Madeleine McCann was three years old when she was taken from her bedroom in the rental at the Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007. The girl, along with her two younger siblings, had been holidaying with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. According to BBC, Kate and Gerry were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant and had been following the rota system to check on the children that evening.
There have been few to no leads and a lack of concrete evidence. In the early stages of the investigation, Portuguese police even questioned Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry. But they were dropped as suspects due to lack of evidence. No persons of interest surfaced for over a dozen years until 2020, when German officials began looking into Christian Brueckner. In April 2022, Portuguese prosecutors formally identified Brueckner as a suspect.
Madeleine’s missing case has generated global media attention and remains unsolved even today. Recently, Portuguese authorities unsuccessfully attempted to search the Arade Dam reservoir and surrounding areas in southern Portugal. Officials eventually called off the search, as per the New York Times.
How old would Madeleine McCann be now?
According to CNN, Madeleine McCann was three years old when she disappeared and would have been 20 now. The missing girl’s family marked her 20th birthday earlier this year in May. Her parents—Kate and Gerry McCann—said, “We’re never going to give up.” The McCanns have been fighting to maintain the case’s momentum after Portuguese authorities ended the investigation in 2008. The family has also published their account titled “Madeleine” in 2011.
Madeleine’s case has captivated the people of Great Britain as well as the European public. There has been endless speculation and numerous theories about the girl’s disappearance. As per the report, police have received multiple tip-offs regarding supposed sightings of the missing girl. However, none of these has proved consequential in solving the years-long missing case.
Kate McCann was the first person to find out that Madeleine was missing around 10 p.m. on May 3, 2007. She was checking in on her kids when she discovered the shutters of the children’s room were open and Madeleine’s bed empty. Kate reportedly said, “All I can say is it just felt so safe, you know. It’s a family, family resort.”
Hundreds of police officers and volunteers searched the surrounding areas of Praia da Luz in Portugal but to no avail. Nearly two weeks later, on May 14, Portuguese police named Robert Murat, a British man living in Portugal, as an official suspect. Murat, however, denied any allegations and maintained his innocence. He never faced charges, and authorities later ruled him out as a suspect.
Then, in September, Portuguese police named Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance. They made the move after finding suspicious DNA in a car the family rented 25 days after she went missing. The parents denied any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance and were eventually eliminated as suspects.
CNN reported that the following July that officials ended the probe leading to her family’s efforts to regenerate popular interest in the case. During 2011 and 2012, London’s Metropolitan Police formed an investigative review to go through case details. A year-long review proved that “there is a possibility Madeleine is still alive,” said police in a statement.
Then, in October 2013, British police released new sketches of potential suspects in the case. That same year, Portuguese police reopened the investigation alongside UK officials to pursue “new lines of inquiry.”
A breakthrough in Madeleine McCann’s missing case came in 2020 when British and German authorities started investigating a German man. The suspect was 43-year-old Christian Brueckner. BBC reported that in April 2022, Portuguese prosecutors officially ruled Brueckner, then 45, as a suspect.
Netflix docuseries The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann chronicles the infamous missing case.
