The case of missing Madeline McCann to this day still remains a mystery and has sparked interest from around the globe. New theories continue to emerge and soon, it will be 10 years since her disappearance.
Three-year old Maddie vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007 whilst her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann were eating at the Tapas bar just 50m away.
Below is a computer-generated image of Maddie showing us what she might have looked like when she was nine. On May 14, 2017, Madeline turns 14.
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| What police believe Maddie looked like at age 9 |
--- Timeline of the night Maddie disappeared ---
8:30pm – McCanns Leave Apartment – Kate and Gerry leave their apartment (5a) leaving Maddie and the twins in their bedroom asleep.
9:05pm – Gerry Checks - Gerry leaves the bar and checks on the children. He noticed the door was open slightly wider than before. He glanced into the room and everything seemed fine. This is the last time he would see his daughter.
9:15pm – Jane Tanner Sighting – Jane Tanner saw a man carrying a child close to apartment 5a. This sighting, which had thought to be of importance in the investigation, has now been discontinued by police.
9:30pm – Friend Checks – Matthew Oldfield checked on the McCann’s children. He heard no noise and assumed all was well – he left without seeing the children.
10:00 – Irish Family Sighting – An Irish family returning from a night out saw a man carrying a blonde-haired child (around three years of age) towards the beach. This was a few minutes’ away from the McCanns apartment.
10:00pm – Alarm Raised – Kate returned to the apartment and noticed the door was opened wider than she had left it and thought it must have been Gerry. She went to close it but the door slammed shut. It was then she noticed Maddie was not in her bed. It was then she noticed the shutter was raised and Madeline was gone.
--- Timeline of major events ---
September 7th 2007, McCanns become ‘Arguidos’ – Just five months after her disappearance, Gerry and Kate McCann became ‘arguidos’ (suspects) in their own missing daughters’ case and were being questioned under caution.
September 9th 2007, McCanns Fly Home – The McCann family fly home without Madeline but do not give up hope.
July 1st 2008, McCanns Cleared – The Portuguese authorities lift the ‘arguidos’ status on both the McCanns and Robert Murat.
May 12th 2011, Book Published - Kate publishes her book on Madeline’s eighth birthday. Scotland Yard launches a review of the case after a request from then-Home Secretary, Theresa May which is supported by previous Prime Minister, David Cameron.
April 25th 2012, Age Progression – Scotland Yard detectives say the believed Madeline could still be alive. They release an age-progression of what she might look like at age nine. They call on Portuguese authorities to re-open the case.
April 26th 2012, No New Leads – Portuguese police say they have no new material that will allow them to re-open the case.
July 4th 2013, Scotland Yard Lunched Investigation - Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launches its own investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.
October 24th 2013, Case Re-Opened - Portuguese police confirm a review into their original investigation uncovered new lines of inquiry. They re-open the case.
November 27th 2013, Working Together - Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said he thinks that the British and Portuguese police should work together in their investigations.
January 29th 2014, Detectives Fly To Portugal - British detectives fly to Portugal amid claims they are about to make arrests.
March 20th 2014, David Cameron - Prime Minister David Cameron says he will step in to the British investigation if they are held up by delays in the Portuguese legal system.
June 3rd 2014, Search - An area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing is searched by a specialist team using sniffer dogs.
April 28th 2015, Goncalo Amaral - A court in Lisbon orders Goncalo Amaral to pay the McCanns’ £209,000 each in damages over claims made in his book, The Truth Of The Lie and bans further sales of the book in the UK.
September 16th 2015, £10m - The Government claim the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance has cost more than £10 million.
October 28th 2015, Numbers Reduced - Scotland Yard say their investigation team has been reduced from 29 officers to four.
April 3rd 2016, £95,000 – Then, Home Secretary Theresa May grants the UK police, Operation Grange, an extra £95,000 to continue the search for another six months.
April 19th 2016, Conviction of Goncalo Overturned - A Portuguese appeal court overturns Mr Amaral's libel conviction.
January 31st 2017, Freedom of Expression - Portugal's Supreme Court rules against Kate and Gerry McCann's £418,000 libel claim and say Goncalo Amaral's claims in his book are protected by freedom of expression laws.
