German authorities have requested that Portuguese police reopen their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a British baby who vanished in the Algarve area of Portugal in 2007. The Judicial Police of Portugal confirmed in a statement Monday that they will undertake the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of the UK officials, as had been reported in local media outlets. The Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, where the child was three years old when she disappeared, is around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Arade reservoir, which was shown blocked off on Portuguese television.
The latest search is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, according to local media. In 2008, police reportedly investigated the area, but divers recovered only animal bones. On May 3, 2007, the youngster went missing from her bed in a resort in southern Portugal. British, Portuguese, and German authorities are still trying to piece together what occurred. While her parents were out to dinner with some friends, she was in the same room as her two-year-old brother and sister. Christian Brueckner, a 45-year-old German citizen who visited the Algarve in 2007, was named as a suspect by German authorities in the middle of the year 2020. Brueckner has refuted allegations of wrongdoing. The suspect is being questioned in the McCann case and is suspected of murder, although no charges have been filed at this time. He lived in Portugal for a long time; he was at Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. In October, prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig accused Brueckner of sexual assault in various incidents dating back to 2000 and 2017. Christian Wolter, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation in Braunschweig, said on Monday that a statement will be issued by his office on Tuesday morning. The suspect reportedly frequented the reservoir outside the little interior town of Silves, as reported by the Portuguese monthly magazine Expresso.
After 14 months of inquiry, during which police controversially named the parents of the missing kid as suspects before clearing them of any wrongdoing, Portuguese authorities closed the case in 2008. Despite the passage of five years, “new elements” caused the case to be revived. Madeleine’s disappearance sparked widespread curiosity, with sighting reports coming in from as far away as Australia and spawning several books and television shows. Several million dollars were offered as a reward for the safe return of Madeleine.
