Posted on Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 4:39 p.m.
The prosecutor’s office in Brunswick (northern Germany) presumes that little Madeleine McCann, who disappeared 13 years ago, has died. “We assume the little girl is dead,” Hans Christian Wolters, spokesman, told reporters on Thursday.
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Portuguese justice has said it is conducting hearings as part of the investigation into the 2007 disappearance in Portugal of little Madeleine McCann, who rebounded on Wednesday with the identification of a new German suspect.
In another press release, the Portuguese judicial police confirmed that “elements seem to show the possible intervention of a German citizen”, aged “43 years, with criminal history, having resided in Portugal between 1996 and 2007”.
The Daily Mail and Bild released a first photo of the suspect. His name would be Christian Brueckner.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her room on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, in the small seaside resort of Praia da Luz, in the south of Portugal, where she was staying on vacation with her family.
The suspect is a sex offender who has been convicted several times, including for the sexual abuse of children. He is currently serving a long prison term “in another case,” police said. He was notably convicted in 2017 for possession of child pornography images.
The police have called for witnesses and hope to obtain new information.
The suspect is described as a slender, white man, 1m80, with short, blond hair. Police also shared photos of two vehicles: a VW camper and a Jaguar, believed to be in their forties. The day after Maddie McCann’s disappearance, the suspect allegedly put the Jaguar on behalf of another person.
British inspector Mark Cranwell said the suspect, who was in his 30s at the time, lived in the Algarve from 1995 to 2007, including in his van. He was in the Praia de Luz region at the time of the girl’s disappearance. He received a phone call from 7:32 p.m. to 8:02 p.m. the night of the incident, while Maddie’s disappearance took place between 9:10 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Police made public the phone numbers of the suspect (+351 912 730 680) and the person who called him (+351 916 510 683), saying that any information on these two numbers could be crucial. According to Mr. Cranwell, the person on the phone is a key witness and he urges him to contact the police.
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