New searches begin for missing Madeleine McCann in Portugal
June 2 (UPI) -- German police have launched new searches for Madeleine McCann in the same area in southern Portugal where the 3-year-old from England was last seen 18 years ago.
Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, from a resort in Praia da Luz, a town in the Algarve. Her parents, medical doctors Kate and Gerry McCann, had gone to dinner and left her sleeping in a room with her 2-year-old twin siblings.
On Monday, Portuguese police confirmed to the BBC that a search will be carried out from Monday through Friday on warrants issued by German prosecutors.
Searchers last looked in 2023 near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, The Guardian reported.
The prime suspect is Christian Bruecker, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman at her home in Praia da Luz in 2005. He has denied any involvement in the girl's disappearance and is due to be released from prison in September.
In October 2024, Bruecker was acquitted of rape and child sex abuse charges in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 after an eight-month trial by Braunschweig District Court judge Uta Engemanndue, who threw out the case due to lack of evidence.
The new search will focus on the area between the Ocean Club resort where the McCann family was staying and the house where Bruckner lived.
In 2022, a German documentary found evidence that Bruckner occasionally worked at the Ocean Club as a handyman. German prosecutors also have linked his mobile phone data and a car sale to their case against him.
"We are aware of the searches being carried by the BKA [German federal police] in Portugal as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann," a spokesperson for Britain's Metropolitan police said. "The Metropolitan police service is not present at the search. We will support our international colleagues where necessary."
In April, British ministers approved more than $135,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating her disappearance.
She would be 22 years old now.
"The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to 'leave no stone unturned' is unwavering," Kate and Gerry McCann and other family members said in marking the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month. "We will do our utmost to achieve this."
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