Listen to My Name is Cleo: The 18-day police miracle podcast here
A man has admitted to snatching Cleo Smith from her family’s tent in the middle of the night – every parent’s worst nightmare, but many questions remain unanswered.
From the studios of The West Australian, hear first-hand accounts from locals, authorities and reporters that will transport you to the heart of the scrubby, desolate surrounds where this desperate search for Cleo played out in an ongoing podcast called MY NAME IS CLEO: The 18-day police miracle.
EPISODE ONE: The first desperate days
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EPISODE TWO: The first interview
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EPISODE THREE: A Taskforce is formed
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EPISODE FOUR: The criminal investigation
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EPISODE FIVE: The second interview and a night at the blowholes
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EPISODE SIX: Inside the police investigation
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EPISODE SEVEN: The investigation takes a sinister turn
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EPISODE EIGHT: The police miracle
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EPISODE NINE: The plea
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Expert analysis on the investigation as it unfolded is led by award-winning producer Natalie Bonjolo.
“The search for Cleo galvanised not just a town, but the whole country. In this podcast some of those involved recount in their own words what it was like the day after Cleo disappeared, and in the eighteen days that followed. What they share is a window into the extraordinary scenes that were unfolding,” she said.
WATCH ABOVE: THE WEST EDITOR ANTHONY DECEGLIE REVEALS HOW THE NEWS UNFOLDED
Bonjolo is joined by award-winning investigative journalist Kristin Shorten.
Shorten said that the whole country – including herself – had been emotionally invested in Cleo’s story and the four-year-old’s miraculous rescue still felt “surreal”.
“When Cleo vanished, her disappearance felt chillingly similar to that of other child abductions I’ve covered so as the days passed, I definitely assumed the worst,” Shorten said.
“I feared not only for Cleo but also worried that she might never be found and her family might never know what had happened to her.
“So for police to find her alive was so extraordinary, unexpected and unlike any outcome I’d ever reported on.”
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