Madeline McCann was a loving, carefree young girl in 2007 when her parents Kate and Gerry took her and her two siblings on a Portuguese vacation in Praia da Luz. The family rented an apartment on the ground floor of a resort. The vacation was going well, as the family expected until the night of May 3rd. On this night, Kate and Gerry put the kids to sleep and went just outside to enjoy tapas at a restaurant at the resort with friends, leaving the three children inside asleep alone. The parents checked on their children throughout dinner, and noticed something was wrong around 10 P.M. During this check, Kate noticed that her daughter Madeline was no longer in the room. A search ensued, but as more and more hours passed Madeline still could not be found. To this day, this young little girl is still regarded as a missing person and none of the leads have led to her return.
Upon first investigation, a man named Robert Murat who lived in Praia da Luz near the resort, became the first suspect in the case. On the night that Madeline disappeared, it was reported that a man was seen walking in the direction of Murat’s house carrying a young girl in his arms. After further investigation, there was little evidence linking Murat from the case and he was ultimately dropped as an official suspect. It was not until 4 months after the investigation began that Portuguese police officially named Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects in the case. It became a belief that young Madeline had actually been killed inside the room and her parents staged the disappearance to cover up the truth. To back up this idea, police had sniffer dogs go into the room who were trained in sniffing for human blood and the scent of dead bodies. These dogs were taken to numerous different locations, but only hit on a spot within the McCann’s room at the resort and within the car that they had rented two weeks after the disappearance. The theory became that Gerry and Kate hid the corpse, faked the disappearance, and then placed her body inside the car weeks later to dispose of it. The motive that was suggested was that the McCann’s accidentally killed their daughter by giving her too much sleeping medicine, and faked the abduction in fear of going to prison. The McCann’s had their suspect status removed in July 2008 after it was found that sniffer dog evidence is most often not airtight.
There have been many theories that have arisen about what actually happened to Madeline McCann on that dreadful night in May. One theory suggests a burglary gone wrong, in which robbers broke into the room and Madeline woke up and witnessed the crime and so ultimately the robbers had to stage an abduction to get rid of the child to prevent getting caught. This theory has not been ruled out, but is seen as unlikely because robbers acting in a worried frenzy would likely leave behind obvious clues or evidence and nothing from the room was missing. Another theory states that Madeline was taken by a local pedophile because this area at the time was said to be full of them. There were many cases in the area fitting the same description as Madeline’s case, but ultimately investigators stated that pedophiles would not be likely to risk breaking into a room to take a child. One of the most believed theories in the case point toward child trafficking. There have been many reported sightings of the girl throughout Europe and Africa, and in 2008 police even began following a lead that suggested she had been abducted at the hands of a Belgium-based pedophile organization. This theory suggests that she was abducted and taken to a nearby hotel before being placed on a ship bound for Morocco.
Not only have there been numerous theories about her disappearance, but there have also been a multitude of reported sightings of the child. In total, there have been 8,685 sightings that have been followed up by police. Kate and Gerry themselves even travelled to Morocco after hearing about numerous potential sightings in the area. In 2014, a picture was taken at the Europa League final that went viral because the young girl in the photo closely resembled Madeline. In November 2016 a young homeless girl going by the name of Maria struck interest because of her appearance. She looked similar to Madeline and only spoke English even though she lived in Italy, but ultimately it was found that she was not Madeline.
To this day Madeline McCann has not been found, and what really happened to her that night still remains a mystery. People around the world still speak about this case and keep bringing attention to the unfortunate fate of the young girl. Regardless of the thousands of leads, the case still remains unsolved. In 2019, Netflix released a docuseries named The Disappearance of Madeline McCann covering the events of the case from beginning to end in hopes that it would shed some light on the story of Madeline McCann. If you’re interested, I highly suggest checking it out to learn more!
Pictured Below(Left to Right, Top to Bottom): Madeline McCann photo before she disappeared, https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/madeleine-mccann: Location of the apartments where Madeline disappeared and the tapas restaurant where here parents were eating with friends, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.9news.com.au%2Fmadeleine-mccann&psig=AOvVaw3SKCViAFult9SvglaUQmnP&ust=1586809129950000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCOjXvOja4-gCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD: Kate and Gerry McCann, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/09/madeleine-mccanns-parents-have-not-ruled-innocent-judge-says/: Photo of Robert Murat, https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8656515/who-is-robert-murat-and-what-is-his-involvement-in-the-madeleine-mccann-case/: Madeline compared to a photo of Maria, https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/735666/Homeless-girl-Rome-Italy-Maddie-McCann-refuses-go-home-Sweden-family-father: Madeline compared to girl photographed at Europa League game, https://thetab.com/uk/2019/03/17/madeleine-mccann-sightings-95787: Netflix documentary about Madeline McCann, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBnarCTOiCY.
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