The father of a three-year-old girl still missing after after she was abducted from her home in remote southeast Queensland, AU, believes she was taken by someone who knows the family.
Australian police are continuing the desperate search for Chloe Campbell, who was reported missing just before 7am on Thursday from her home on Ridgeway Street, Childers - a town of roughly 1,500 people.
Childers is in southern Queensland, about 200 miles north of Brisbane.
A police spokesman told MailOnline the search continued to centre around Childers and that investigators had began looking in farmland and dams in the area on Friday morning.
But Chloe's father Garth is adamant that his daughter was taken by someone who knows the family and is familiar with the layout of their home.
'It's got to be someone who knows me...how they got in, where she sleeps,' Mr Campbell told the Australian Associated Press. 'They knew she was sleeping in front of the TV.
'I don't think there's any possible way she's wandered off. She wouldn't leave the yard by herself.'
He said the family usually closed the windows of their Childers home at dusk each night to keep out mosquitoes, but he believes that one of the latches had not caught.
'That's why we are blaming ourselves,' he said, fighting back tears.
Police issued a 'child abduction alert' shortly after 9am on Thursday and requested the message be broadcast on local radios every 15 minutes.
'She is wearing yellow pants with love hearts on them and a white-coloured shirt with butterflies and bees pictured on the front' it said.
'Chloe could also be carrying a blue soft toy and a grey blanket.'
The disappearance has already drawn comparisons with that of British toddler Madeleine McCann who went missing from her parents' apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. She was also three-years-old at the time.
In Childers - roughly 50km south of Bundaberg - the desperate search continues as State Emergency Services volunteers join police in scouring the locale. A major alert for Chloe was also put out at all airports and sea ports.
Mr Campbell said that while Chloe and her two older sisters, Janae, eight, and Britney, five, have their own room in the house, on Wednesday all three girls slept in the lounge.
'When Janae woke to go to the toilet in the morning, Chloe wasn't in the lounge room,' he said. Janae, he said, had then thought that her younger sister had sneaked into her parents' room because she had not been well lately.
'I hope someone that's taken her is looking after her - giving her brekky, lunch, I don't know - I don't know what to think,' he said. 'Maybe someone took her who can't have kids or something like that.'
Chloe Campbell's half-sister Codi told reporters on Friday morning she loves the three-year-old and is desperately hoping for her safe return.
'I don't think she would go anywhere,' she said. 'She would stay as close to family as possible...I love her I just want her back.'
Melissa Small, a 'close family friend' of the Campbells, told News Corp the toddler's window was left open and that alarm bells were raised when her parents discovered she wasn't in her bed this morning.
'The parents put the kids to bed last night. They went to sleep about one o’clock in the morning after watching TV. They have woken up at seven o’clock and (Chloe) was not in her bed,' she told reporters.
'There’s a footprint on the roof of the car to get through to the window.
'The window was open and her blanket and teddy bear, a grey blanket and a blue teddy bear, has been taken with her.'
Ms Small referred to a car parked underneath Chloe's window which could have been used to access it. She described Chloe's mother Tammy as 'an absolute mess'.
The missing girl is described as being Caucasian in appearance, 100cm tall, with fair shoulder-length hair.
Searchers are currently door-knocking houses in the town and focusing their efforts on an area around the Childers showground.
Local butcher Ken Gooden told MailOnline helicopters have been assisting with the mission since roughly 8am.
He described the Campbells as 'a young family of three or four' who shop regularly in town.
'It's just like anything, you just serve them and don't think about it until something like this happens,' he said.
'It's crazy to think of what can happen in your own backyard. I hope she hasn't gone missing, I hope she's just wandered.'
The case has also reminded locals of the tragic disappearance of four-year-old Eeva Dorendahl and her father Greg Hutchings. The duo went missing from Pottsville - on the Queensland/New South Wales border - in early January, with police discovering their bodies 17 days later.
Their disappearance made international headlines as details of a custody dispute surrounding young Eeva came to light.
Childers, where today's search for missing Chloe has intensified, was also in headlines around the world 14 years ago after the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel went up in flames on June 23, 2000, killing 15 backpackers.
