Cleo Smith interview: Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon reveal heartbreaking details of abduction and aftermath

Cleo Smith’s kidnapper Terence Kelly cut and dyed the little girl’s hair pink during the 18 days he kept her captive — in what her mother believes was his attempt to turn the four-year-old into a living doll. The creepy revelation came in the first interview with Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon since their daughter’s miraculous rescue from Kelly’s Carnarvon home last year. Kelly has since admitted he was the man who crept into the Blowholes camp site under the cover of darkness last October, snatching little Cleo and her sleeping bag while her parents slept just metres away. Ms Smith revealed that in doing so, he left a footprint behind — while they also now believe Cleo’s tiny pink bike, innocently left outside that tent, was what indicated to loner Kelly she was there. They also spoke of their horror at the realisation the man who took their little girl was also watching them via social media. “It’s so heartless. I was begging for my daughter, and someone was reading me begging for her back. That’s just disgusting,” Ms Smith said. While the four-year-did not front the cameras, new images of her at home — playing in a paddling pool, laughing with bubbles and having her toenails painted — showed her amazing progress since her ordeal. But her parents say they know the impact of what happened to her will be lifelong, while their anger and revulsion towards Kelly is still raw. Part of that is from knowing he physically altered the appearance of Cleo while she was in his clutches. “I still don’t think she really understood what happened in general, you know, being so young. I don’t think she understood it in such... the days, but she knew it was a long time,” Ms Smith said. “Her hair was cut, her hair was dyed. I was just angry that someone tried changing her . . . to kind of fit what they wanted. “She got the pink put in her hair and then it washed out. She said it didn’t work. “I was just so angry, the things that she was saying. Like, that’s . . . what he wanted. “He wanted a little doll . . . which is so sickening and disgusting.” Kelly’s obsession with dolls was revealed via his social media pages following his arrest, with several accounts showing pictures inside his Tonkin Crescent house laden with Bratz dolls. Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon said they don’t believe they were specifically targeted by Kelly. But they do think her bike was the indicator that drew him to their tent. “From what we know, we weren’t a target — it was just the time and the place that he could do it,” Ms Smith said. “How are we meant to know putting a tent . . . a little girl’s bike out the front of our tent indicated for someone to get her? He wasn’t there when we were setting up, no. He came after. He’s seen the bike. He’s seen that we had a child, and it was just the time and the place for that person to take her. “So not only did he have access to Cleo, but he had access to (baby sister) Isla and we were a metre away from them. It was just so gut-wrenching that someone could step into a tent and take our child.” They also revealed what Kelly apparently said to Cleo as to why he was taking her. “She tells us that she was taken because her baby sister was sick,” Ms Smith said. “And so she needed to be taken away from us so we could help her baby sister. She just knows a reason as to what he’s told her. “The story that she’s been told . . . we held a lot of anger. She’s probably going to be dealing with this for the rest of her life, and you know . . . we’re going to have to carry that as well.” What the parents had to carry during their 18-day ordeal — on top of fearing they would never see their little girl again — was a torrent of abuse and accusation from anonymous online haters. They say the suspicions of strangers increased their pain. “People had so much hate in their heart that they would message parents that have had their child taken from them, telling them: ‘You’ve done this. Go kill yourself.’ “They have no idea who we are as people, or any of the situation at all, but yet they had the audacity to message us and accuse us they have no idea about. We’re in such a dark place — you know, part of our family is missing, and you’re getting these messages.” For nearly three weeks, the little girl’s parents held out hope their daughter might be found alive – while being told by police of the dwindling odds she would be. Ms Smith said the couple’s darkest moments came on the evening of Melbourne Cup day when the embers of hope seemed to be dying out. Hours later — at 1am on November 3 — the phone rang. “This is either good or bad,” Ms Smith said. “Yeah, that was probably the most scariest, but most beautiful phone call ever.” Ms Smith described their disbelief at the fact their daughter was just two minutes from home, at the hospital in Carnarvon. “She was sitting on the bed, and we just kind of ran up to her and, like: ‘Hi!’ And she was like, ‘Hi, Mum!’ — like nothing had happened. And I’m like: ‘Hi!’ “Jake’s right behind me and we’re trying to take turns, but both don’t want to let her go.” With Kelly in custody having admitted to the child-snatching, he will appear in court again later this month and then again in March. In the meantime, the Smith family say they will try to piece their lives back together. “We don’t know the full story. She’s kind of . . . went into survivor mode, and pushed it very far away,” Ms Smith said. “But we don’t want to let go of everything that we’ve . . . we are, and who we are. I think it’s the start of a new beginning.” That new beginning will include extensive travel around Australia in a caravan. WA Police did not take part in the TV special, with officers close to the investigation concerned the timing of the series was “highly inappropriate” given ongoing court proceedings. The West Australian understands police will also not take part in a miniseries that is expected to be aired on streaming service Stan, while the case remains before the courts. The interviews with Cleo’s parents were conducted over video calls, after Channel 9 shunned its WA-based reporters — including 60 Minutes veteran Liam Bartlett. WA’s hard border meant veteran 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown could not enter the State to an in-person interview. Another scheduled interview with Cleo’s mother Ellie — on Nine-owned radio station 6PR in Monday morning — will be conducted by Gareth Parker, and not Bartlett.