Global Courant 2023-05-23 23:57:01
STORY: On Tuesday, Portuguese and German authorities began searching a reservoir near the area where British three-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007.
Jim Gamble, a former detective who played a central role in the investigation, said the search gives cause for hope.
“I think it’s reasonable to be hopeful in two ways. One is that the German police keep up the pace, they don’t ease the pressure, they keep investing resources. And secondly, at some point there has to be a breakthrough in this case.”
The move is the latest development in the search for the girl, whose disappearance, 16 years ago, still attracts a lot of media attention.
So, who is Madeleine McCann and what happened to her?
On May 3, 2007, Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in the apartment where her family was staying at the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal, while her parents were out for dinner.
Her twin brothers and sisters were also home and sleeping.
The family turned to the media for help, believing that the local police acted too slowly and had failed to secure the crime scene.
Madeleine’s mother Kate McCann.
“What we really want is to ask the Portuguese people, we have to ask them, help us, a little girl is still missing”
There have been many twists and turns in the case over the years in multiple countries, including libel lawsuits against tabloids that suggested the parents were involved in the disappearance.
But in June 2020, British and German police said they had identified a new suspect, a 43-year-old German man.
Hans Christian Wolters is public prosecutor of Braunschweig.
“The public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig is investigating a 43-year-old German national on suspicion of murder in connection with the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine Beth McCann on May 3, 2007”
Who is Christian Brueckner?
The suspect, Christian Brueckner, lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 and broke into hotels and holiday apartments and traded drugs.
Story continues
He had been jailed for seven years in 2019 for raping and robbing a 72-year-old American woman in her home there.
In April 2022, he was formally identified by Portuguese police as an official suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
He has denied any involvement and has not been charged with any crime related.
