With the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on a beach in Portugal, who is about to turn 15, the country’s prosecutors this Thursday (21) officially named a prime suspect in the case.
It’s the first time this has happened since the girl’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were named in 2007 they were later exonerated.
Then, on May 3, 2007, at the age of three, the British child disappeared from the hotel room where the family was vacationing in Praia da Luz, Algarve. The parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. The case shook the world and remains unsolved to this day.
Prosecutors in Faro, the capital of the country’s southern region, did not release the suspect’s name but said in a statement that he was identified as such by German authorities at the request of the Portuguese. Despite the identification, he has not yet been charged.
Out there
German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was believed to be dead and that Christian Brückner, 45, convicted of drug trafficking and child abuse, was likely responsible for the crime he is in prison in Germany and is accused of raping a woman in the Algarve to have. . However, since then he has not been charged in the British girl’s case and denies any involvement.
Brückner lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 and, according to Reuters news agency documents, committed robberies of hotels and apartments in the region in 2020. He also forged passports and was caught stealing diesel from a port.
The public prosecutor explained that the investigation was carried out in cooperation with British and German authorities.
According to the company, in 2012 the Judicial Police of Portugal turned over documents containing hundreds of names linked to Madeleine’s case, including Brückner’s, to British authorities. German police received their first tip in 2013, linking the suspect to the British girl’s case.
The reason why Portuguese prosecutors are identifying a suspect after such a long time isn’t clear, but it could be related to the case’s 15year statute of limitations, which would put an end to the investigation.