Photo: WA Police
He reportedly had a social media account dedicated to his dolls.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Nov 04, 2021
The man arrested for the abduction of 4-year-old Cleo Smith reportedly has an obsession with children's toys and was pictured on social media wearing a shirt with cartoons on it.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was charged on Thursday night for the 18-day kidnapping of Cleo Smith in Western Australia, after the girl was rescued from his Carnarvon house on Wednesday morning.
Terence Kelly was reportedly obsessed with Bratz dolls.
Social media profiles belonging to Kelly have surfaced linking him to the room where Cleo was found which was filled with many children’s toys, mainly Bratz dolls.
Kelly had one account under the name ‘Bratz DeLuca,’ where he detailed his obsession with the dolls.
Some of the images consisted of a room in his house filled with toys, as well as shots of himself driving around with them.
He wrote in one post: 'I love my dolls' while another post read: 'I love taking my dolls for drive arounds and doing their hair and taking selfies in public.'
In a third photo, Kelly described himself as ‘mamma’s little brat.’
It is unclear whether or not Kelly had used the dolls to lure Cleo into a false sense of security.
Cleo Smith was found playing with toys in Terence Kelly's home.
Detectives said that they found Cleo inside the Carnarvon home playing with toys, and in the bodycam footage of the rescue, Cleo was being carried out of the house in fresh pyjamas and her hair was clean and brushed.
Neighbors of Kelly have expressed their shock as he was mainly described as someone who was “quiet” and “lonely.”
Kelly reportedly had two dogs which he kept in the back of his house but had recently moved them towards the front of the home within the past few weeks.
Neighbors also revealed seeing him coming back to his home with a bag of diapers, despite never having seen a child in his care.
Police have confirmed that they believed Kelly to have acted “entirely alone” in abducting Cleo from the campsite.
Cleo first went missing on October 16 around 1:30 a.m. but wasn’t reported missing until later that morning when Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, woke up to find her daughter missing from the tent.
Ellie, along with her partner and Cleo’s stepfather, Jake Gliddon, searched all around the campsite for Cleo or any sign of the sleeping bag which had also gone missing with her.
The zipper of the tent had been undone, and was too high for Cleo to reach herself, leading investigators to believe she had been kidnapped.
Her rescue came after a two and a half week search for the 4-year-old, eventually finding her in the home of Terry Kelly.
Police shared the bodycam footage of the rescue, where Cleo can be seen smiling and nodding, telling officers that she was okay.
Police commissioner Col Blanch described the rescue as emotional, saying that many of the detectives on the scene where Cleo was found were “openly crying with relief.”
It was previously reported that Kelly had no connection to Cleo Smith’s family, though the house she was found in was in the same town that she and her family lived in.
After Kelly was arrested and taken into custody, he suffered an injury in his cell and was rushed to the hospital to receive medical treatment.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.