Later Robert Long was arrested for starting the fire and charged with murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Please pray that they find little Chloe quickly, that they find her alive and healthy.
Australian police are continuing the desperate search for Chloe Campbell, who was reported missing just before 7am on Thursday from her home on Ridgeway Street, Childers - a town of roughly 1,500 people.Childers is in southern Queensland, about 200 miles north of Brisbane.
A police spokesman told MailOnline the search continued to centre around Childers and that investigators had began looking in farmland and dams in the area on Friday morning.
But Chloe's father Garth is adamant that his daughter was taken by someone who knows the family and is familiar with the layout of their home.
'It's got to be someone who knows me...how they got in, where she sleeps,' Mr Campbell told the Australian Associated Press. 'They knew she was sleeping in front of the TV.
'I don't think there's any possible way she's wandered off. She wouldn't leave the yard by herself.'
He said the family usually closed the windows of their Childers home at dusk each night to keep out mosquitoes, but he believes that one of the latches had not caught.
'That's why we are blaming ourselves,' he said, fighting back tears.
Police issued a 'child abduction alert' shortly after 9am on Thursday and requested the message be broadcast on local radios every 15 minutes.
 |
| Garth Campbell, distraught; Chloe's mother Tammy "an absolute mess" |
'Chloe could also be carrying a blue soft toy and a grey blanket.'
The disappearance has already drawn comparisons with that of British toddler Madeleine McCann who went missing from her parents' apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. She was also three-years-old at the time.
In Childers - roughly 50km south of Bundaberg - the desperate search continues as State Emergency Services volunteers join police in scouring the locale. A major alert for Chloe was also put out at all airports and sea ports.
Mr Campbell said that while Chloe and her two older sisters, Janae, eight, and Britney, five, have their own room in the house, on Wednesday all three girls slept in the lounge.
'When Janae woke to go to the toilet in the morning, Chloe wasn't in the lounge room,' he said. Janae, he said, had then thought that her younger sister had sneaked into her parents' room because she had not been well lately.
'I hope someone that's taken her is looking after her - giving her brekky, lunch, I don't know - I don't know what to think,' he said. 'Maybe someone took her who can't have kids or something like that.'
Chloe Campbell's half-sister Codi told reporters on Friday morning she loves the three-year-old and is desperately hoping for her safe return.
'I don't think she would go anywhere,' she said. 'She would stay as close to family as possible...I love her I just want her back.'
Melissa Small, a 'close family friend' of the Campbells, told News Corp the toddler's window was left open and that alarm bells were raised when her parents discovered she wasn't in her bed this morning.
'The parents put the kids to bed last night. They went to sleep about one o’clock in the morning after watching TV. They have woken up at seven o’clock and (Chloe) was not in her bed,' she told reporters.
'There’s a footprint on the roof of the car to get through to the window.
'The window was open and her blanket and teddy bear, a grey blanket and a blue teddy bear, has been taken with her.'
Ms Small referred to a car parked underneath Chloe's window which could have been used to access it. She described Chloe's mother Tammy as 'an absolute mess'.
The missing girl is described as being Caucasian in appearance, 100cm tall, with fair shoulder-length hair.
Searchers are currently door-knocking houses in the town and focusing their efforts on an area around the Childers showground.
Local butcher Ken Gooden told MailOnline helicopters have been assisting with the mission since roughly 8am.
He described the Campbells as 'a young family of three or four' who shop regularly in town.
'It's just like anything, you just serve them and don't think about it until something like this happens,' he said.
'It's crazy to think of what can happen in your own backyard. I hope she hasn't gone missing, I hope she's just wandered.'
The case has also reminded locals of the tragic disappearance of four-year-old Eeva Dorendahl and her father Greg Hutchings. The duo went missing from Pottsville - on the Queensland/New South Wales border - in early January, with police discovering their bodies 17 days later.
Their disappearance made international headlines as details of a custody dispute surrounding young Eeva came to light.
 |
| Main Street, Childers |
Later Robert Long was arrested for starting the fire and charged with murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Please pray that they find little Chloe quickly, that they find her alive and healthy.
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