Police probe the sound of ‘screeching tyres’ heard near missing girl Cleo Smith’s campsite 

Up to 20 sex offenders live in the area near the campsite where missing child Cleo Smith was last seen as police investigate the sound of ‘screeching’ tyres campers claim they heard in the middle of the night. 

Assistant WA Police Commissioner Darryl Gaunt said police were not ruling anything out as the search for the missing four-year-old enters its fifth day.

Cleo vanished from the Blowholes campground near Carnarvon, on WA’s remote northwest coast, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

‘We haven’t ruled it (the car sounds) out or in, it’s a little bit unsubstantiated but we’re not ruling it out,’ he told 6PR Radio on Wednesday. 

‘We have a lot of information from people within or who have been in the area.

‘They have reported certain noises or activities – most have been explained.’ 

Cleo had asked her parents for a sip of water at about 1.30am on Saturday with campers reporting they heard the sound of a car speeding off later at 3am. 

He added that in the Carnarvon area there are ‘between 10 and 20’ known sex offenders, but following inquiries none are suspects into Cleo’s disappearance. 

‘We don’t have any concerns about that,’ he said on 6PR Mornings.

‘I know part of the investigative strategies have included reaching and making inquiries into their whereabouts and movements, and this point in time we’re very comfortable where we sit with those inquiries.’ 

Assistant Commissioner Gaunt said detectives had received information from people ‘from around the world’ adding police are treating the little girl’s disappearance as a ‘search and rescue mission’.

‘To say we’re treating this as an abduction is not correct, we’re treating it as a search-and-rescue mission, first and foremost, and that remains our mission,’ he said.  

More to come.