Speculation is mounting about the involvement of Garth Campbell in his daughter’s unusual kidnapping in central Queensland.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Police have seized the clothes three-year-old Chloe Campbell was wearing when she was found 42 hours after being snatched from her family’s Childers home.
It is understood clothing has also been seized from Mr Campbell and Chloe’s mother Tammy O’Donnell.
The couple has also voluntarily given police DNA samples.
Detective Inspector Bruce McNab said police were searching for fibres, fingerprints and DNA that might lead investigators to Chloe’s abductor.
Chloe was snatched from her home, about 300 kilometres north of Brisbane, about 6am last Thursday.
She was found by police after being dumped at the Childers Showgrounds across the road from her Ridgeway Street home about 1am on Sunday.
Hours before Chloe was found, Mr Campbell was reportedly involved in a drunken fist fight with another man outside the town’s Federal Hotel.
A woman who reportedly witnessed the fight has claimed she overheard the second man yell: ‘‘You know where your daughter is.’’
‘‘He [Mr Campbell] knew ... what happened,’’ the unidentified woman told Nine News.
‘‘He said he knows, but couldn’t do nothing about it.’’
The morning after his daughter disappeared, Mr Campbell said he was certain the kidnapper knew his family, but stopped short of revealing more.
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart did not comment on the veracity of the woman’s claims, but said investigators were keeping an open mind on the case.
‘‘We’ll take action in relation to anyone who’s broken the law,’’ he told reporters on Tuesday.
Chloe’s family believe the intruder snatched the toddler from the lounge room, where she was sleeping with her sisters, via an unlocked window.
Inspector McNab said DNA samples had been taken from about 20 people, including family and friends and ‘‘other people around town whose names have come up’’.
‘‘We’ve had a fantastic result in getting Chloe back alive and well ... but it still leaves that unanswered question of, ‘Who took Chloe?’’ he said.
Inspector McNab said detectives were following ‘‘some lines of inquiry’’, but would not confirm if any persons of interest had been identified.
‘‘We’ve got a number of possible scenarios that we’ve thought of, or that people have told us, and each one of those we’re following to its logical conclusion,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve spoken to a pretty broad cross-section of the Childers community.’’
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.