Police Don't Expect $743K Reward for Info on Cleo Smith's Kidnapping to Be Claimed

Western Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch doesn't believe the $743,000 reward offered for information on 4-year-old Cleo Smith, who was rescued Wednesday after disappearing more than two weeks ago, will be claimed, the Associated Press reported.

Blanch said police, who rescued the little girl in the coastal town of Carnarvon, received intelligence that helped steer them toward the house where she was found, but it was the work of investigators that ultimately led to the breakthrough.

"There were lots of things. There were car movements, there were phone movements, there were antecedents of people," he said.

Smith disappeared from a tent while camping with her family on Australia's west coast, and the government began offering the reward five days later. Police arrested a 36-year-old man after they discovered the little girl in the Carnarvon house, AP reported.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Officials wept with relief after seeing body camera video of a police officer scooping up Smith, and hearing her say, "My name is Cleo."

The girl was reunited with her mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon soon after her rescue. "Our family is whole again," the mother said on social media.

Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson would not detail what the girl had gone through. She is "as well as you can expect," Dawson said. "This has been an ordeal. I won't go into any more details, other than to say we're so thankful she's alive."

Dawson said "dogged, methodical police work" led to her being found.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison reacted from the United Arab Emirates on his way home from Scotland, thanking police for finding Cleo and supporting her family.

"It's every parent's worst nightmare. The fact that that nightmare has come to an end and our worst fears were not realized is just a huge relief, a moment for great joy," Morrison told reporters.

"This particular case, obviously, has captured the hearts of Australians as we felt such terrible sorrow for the family," he added.

Cleo's family lives in Carnarvon, a community of 5,000 people, and the girl had disappeared with her sleeping bag on the second day of a family camping trip at Blowholes Campground, 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of Carnarvon, on October 16.

A massive land and sea search was initially mounted in the sparsely populated region on the assumption that she had wandered from the tent. But more evidence began to support an abduction.

A vehicle was reported speeding away from the area in the dark hours of the morning. A zipper on a flap of the tent compartment where Cleo and her sister were sleeping was too high for the girl to have reached.

Forensic scientists examined the exterior of the family's home to see if a predator had stalked Cleo and attempted to break in.

And a distraught Ellie Smith made emotional public appeals for information on her daughter's whereabouts that were broadcast across Australia.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said Dawson told him he had broken down in tears when she was found.

Fuller had called across the country from Sydney on the east coast, to Perth in the west, to congratulate Dawson on the outcome.

"He broke down and cried, which for a veteran in policing, you rarely see that," Fuller told Sydney Radio 2GB. "It speaks volumes in terms of the amount of effort they put into finding her."

"Whilst we were all hoping and praying as the days went on, I think the chances of finding her alive were so slim," he added.

Dawson said body camera video of four police officers breaking into the house with a search warrant and finding the girl made him emotional.

"It's a really joyous occasion. We don't always get these sort of outcomes, and while we were very, very concerned, we didn't lose hope," Dawson said.

Blanch described seeing seasoned detectives "openly crying with relief."

"We were...looking for a needle in a haystack and we found it," Blanch told Perth Radio 6PR.

"When she said, 'My name is Cleo,' I don't think there was a dry eye in the house," Blanch said, quoting the girl's words to the police officer who picked her up in his arms.

"To see Cleo rescued this morning, I'm speechless," Blanch added.

Carnarvon Shire President Eddie Jones said the local community would be "elated, thankful" when they heard the good news.

"I'm beyond relieved. The nightmare is now finally over for Cleo and her family," Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan posted on social media.