- Four-year-old Cleo Smith was found by police on Wednesday, 18 days after she disappeared.
- A suspect in the case was charged with "forcibly taking a child under 16" on Thursday.
A 36-year-old man has been charged in the abduction of 4-year-old Cleo Smith, who was found earlier this week 18 days after she disappeared from a campsite in
The Western Australia Police said in a statement to Australia's ABC that Terence Kelly was charged on Thursday with a number of counts, including "forcibly taking a child under 16."
Police told CNN that officers found Cleo playing with toys in a bedroom of a locked home in Carnarvon, about 30 miles from where she had last been seen with her family at a campsite in Western Australia.
Investigators said at a press conference that Cleo's case was a "very quick-moving situation" where officers were able to identify a person of interest after spotting a vehicle driving away from the family's campsite the night she was taken, the New York Times reported.
The motive behind the alleged abduction remains unknown, though Western Police told CNN that they believe the suspect acted "spontaneously" and alone.
Cleo Smith's disappearance had gripped Australia for more than two weeks, as people compared the missing child's case to that of Madeleine McCann, a 3-year-old British girl who disappeared while on vacation with her family in Portugal 14 years ago.
Madeleine McCann has yet to be found, though her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, still have "hope" because Cleo Smith was ultimately found and rescued, a family source told The Sun.
"It's the