THE safe recovery of four-year-old Cleo Smith after her 18-day abduction is a rarity among high-profile missing persons cases.

Cleo is part of a small group of children who managed to escape from their kidnappers with their lives after a lengthy ordeal.

CLEO SMITH

Cleo and her family were staying at the Blowholes campsite in Macleod, Western Australia when she vanished on Saturday, October 16, 2021.

A huge search was launched to find her after authorities believed she may have been snatched from her tent.

The little girl was found at a home in Carnarvon, just seven minutes away from her family home.

"What's your name," officers asked as they found the little girl alone in a bedroom and scooped her up into their arms.

"My name is Cleo," she replied.

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The officer then says: "We're going to take you to see your mummy and daddy, ok?"

The home belonged to Terry Kerry who has been described as a “weird” loner. He was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.

ELIZABETH SMART

On June 5, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bed at knifepoint. 

She was drugged, tied to a tree and raped up to four times a day by Brian David Mitchell.

Nine months later, on March 12, 2003, Elizabeth was rescued after two witnesses recognized Mitchell and his wife Wanda Brazee as her abductors.

Smart testified in court in 2009, recounting the abuse she faced. Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2011. Brazee was released in September 2018.

Now, Smart is married and a mother to three children. She has devoted her life to campaigning against child abduction and sexual violence.

JAYME CLOSS

For 88 days, 13-year-old Jayme Closs was held captive by Jake Thomas Patterson after he murdered her parents.

Feeling “too guilty” to abuse her, Patterson would play board games with Jayme and force her to sleep in his bed.

On January 10, 2019, Jayme managed to escape the cabin Patterson had kept her in after he left to visit his mother.

In a statement to the court, Jayme revealed how she managed to outsmart her abductor in her statement.

“There are some things that Jake Patterson can never take from me,” she said.

“He can’t take my freedom. He thought he could own me and he was wrong. I was smarter. I watched his routine and I took back my freedom. I will always have my freedom and he will not.”

Patterson had told authorities that he randomly decided to abduct Closs after watching her board a school bus.

He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole plus 40 years in May 2019.

JAYCEE DUGARD

Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped at the age of 11 when she was walking home from school at South Lake Tahoe, California.

Convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido, kept her hostage in his backyard for 18 years.

Alongside his partner Nancy, he raped and drugged Dugard repeatedly.

Dugard was finally able to escape in 2009.

Garrido was eventually sentenced to 431 years to life, while his wife Nancy was handed 36 years to life.

While held captive, Jaycee gave birth to two daughters who were fathered by her kidnapper after he raped her.

Dugard sued the state of California for $20 million for failing to supervise her kidnapper who was on parole but in 2016, a federal judge dismissed the case.

Judge John Owens said: “While our hearts are with Ms. Dugard, the law is not.”

AMANDA BERRY, GINA DEJESUS AND MICHELLE KNIGHT

Amanda Berry, 33, Gina DeJesus, 29, and Michelle Knight, 38, are all the kidnapping victims of elementary school bus driver Ariel Castro who offered them the false promise of a car ride.

The three women were held captive and were then subjected to years of abuse, which included starvation, torture and rape.

Michelle Knight, who now goes by the name of Lily Rose Lee, was kidnapped at 21 years old when she was leaving her cousin’s home on August 23, 2002.

Berry was taken off the street as she was walking home from work, a day before her 17th birthday, on April 21, 2003.

DeJesus, who was abducted last,on April 2, 2004, was Castro's youngest victim at just 14.

The women were restrained in a filthy den with heavy chains, left in dark rooms for days at a time with no food, and given buckets to use as a bathroom.

Berry became pregnant by Castro when she was 20 and gave birth to her daughter, Jocelyn on Christmas in 2006.

She was the one who was finally able to escape in May 2013, when Castro left the bedroom door unlocked and found a neighbor who alerted the authorities.

Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison after pleading guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping and rape, but he later committed suicide in prison just one month into his sentence.

JASMINE BLOCK

Teenager Jasmine Block was able to swim to freedom after she was kidnapped from her home in Alexandria, Minnesota in 2017.

During her month-long captivity, the 15-year-old was sexually assaulted and threatened with weapons by her three kidnappers.

According to police, the teen was tricked into entering the house.

Block was finally able to get away and swim across a lake to raise the alarm with a nearby farmer who then called the police.

Thomas Barker, 32,was sentenced to nearly 24 years in prison, Joshua Holby, 31,was sentenced to eight years and Steven Powers, 20,was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years.

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