On May 3, 2007, the world was shocked by the disappearance of three-year-old Madeline Beth McCann at the Praia da Luz hotel, located on the coast of Portugal. The McCann family from Leicestershire, UK, vacationed with their younger twins Sean and Amelia, as well as friends and their children. No one could have imagined that this evening would turn into a tragic event.
That evening, Madeline’s parents, Jeri and Kate McCann, left the children in their room to sleep and went out to dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. Between 8:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., when parents periodically checked on their children, Kate McCann discovered her daughter was missing.
Initially, the police in Portugal suspected the parents of the crime, based on the results of a DNA test. However, the case was closed in 2008. In 2011, at the initiative of Scotland Yard, the case was reopened, and the possibility of Madeline being alive was announced, since she could be kidnapped.
During the investigation, 41 persons were checked, with particular attention paid to a man who was seen with a child in his arms that evening. In the UK, the Madeline Foundation was set up and around £1.5 million was raised to its account. The investigation involved 35 private detectives and Oakley International. The media paid special attention to this case.
In 2010, at the request of Theresa May, the case was reopened. The task force, led by Inspectors Randy Edwood and Simon Foy, consisted of 7 civilians and 28 detectives. By the time the team was developing a version of the kidnapping, the detectives were sure that Madeline McCann was still alive. In 2013, British and Portuguese police joined forces and jointly continued the investigation, checking emerging leads in the mysterious case of the missing girl.
Throughout the investigation, pedophiles who may have been nearby on the day of the disappearance were checked, but the versions were not confirmed. In 2020, the British police came on the trail of a 43-year-old man – Christian Bruckner, who was in prison for violence against a minor. The suspicion of Scotland Yard was caused by the fact that the man was in Portugal on the day the baby went missing, and after the disappearance of the girl, he quickly re-registered his trailer to another name.
In 2022, Christian Brückner, according to the Portuguese prosecutor’s office, was identified as a suspect. The police are currently collecting evidence and trying to determine what exactly happened to Madeline McCann.
The search for Madeline McCann has been going on for more than 15 years, and despite the best efforts of the police and private detectives, her fate is still unknown. Madeline’s parents never lose hope that their daughter is still alive and coming home. The case has become one of the most famous disappearances in history and continues to attract the attention of the world’s media, the public and law enforcement.
To be continued…
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