Cleo Smith is being hailed as a future Australian Olympian, less than three years after her abduction shocked the nation.
Cleo was just four years old when she was ripped from her sleeping bag while sleeping next to her sister in a tent. They were camping with her mother and stepfather at the Blowholes Campground in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, about a 10-hour drive north of Perth, on October 16, 2021.
Police and rescue personnel, assisted by horses, helicopters and drones, spent nearly three weeks scouring the bush in Western Australia during the mammoth operation.
As the days passed, hope faded and experts feared that young Cleo was dead.
But 18 days after she disappeared, police found Cleo in Terrence Darrell Kelly’s Carnarvon home, minutes away from her own.
Nearly four years after the horrific kidnapping and intense media attention, Cleo, now 7, has made major changes and appears to be living a happy, normal life.
Her mother Ellie Gliddon shared her daughter’s most recent achievement, revealing that her daughter had won her first gymnastics competition.
The photos, which 60 Minutes posted on Facebook, show the seven-year-old girl holding her gold medal, a certificate and several ribbons.
Cleo Smith has won gold in her first gymnastics competition, nearly three years after her kidnapping
Cleo’s mother, Ellie, feared the disturbing kidnapping would rob Cleo of her childhood
The photos were received with joy and praise by the commentators.
Many were happy that Cleo had been able to have a ‘normal childhood’ after the horrific kidnapping.
“I think the whole of Australia is behind you Cleo! Well done,” one woman wrote:
Another added: ‘What a blessing for her little heart! Her entire family is the epitome of resilience,’ another woman said.
The update came just two months after the family shared a collection of photos from Cleo is radiant and enjoying life with her family.
The cheerful snaps included a family fishing trip, Cleo’s seventh birthday, playing with her sister Isla and the sisters’ first day of school earlier this year.
“Cleo Smith, all grown up. The seven-year-old is enjoying life in Western Australia, loving school and being a big sister to Isla,” 60 Minutes captioned the heartwarming photos in July.
A beaming Cleo proudly showed off her gold medal and ribbons
Cleo’s family previously revealed how difficult it was for the then four-year-old to adjust to life after the kidnapping.
Ms Smith told Channel Nine after the ordeal that Cleo had been deprived of her ability to be a child.
“The first week (after Cleo came home) was probably the worst. We had to have all the doors open and all the lights on to get her to sleep, and even then she would wake up screaming,” Mrs Smith said at the time.
‘Nightmare after nightmare, after I’ve lived the nightmare.’
During the weeks she was abducted, Cleo was held captive in a bedroom with only a mattress on the floor in Kelly’s social housing unit in Carnarvon.
Kelly would sometimes leave Cleo home alone for hours while he ran other errands, turning up the radio in the bathroom to drown out her cries when he returned.
At 12.46am on 3 November 2021, police kicked in the locked door of Kelly’s Carnarvon home, just 3km from her family’s home, freeing the girl.
Then four-year-old Cleo was held captive in Terrence Darrell Kelly’s social housing for 18 days
They found her in a bedroom, playing with toys. They had to ask her name three times before she finally answered, “M-my name is Cleo.”
Kelly was arrested and subsequently charged with forcible taking of a child under the age of 16.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison on April 5, 2023.
The sentence was made retroactive to his arrest in November 2021.
Kelly will be 48 years old when he is eligible for parole in May 2032.