March 11th 2017, £85,000 - The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April 2017 until September 2017.
April 25th 2017, Statement - The 10th anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance fast approaches. Both Kate and Gerry McCann release a statement saying it is a "horrible marker of time, stolen time" on the official Find Madeleine campaign website.
Assistant Commissioner, Mark Rowley told Sky News: "We have one significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing and because it's worth pursuing it could provide an answer."
Assistant Commissioner, Mark Rowley told Sky News: "We have one significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing and because it's worth pursuing it could provide an answer."
May 3rd 2017, 10 Years - Today marks the day three-year old Madeline went missing from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
May 13th 2017, Maddie's Birthday - This day marks the birthday of Madeline McCann who is now 14 years of age.
--- Suspects ---
Two of the witnesses have helped produce an e-fit of the man they saw. They described him as a white man, aged in his 30s, medium build and medium height, with short brown hair.
Scotland Yard announced it was looking into possible links between Maddie's disappearance and the fake charity workers who were knocking on doors in Praia da Luz at the time they were on holiday. Between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on May 3, there were four separate sightings of men who said they were collecting money for an orphanage.
--- Kate On The Night Maddie Vanished ---
In a video discussing what had happened, Kate said "At 10 0'clock, I got up to do the next check. I just stopped and listened in the living area for a bit and it was all quiet, but it had just caught my eye that the children's door was quite far open."
"As I was just drawing it over, it was like it has been caught by a draft and it just kind of slammed shut. It was only at that point really as I opened it a bit I kind of looked into the room and I guess I was looking at Madeline's bed and couldn't make her out. Then I realised she's actually not in that bed and I thought, 'I wonder if she's woken up and gone into our bed' "
"She wasn't in our bed and that was the first time I guess, you know when panic kicked in and it was literally at that point the curtains that were closed kind of whooshed and I could see that the window had been pushed right open and the shutters were up."
"So I kind of knew straight away then that Madeline had been taken."
"As I was just drawing it over, it was like it has been caught by a draft and it just kind of slammed shut. It was only at that point really as I opened it a bit I kind of looked into the room and I guess I was looking at Madeline's bed and couldn't make her out. Then I realised she's actually not in that bed and I thought, 'I wonder if she's woken up and gone into our bed' "
"She wasn't in our bed and that was the first time I guess, you know when panic kicked in and it was literally at that point the curtains that were closed kind of whooshed and I could see that the window had been pushed right open and the shutters were up."
"So I kind of knew straight away then that Madeline had been taken."
--- Madeline McCann: What Now? ---
Since May 2007, every possible case has been explored. That Madeline was abducted by a paedophile; that she was killed during a burglary in which she walked in on; that she was abducted by traffickers and sold to a childless couple; that she wandered out of the apartment to look for her parents and died in an accident.
The list of theories of what happened to her that night continue to grow. But to date, not one shred of evidence has told us what happened to three-year old Madeline McCann that night - and we may never know.
Kate and Gerry McCann remain confident that their daughter is alive and will one day be found. The hunt for Madeline continues and will not stop until she is found.
If you recognise any of the e-fits, please contact the correct people via the FindMadeline website. No matter how little you think the information you have is, it could be the key to solving this 10-year long mystery.
This was always a tricky case, There are so many tangled theories with so many loose ends, the thing I can't get my head around is why someone only took one child, why if it was a burglary was nothing reported missing (other than Madaline). I can't help but place guilt upon her parents, who leaves there children alone for *that* long without a sitter and why were they not charged with the neglect of the children?. It's unclear whether Madeline will ever be found, I sincerely hope so.
ReplyDeleteCharlie | http://www.charlieswonderland.co.uk/
It is such a shame. I hope one day Maddie is found, she find us or something just to bring her back safe. At this point, I believe we will never truly know what happened to Maddie not find her...but at the same time I still have hope left as many people who have been abducted come back almost 20 years later!
ReplyDeleteThe case is all very strange and some stuff doesn't add up but that night must have been so distressing for Maddie and her parents. So scary to even think she was just 3 when she was taken :(