The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

It has been over 13 years since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a British girl who was kidnapped at the age of 3 in 2007 during a holiday in Portugal with her parents and younger siblings. The investigation has cost over £11 million and has recently resurfaced on news sites due to a new suspect being investigated by British and German authorities.

The authorities’ suspect is a 43-year-old German man named Christian B by German media. Christian B is believed to have been at the crime scene at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. He is currently serving jail time for “sexual offences and drug trafficking,” according to The Guardian, and has been labelled as a child predator and paedophile. Authorities also announced that Madeleine McCann is presumed to be dead. According to the BBC, Madeleine’s parents Kate McCann and Gerry McCann issued a statement saying “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice, ” and “We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace.”

Madeleine’s case is currently one of the most infamous kidnapping cases due to its inability to be solved for so long. The kidnapping occurred on May 3, 2007, at a resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Madeleine’s parents had gone out to a nearby tapas bar with some friends and left Madeleine and her two younger siblings in their apartment. The parents took turns regularly heading back to the apartment to check on their kids. When it was Kate McCann’s rotation, she discovered that Madeleine was gone. Police were called and a search began. Over the following days, hundreds participated in the search for Madeleine McCann, including airport staff and border control. Yet, there was no sign of the three-year-old girl anywhere.

Over the next 13 years, there weren’t many new developments in the case. On July of 2007, Portuguese submitted what they said was their final report on the case and left it. In 2012, the case was reviewed by British officials, however, it was only in May of 2013 when UK detectives announced that they had 41 suspects and newfound evidence on the case. Over the next few years, investigations and interrogations were carried out, but nothing new was found until now.

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a tragedy but she will be forever remembered. The investigation into her case may be approaching its end if this latest suspect is confirmed. If you’re interested in learning more about Madeleine, please check out the hyperlinks within the article and the Netflix Documentary titled “The Disappearance of Madeline McCann.”