JAKARTA - Western Australian police say there is a possibility of someone else's involvement in the disappearance of four-year-old girl Cleo Smith, in which police have been searching for nearly a week.
Citing the NZ Herald, October 22, Detective Inspector Rod Wilde of the West Australian Police said at an event that after a nearly week-long search led investigators 'anywhere', it was believed someone else was involved.
"So, with some of the evidence we have obtained from the tent and its surroundings, we believe that there may be other people involved in his disappearance," he explained.
"The team is working around the clock to investigate all these leads and we hope that will lead us to find out where Cleo is."
Previously, citing the BBC on October 21, Cleo Smith was reported missing from the campsite on Saturday, October 16 last week. Cleo Smith was last seen sleeping in her family's tent at the Quobba Blowholes beach camp in Western Australia on Saturday morning.
Cleo's mother, Ellie Smith, has previously described how the past few days have been 'terrible'. "We haven't really slept yet," she said of the family's condition at an emotional press conference.
"Everyone asked us what we needed and all we needed was our little girl's house. The worst part was, we couldn't do anything more. It was out of our control so we felt hopeless and out of control," she whispered.
The Cleos family traveled to a remote location, about 900 km (560 miles) north of Perth, on a weekend for a camping trip. Its location on the site of Quobba Blowhole, in Macleod, is a local attraction on the state's Coral Coast, famous for its breezy ocean views, sea caves, and lagoons.
The mother said she had put Cleo to bed after dinner on Friday night, seeing her again at 1:30 a.m. when she woke up asking for water.
Cleo was sleeping on an air mattress beside her sister's bed, in a separate room in the family tent, Smith said.
She noticed the tent was open and Cleo wasn't there at 6 a.m. when she went to give her youngest daughter a drink in a bottle, she added.
"We went looking, trekking, making sure he wasn't around the tent," said Smith.
"Then we got in the car and started driving around everywhere. We realized we had to call the police because he wasn't here."
SEE ALSO:
Western Australian police have appealed to the public to look for signs that could provide answers to the missing girl's whereabouts, with a big bounty offered for more information on Cleo's whereabouts.
Last Thursday, Western Australian Prime Minister Mark McGowan announced a $1 million reward for anyone with information that could help authorities find Cleo.
To support this search, more than 100 police personnel, reservists, and volunteers are currently engaged in an "extensive land, sea and air search".
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