Police expect to charge man in Cleo Smith case

Police expected to bring charges Thursday over the  abduction of a four-year-old girl from her family's camping tent 18 days before police smashed into a locked house and rescued her in an outcome celebrated around Australia.

The 36-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday around the time that police found Cleo Smith alone in the house in the town of Carnarvon.

"My name is Cleo," the smiling girl told the police officers who rescued her and asked her name as confirmation that they had found the right child.

Police said the suspect, a Carnarvon local, would likely be charged on Thursday.

"It (charges laid) will probably be later today, but there is still some work that's being undertaken, some interviews that are occurring," Western Australia Police Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde told reporters.

Cleo had disappeared with her sleeping bag on October 16, the second day of a family camping trip at a campground on Australia's remote western coast north of Carnarvon, a community of 5,000 people where her family lives less than 10 minutes' drive from the house where she was found.

Media have reported he raised suspicion among locals when he was seen buying diapers and was known to have no children, but police have disclosed little information about what made the man a suspect.

Wednesday was the first full night Cleo spent at home with her mom Ellie Smith, stepdad Jake Gliddon and her baby half-sister Isla Gliddon since the family's ordeal began.

IMAGE: AP