Fresh development in Cleo Smith case as detectives say ANOTHER person could have been involved in her alleged kidnapping - as police admit 'that's why we're still here'
- Detectives are probing possibility another person involved in Cleo Smith case
- Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was charged with the four-year-old disappearance
- A team of investigators have returned to Carnarvon to hunt for more clues
Detectives who helped track down Cleo Smith after the little girl was allegedly kidnapped from a remote camping site have returned to the small town where she was found, as they probe the possibility another person was involved.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was charged with the four-year-old disappearance from the remote Blowholes campsite on November 4, after she had been missing 18 days.
A team of detectives landed in Carnarvon in the northwest of the state from Perth on Monday and are expected to remain in town for at least another week as forensic specialists continue to scour the alleged abductor's home for evidence someone else could have been there.
Detective senior sergeant Cameron Blaine, who was captured on police bodycam vision rescuing Cleo from her nightmarish ordeal, has remained tight-lipped about the latest development's in the case but said police have 'more work to do.'
'Our focus this week is for us to ascertain whether there was anyone else involved. That's why we are still here,' he told reporters after stepping off the plane.
'So, we just ask that if there was anyone that had any contact with Mr Kelly, whether you saw him, whether you met with him, whether you spoke to him on the phone during the relevant period to please make yourself known to police.'
The moment Cleo Smith was rescued from a home in Carnarvon was captured on police bodycam footage
Detective senior sergeant Cameron Blaine (pictured), who was captured on police bodycam vision rescuing Cleo from her nightmarish ordeal, has remained tight-lipped about the latest development's in the case but said police have 'more work to do'
Terence Kelly's duplex in Carnarvon, Western Australia, has been swarming with forensic police for sixth days
Police on Monday spent their sixth day at the home where Cleo was allegedly found, combing through evidence for one of the biggest investigations in WA history.
A mobile phone was reportedly in one of the bags of evidence seized from the home along with a Bratz doll, crayons, pens and markers.
It comes as the Aboriginal elder who raised the alleged abductor of little Cleo called him a gift from God and 'a beautiful little boy.'
New audio has been uncovered of respected Gascoyne elder Penny Walker revealing how Kelly, now 36, was 'thrown away' by his drug-addict biological mother.
She handed him over to her 'Aunty Penny' who had all six of her own children taken into care because of an alcohol problem when she was younger.
Kelly was just two years old when his mother abandoned him to Ms Walker in 1987 who then raised him as her own.
The Aboriginal elder who raised Terry Kelly (pictured), the alleged abductor of little Cleo Smith, called him a gift from God and 'a beautiful little boy'
Police raided the home last week to find little Cleo, 4, (pictured) alone in a room playing with toys, 18 days after she disappeared from her parents' tent at a campsite 75km away
Cleo Smith has since been reunited with mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon (pictured)
'I looked down at him and this little boy - God was giving me something back into my life what the welfare took off me - my children,' said Ms Walker, who died in 2020.
'His mum didn't want him and she threw him away.'
Kelly lived alone at Ms Walker's dilapidated Tomkin Crescent duplex home in Carnarvon, Western Australia, after her death last year at the age of 77.
Since his arrest, it's been revealed Kelly had an obsession with collecting dolls and boasted about his love for girls' toys on various social media pages.
Several photographs he posted showed Bratz and Disney princess dolls stacked in a room from floor to ceiling.
The tapes reveal he was brought up with Ms Walker's two other grandsons after her daughter died from multiple sclerosis.
'God was giving my children back to me in a different way. So I have this little boy beautiful little boy, Terry,' she said. 'Two year old, jet black curly hair.'
New audio has been uncovered of respected Gascoyne elder Penny Walker revealing how Terry Kelly, now 36, (pictured) was 'thrown away' by his drug-addict biological mother
His mother handed Terry Kelly (pictured) over to her 'Aunty Penny' who had all six of her own children taken into care because of an alcohol problem when she was younger
Kelly's early upbringing has been revealed in snippets of oral history archives in an interview she gave in May 2019 for the State Library of Western Australia.
She revealed she had her own troubled early life as part of the Stolen Generation and spent her childhood in the Moore River Native Settlement and New Norcia Mission.
Ms Walker suffered sexual abuses and floggings, she said, and later slept in toilets as an adult while enduring domestic violence.
Authorities put her on a bus to Carnarvon, 1000km north of Perth, and she said in the tapes: 'I never looked back.'
Kelly lived alone at Ms Walker's Tomkin Crescent home (pictured) in Carnarvon, Western Australia, after her death last year at the age of 77
Several photographs Kelly posted on social media showed Bratz and Disney princess dolls stacked in a room from floor to ceiling (pictured)
After her own problems with drink and her six children being taken by the state, she turned her life around and became a respected member of the community.
Neighbours remembered her as a pet lover who collected stone unicorns.
Photographer Nic Duncan who interviewed her for the State Library project in 2019 described her as 'having dealt with the bitterness and grudges and is unbelievably positive and upbeat…and cheeky.
'Her warmth and humour, honesty and openness have carried her through,’ he told The West Australian.
Terry Kelly (pictured) was just two years old when his mother abandoned him to Ms Walker in 1987 who then raised him as her own
Penny walker talked about Terry Kelly (pictured) being a 'beautiful little boy' with 'jet black curly hair' in audio recordings for the oral history archive at Western Australia's State Library
Forensic officers spent all day Sunday combing through Kelly's house and gathering evidence for laboratory examination.
Two trailer-loads of evidence were bagged up and removed from the alleged abductor's home as forensic teams spent their fifth day combing through the property.
The top to bottom search of the roped-off housing commission property is likely to go on for several weeks as prosecutors build their case against Kelly.
He will return to court at a later date.
Cleo Smith is now back in the arms of her mother Ellie after her terrifying ordeal
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