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Cleo Smith interview: Mum Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon open up on ordeal, Terence Kelly and trolls

David Johns and Tim ClarkeThe West Australian
Cleo Smith's mum, Ellie Smith, and stepdad Jake Gliddon have opened up in a controversial interview.
Camera IconCleo Smith's mum, Ellie Smith, and stepdad Jake Gliddon have opened up in a controversial interview. Credit: Nine

Cleo Smith’s mum has revealed what happened the moment she realised her four-year-old girl had gone missing from a Carnarvon campsite — sparking an 18-day search that ended in a miracle rescue.

Speaking on Nine as part of a controversial interview — for which the network paid more than $2 million — Ellie described the night before her little girl went missing in the early hours of Saturday, October 16.

“She had dinner, and then we set up the fire. She had some marshmallows. and I was like, ‘OK’,” she said.

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“(I) took her in, tucked her into bed, and she just went to sleep.”

Ellie said the campsite, at the Blowholes near Carnarvon, was “so windy and so noisy”.

Later, she said, Cleo woke up.

“She popped herself back into bed. So, I just popped my head through, checked on her, and that was it, really. She was fine. Cleo got into bed, said, ‘Goodnight, Mum’. I jumped into bed, and that was it,” she said.

Later, when Ellie noticed the tent was open, she looked for Cleo and realised her daughter was gone.

“I’ve turned around to Jake and I’m like, ‘Cleo’s gone!’,” she said.

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in 60 Minutes' 'My name is Cleo' segment about how young Cleo Smith was found
Camera IconCleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

“He was, like, in so much shock, because she wouldn’t leave the tent.

“And Jake’s gone outside and he’s walking around the tent and he’s like, ‘I can’t find her’.

“And it was just a nightmare, really. Straight-up nightmare from that second.”

Ellie and Jake also spoke for the first time about how Cleo had been since the horrific ordeal — and what she has said about the 18 days she was missing.

“Every day is a new day. Yeah, every day and night is different. But she’s OK.,” Jake said.

“She’s — happy, she’s bubbly.

She’s sad, she’s angry — but she’s getting there.”

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in the controversial interview.
Camera IconCleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in the controversial interview. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

Ellie said her daughter had since spoken about the time she was missing, locked in a room at the house of her kidnapper, Terence Kelly.

“She told us that she was scared,” she said.

“She was locked — locked in a room, and she was scared, and she didn’t know where we were.”

Cleo’s mum takes aim at Terence Kelly

And the doting mother took aim at the man who admitted to grabbing her daughter from the campsite after it was revealed he had followed the couple on social media — and had a sick obsession with dolls.

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in 60 Minutes' 'My name is Cleo' segment about how young Cleo Smith was found
Camera IconCleo Smith. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

“It’s so heartless. I was begging for my daughter, and here was someone who was reading me begging for her back. That’s just disgusting,” she said.

Ellie said the doll obsession was “just disgusting”.

“Obviously, like, that’s what he wanted. He wanted a little doll,” she said.

“It was nothing that I ever want anyone to feel.”

Online trolls were ‘disgusting’

Ellie slammed online trolls who blamed her for Cleo’s disappearance in the desperate days after she was kidnapped.

“You know, people just 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’ and ‘Go kill yourself’.

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in 60 Minutes' 'My name is Cleo' segment about how young Cleo Smith was found
Camera IconCleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

“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.”

Jake revealed he received similar messages, including some that demanded he “bring Cleo back”.

And Ellie said the messages from the trolls took her to a “dark place”.

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in 60 Minutes' 'My name is Cleo' segment about how young Cleo Smith was found
Camera IconCleo Smith paints her stepfather Jake Gliddon’s toenails. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

“I was very opposite to Jake. I would read every message that I got. I opened everything, and it was terrible,” she said.

“(These) people, they’d never met me. (They) have no idea who we are, and you’re telling me that I could do something like that. It’s just so disgusting. It just kept confirming that there are such terrible people in the world that could write these messages, or let alone take my child. It was so bad.”

Cleo’s hair was dyed, cut

Ellie also revealed disturbing details about how Cleo’s kidnapper cut and dyed the little girl’s hair.

“Her hair was cut, her hair was dyed,” she said.

“I was just angry that someone tried changing her to kind of fit what they wanted.

Cleo Smith's mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon speak out in 60 Minutes' 'My name is Cleo' segment about how young Cleo Smith was found
Camera IconCleo Smith. Credit: 60 Minutes/60 Minutes

“I was just so angry (with) the things that she was saying.”

But Ellie said she did her best to hide her anger so that Cleo didn’t see it.

“I didn’t want her to know that’s how I was feeling.”

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