Kate McCann looked into the H๏τel bedroom at 10 p.m. and Madeleine was nowhere to be seen – this is how the little girl’s disappearance became one of the most famous mysteries
The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been a whirlwind from the start. It remains to be seen whether the little girl’s fate will finally be revealed.
More than 13 years ago, a three-year-old British girl, Madeleine McCann, disappeared without a trace in Portugal. A new twist in the case came in early June when German authorities said they suspected a man in prison of the girl’s murder. The man was known to have been in the Praia da Luz area at the time of her disappearance. However, authorities have no forensic evidence linking him to McCann’s disappearance.
Many believe that the case could have already been solved if mistakes had not been made in the initial stages of the investigation into the disappearance.
A pH๏τo of Madeleine McCann released by authorities.
Madeleine McCann arrived in Praia da Luz, Portugal, with her parents Kate and Gerry McCann and her younger twin siblings at the end of April 2007. The family stayed in a ground-level apartment at the Ocean Club resort.
On May 3, the parents went out for dinner with seven other adults staying at the H๏τel. The tapas restaurant was located about 50 meters from the McCanns’ apartment. The adults took turns checking on the children to make sure they were okay, the BBC reports.
At around 9pm, Gerry McCann went to the apartment and noticed that the bedroom door was different from how he had left it. He walked into the room and saw all three children still soundly asleep, Sky News reports.
The McCanns’ apartment was on the ground floor.
About ten minutes later, a woman from the dining party was walking past the McCanns’ apartment on her way to her own apartment to check on her own children. She saw a man carrying a child, who the Greater London Police later determined was an innocent holidaymaker.
According to Sky News, at 9:30 p.m., a friend of the McCanns went to check on the McCanns’ children while visiting her own children. She returned saying that everything was fine.
At 10 p.m., Kate McCann went to the apartment and discovered that Madeleine was missing. Police and H๏τel staff were called, and guests searched for the girl until dawn.
However, the Portuguese police did not immediately seal off the apartment and several people were able to visit it, making it difficult to gather reliable evidence. The police later admitted that clues may have been destroyed at the scene of the disappearance.
Just days after Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, a man who lived with her mother near the H๏τel was named as a suspect. The British media extensively investigated his life and branded him guilty. However, he was not arrested.
A new twist in the investigation occurred in September 2007, when McCann’s parents were also officially named as suspects. Portuguese newspapers had previously suggested that the parents were guilty, although no one had any concrete evidence.
All suspects denied involvement in the little girl’s disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann at a press conference five years after their daughter disappeared. The parents were soon the target of brutal suspicions. However, police have said they are not suspected of involvement in the disappearance.
The investigation into the disappearance was initially led by Detective Inspector Goncalo Amaral , who was criticized in the British media for his inefficiency. He was accused of working only 4.5-hour days, drinking alcohol at lunchtime and failing to investigate many of the hundreds of tips he received, The Guardian reported at the time.
Amaral, in turn, criticized the British police in the Portuguese media for only investigating tips that were “favorable” from the point of view of the McCanns, who were suspects, forgetting that the couple were suspects. Amaral was transferred to other duties as a result of his comment. However, he was so convinced of the McCanns’ guilt that he later wrote a book on the subject.
Although no evidence was found to prove the guilt of the McCanns or the man who lived with their mother, Portuguese police did not state until the summer of 2008 that they were no longer suspects. At the same time, the police closed the investigation.
The suspect later received £600,000 in damages, mainly from British tabloids.
“It almost destroyed our lives,” the man described the turmoil caused by suspicion, according to The Guardian .
Madeleine McCann’s parents also received damages and a public apology.
Tabloids suggested that Kate McCann and her husband were responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance. The parents later received damages for the articles.
Kate and Barry McCann continued to campaign for their daughter to be found, even after the Portuguese investigation was closed. In 2011, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron finally asked Scotland Yard to open an investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. The investigation has so far cost more than £11 million (over €12 million).
McCann said at the time that she was still buying her daughter Christmas presents. However, the family had also had to move on in life.
– The last five years in particular have given us time to properly take care of the twins and ourselves, and to continue our work. At some point you have to understand that time has not stood still. I think both of us have realized that we owe it to the twins to make sure their lives are as fulfilling as they deserve. And we have really tried our best to achieve that, Gerry McCann said.
The parents commented on the latest developments, saying they hoped the truth about their daughter’s disappearance would finally come out.
– All we have ever wanted is to find her, to uncover the truth and to bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome, we must know. We must find peace, Gerry McCann commented in a statement from the Greater London Police.
