo was indeed at the campground.
CNN reports that Macleod lies “between the sea and Lake Macleod, around 30 miles north of the town of Carnarvon.”
Cleo is described as a white female who stands 3-feet-7-inches tall and has hazel eyes and honey-blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a pink onesie with a blue and yellow pattern. Her sleeping bag is also missing.
“It’s been reported a sleeping bag is missing. Other than that I really am not at liberty to divulge what else we believe may be missing,” Munday said.
So far, searchers have found no sign of Cleo. Check back for updates.
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[Featured Photo: Cleo Smith/Police Handout]
