{"id":721020,"date":"2026-06-07T12:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721020\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:52:12","slug":"cleo-smith-abduction-what-happened-to-cleo-smith-after-the-abduction-that-shook-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721020\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleo Smith abduction: What happened to Cleo Smith after the abduction that shook the nation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five years on from the abduction that shocked Australia<\/a> and made headlines around the world, Cleo Smith is thriving.<\/p>\n

She was just four years old in 2021 when she was abducted from her parents\u2019 tent at a remote Western Australian<\/a> beach and held for 18 days by a drug-addled drifter, before being rescued in a massive police operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Five years on from the shocking abduction that transfixed Australia and made headlines around the world, Cleo Smith is thriving.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n

Cleo Smith, her little sister Isla and their parents, Jake and Ellie, had been asleep in a tent at the Quobba Blowholes in north-western WA.<\/p>\n

When Ellie woke up Cleo was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

In those first desperate moments, Ellie and Jake were already contemplating the unthinkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second we realised her \u2013 like, she was gone and her sleeping bag was gone,\u201d Ellie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the second we knew she did not walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the next two and a half weeks, much of Australia, and a lot of the world, was gripped by the mystery of what had happened to Cleo.<\/p>\n

While wild theories and ridiculous rumours spread everywhere, police got on with the job of piecing together the evidence.<\/p>\n

After 18 days, police filmed the footage that sparked joy and relief around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Cleo,\u201d the little girl said, confirming the good news.<\/p>\n

Police investigations eventually pointed to one man, Terence Kelly, from Cleo\u2019s home town of Carnarvon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cleo Smith.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

He was arrested, admitted his crimes, and was jailed for 13 and a half years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cleo, who was remarkably calm throughout the horrific ordeal, and her family began the long process of healing, which continues today.<\/p>\n

Cleo will be nine next month.<\/p>\n

Her Mum Ellie sent in photos and said her precious daughter was a happy child who loved her little sister, Isla, as well as her many friends at school.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s joined the local swimming club but her current great passion is gymnastics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She\u2019s joined the local swimming club but her current great passion is gymnastics.\u00a060 Minutes<\/p>\n

In fact, Cleo\u2019s just returned from her first overseas trip, to Singapore, where she competed in an international gymnastics competition.<\/p>\n

Her composure was clearly evident in the videos recorded by her proud mum.<\/p>\n

Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five years on from the abduction that shocked Australia and made headlines around the world, Cleo Smith is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-721020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}