Police End Search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal after Three Days

Police in Portugal have ended their search for missing British Madeleine McCann after three days. The then three-year-old toddler went missing in 2007 in the south of Portugal, where she was on holiday with her parents and brother and sister.

No results have been released from the latest search. According to the Portuguese police, the collected material will be given to the German authorities for investigation. Police would not say whether any useful material is included.

Germany had asked for the new search because last year, at the request of the Portuguese judiciary, that country designated the German sex offender Christian Brückner as a suspect. Brückner is already in prison in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area in Portugal. He denies involvement in McCann’s disappearance.

In recent days, sniffer dogs have been used to search for traces that could lead to McCann. The Portuguese police were supported by colleagues from Germany and the United Kingdom. Among other things, a reservoir near the Arade River was searched, which is only half full due to the drought.

The German prosecutor has said that the chance of a breakthrough is small. “Of course there is a certain expectation, but it is not high,” prosecutor Christian Wolters said before the end of the search. He does not expect the results to be announced soon.

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007 from her parents’ holiday home in Praia da Luz, Portugal’s Algarve. She lay in bed while her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. She lived in the same room as her brother and sister, twins, who were 2 years old at the time.

Since her disappearance, a large-scale search has been conducted for her several times. The Arade River was also searched. After the search just after her disappearance, searches followed in southern Portugal in 2013 and 2014, and in Germany in 2020.

The investigation into McCann’s disappearance has had several twists and turns and has been in the public eye for years. Several books and documentaries have been published about the case.