The heartbroken mother of Cleo Smith has shared an adorable new photo of the four-year-old in another desperate plea for answers as eerie CCTV footage captures the little girl’s voice the day before she vanished.
The audio was captured by a CCTV camera installed inside a beach shack just 20m from the family tent Cleo mysteriously disappeared from last Saturday.
WA Police have confirmed the voice of the missing four-year-old can be heard on the motion-sensitive camera, which also takes a wide-angled photo of anyone who enters or leaves the shack.
Missing girl Cleo Smith’s voice was recorded on this CCTV camera the day before she vanished from her family tent at the Blowholes Campground
WA Police have said the audio of the little girl has helped place Cleo (pictured) at the campground on the day before she went missing
Officers have scrutinised copies of the CCTV footage and said on Sunday the new evidence helped place Cleo at the campground the day before she went missing.
The development is significant because it rules out any suspicions the child was never brought to the camping ground by her parents.
‘It was just after they arrived, it’s motion-sensitive so it was by [their vehicle],’ Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said.
‘It’s very limited… we’ve reviewed that and we believe it’s Cleo’s voice that’s heard on the CCTV.’
The camera captures audio and images from inside a painted wooden box with a glass front and would not appear obvious to those passing by the shack.
Cleo Smith vanished from a tent at a camping site near Carnarvon on the northwest coast of Western Australia during the early hours of October 16 with police believing the youngster was abducted – rather than wandering away by herself.
Her devastated mother Ellie Smith continues to post fresh appeals for information to her Instagram page, most recently sharing a sweet photo of her two daughters.
Four-year-old Cleo is seen giving her baby sister Isla Mae a kiss on the forehead in the photo with the caption: ‘We all need her home’.
She posted another heartbreaking photo of Cleo enjoying a day at the beach with the caption: ‘Where are you baby’ and another shot of her two daughters smiling at the camera describing the missing girl as the ‘best big sister ever’.
Cleo’s devastated mother Ellie Smith continues to post fresh appeals for information on her Instagram (pictured) as detectives continue to scour the campground for clues
Cleo’s mother described her as the ‘best big sister ever’ to her other daughter Isla Mae (right)
It comes after new witnesses told police they saw a car and heard screeching tyres at the Blowholes Campsite, 50km north of Canarvon, where Cleo vanished.
Superintendent Wilde said the car was seen about 3am on October 16 when Cleo went missing.
The car was turning south off Blowholes Road, near the area Cleo’s family was camping, and headed for Carnarvon.
The timing of the car sighting coincides with evidence from other campers that they heard the the sound of screeching tyres rapidly leaving the campsite about 3am.
Superintendent Wilde said the evidence was ‘credible’ and the witnesses only came forward after learning of the possible abduction of the child, having not thought their sighting of the car was significant at the time.
‘Obviously at that time when the people observed it, it wasn’t anything of great significance. They just came forward after hearing about Cleo and the news and realised the significance he said.
‘Fortunately, they’ve come forward and passed that on to us so we are keen to speak to the person who was driving and anyone who was in that vehicle to speak to us.’
Police believe Cleo was taken from her family tent at the Blowholes Campsite on WA’s northwest coast during the early hours of Saturday, October 16 (pictured, search teams)
It comes after new witnesses told police they saw a car and heard screeching tyres at the Blowholes Campsite, 50km north of Canarvon, where Cleo vanished (pictured)
The new witnesses were travelling north on the North West Coastal Highway on their way to work when they spotted the mysterious vehicle leaving the camping ground.
Unfortunately, they were unable to give a description of the car or how many people were inside as it was too dark.
‘We want the person or persons who were in that vehicle to come forward and contact police,’ Superintendent Wilde said.
‘We want to know who they were and what they were doing.
‘The time is not exact but we believe it to have been between 3am and 3.30am. We believe it was a passenger vehicle, not a truck.’
Supt Wilde has stressed the driver is not considered a suspect.
Cleo’s mother Ellie (left) and her partner Jake Gliddon (left) have remained close to the campsite throughout the extensive sea, land and air search for little Cleo
Premier Mark McGowan on Thursday announced a $1million reward would be offered to anyone with information which leads to Cleo coming home or the arrest and conviction of those responsible for taking her (pictured, Cleo’s missing child poster)
Meanwhile, while it was originally thought the little girl had simply wandered off towards the ocean or the rugged scrublands nearby, detectives are now convinced Cleo was abducted by a brazen child predator.
More to come.