The investigation into the disappearance, which took place in May 2007, of Maddie McCann continue after the impetus given by the German authorities who believe that the kidnapper of the English girl, who disappeared from the Portuguese resort where she was staying with her family, is Christian Brueckne. The hypothesis is that the man, currently in prison for various crimes of sexual assault, some of which were also committed in Portugal, the country where he lived for many years, took the child away from the cot where she was sleeping and killed her. After three days of research, the excavations around the reservoir of the Arade riverin the Algarve, a place portrayed in some images found in the suspect’s phone which called him “the little paradise“.
The Portuguese Judicial Police, in a statement, limits itself to saying that the procedures requested by their colleagues in Germany have been completed and that the material collected will be handed over to the German investigators. The latter, for their part, maintain the strictest confidentiality. Although it is known, in fact, that they are inclined towards the hypothesis of killing the little girl, it has never been declared that they were looking for her body on the Arade river, nor can it be excluded that these searches may reveal clues about any other crimes committed by Brueckner. At work submerged in the silty waters of the reservoir, firefighters and officers equipped with rakes and hoe-like tools lined up and began rummaging and raking the ground near the Arade dam. The German police and Scotland Yard are also at the scene.
Portuguese media report that this is McCann’s fourth search, after the initial one in 2007 in the Algarve area and the others in 2013 and 2014. Another search took place in Germany in 2020. It is believed to be the first search in the dam area. In mid-2020, German authorities reported that a 45-year-old German citizen, identified in the media as Christian Brueckner, who was in the Algarve in 2007, was a suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance case; Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the case, is serving a 7-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape committed in Portugal in 2005. He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case, but has not been formally charged; at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, he spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz. “We’re investigating in Portugal based on some tips“, Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said in recent days in reference to the latest research. At the moment, Madeleine’s parents are not commenting due to the ongoing investigation, according to an email response from the website created for the child’s search, findmadeleine.com.
The basin on the Arade where we are investigating again today is about 50 kilometers from Praia da Luz. In particular, a small strip of land surrounded by trees was excavated which in some depositions Brueckner, who for many years lived between Germany and Portugal aboard a camper, describes as a “little paradise” where he used to seclude himself. In 2008 the place was the scene of searches on the initiative of a Madeiran lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia, who received a report that little Maddie was thrown into the water in those parts. The Portuguese investigators paid no attention to one of the many leads that emerged frantically in that period and Correia personally paid some divers. A sack with bones was found which, once analyzed, turned out to be of animals. The case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, known as Maddie, has attracted worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of the child as far away as Australia and a series of books and television documentaries. The rewards for finding Madeleine, now 20, have reached several million dollars. Police in the UK, Portugal and Germany are still trying to piece together what happened the night the little girl disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort town on May 3, 2007. The little girl was in the same room as her brother and sister of twins, who were 2 at the time, while their parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.