Madeleine McCann: Know about the disappearance of the 3-year ...

Madeleine McCann, a girl from Rothley, Leicestershire in England went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve when she was three years old. The incident occurred on May 3, 2007, and the girl, who may be a teenager now if alive, has not been found yet.

The case remains unsolved and therefore the public interest in it is still there. The search for Madeleine McCann seems to have been revived, as on May 22, the Portuguese police were found searching a reservoir near the location of the girl’s disappearance.

The police were looking for the body of the girl, who went missing 16 years ago. The tragic incident garnered worldwide attention.

What happened to Madeleine McCann?

On May 3, 2007, Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in the holiday apartment where she was staying with her family, at the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal. The 3-year-old girl was reportedly asleep in the apartment along with her twin baby siblings when the tragedy occurred, while her parents, Kate and Gerry, were dining at a restaurant.

The apartment was reportedly broken into, and therefore the local police had concluded that Madeleine was kidnapped.

The family, however, was not happy with the initial investigation, and the police’s failure to secure the crime scene. The case gathered media attention all over the world, and led to reported “sightings of Madeleine” from all corners of the globe.

The McCann family appealed to the media to help find their daughter. Soon, all kinds of people worried about their daughter, including celebrities like soccer stars David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, appealed for information on the missing child. The parents of Madeleine McCann had also met the Pope during the difficult time.

Parents were suspects

Since there were no major leads for the police, they questioned the parents as formal suspects in September 2007. In July 2008, the Portuguese police again dropped their investigation because of “lack of evidence” and also cleared the parents of any involvement in their child’s disappearance.

Parents filed libel suit for being accused

The McCanns and the friends they were dining with on the fateful night, sued some British tabloids for libel, after the police cleared them. Later in 2015, a former Portuguese investigator had to pay the McCanns damages for alleging that the girl had died in an accident and that the parents had covered it up with the missing angle.

Also, a British man won libel damages from 10 British newspapers, after they accused him of being involved in Madeleine’s abduction because his mother's house was close to the McCanns' apartment.

Search still on for Madeleine McCann

Since no dead body has ever been found of the missing little girl, an official website to find her is still active, where the parents post messages. In May 2023, the McCanns appealed to people to “respect the privacy” of Madeleine’s twin siblings, who turn 18 this year. A Facebook page to help find Madeleine McCann is also active. May 12 was the 20th birthday of Madeleine McCann, and her parents put out messages and videos on her Facebook page 'Official Find Madeleine Campaign. "Happy birthday Madeleine! We love you and we’re waiting for you. We’re never going to give up," the parents said. "Happy birthday Madeleine. Still missing. Still very much missed. Still looking. For as long as it takes..." read another message on the Facebook page.

Link to the website:

http://www.findmadeleine.com/updates/

The Facebook page also has a long post on May 3, the anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Link to the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Official.Find.Madeleine.Campaign/

Police round up new suspects

The parents contacted the then British Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011, who ordered a review of the case by the London Police. In 2012, detectives identified 195 "investigative opportunities". In 2013, the British police began their investigation separate from the Portuguese police and called it Operation Grange. The British cops had identified 38 potential suspects and released an e-fit image of some suspects.

Soon after, the Portuguese prosecutors ordered the reopening of the Madeleine McCann case. The Portuguese police rounded up four suspects but they were soon cleared.

Was there a sexual assault on the 3-year-old?

The British police found nothing in their search of the wasteland near the resort, and suggested Madeleine might have been one of the victims of a series of sexual assaults that took place on British children in Portugal between 2004 and 2010.

A decade later, in 2017, the police said they might "never solve" the case, but that the investigation was on.

German suspect Christian Brueckner

In June 2020, the British and German police revealed that they had identified a new suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, who was a 43-year-old German man. But a German prosecutor later said that Madeleine was now assumed to be dead.

FAQs

Q1:Who is Madeleine McCann?
Madeleine McCann was a 3-year-old girl from England, who went missing in 2007 from a Portugal resort where she was staying with her parents and twin siblings.

Q2:Was Madeleine McCann found?
Madeleine McCann has not been found yet.