16 years ago, the then three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared.
Her parents now posted an encouraging Facebook message.
Munich – Many people still remember the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007.
Exactly 16 years to the day after her alleged kidnapping, her parents give an insight into her inner life.
They can't wait for a breakthrough in the investigation.
Missing Maddie McCann – parents hope for breakthrough
On May 3, 2007, then 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Since that day 16 years ago, the investigation into the missing person case has been ongoing.
The case attracted attention not only because of the extensive investigations in Portugal and Great Britain, but also because of the large media presence of parents Kate and Gerald McCann.
In the meantime, the parents themselves were suspected of having something to do with their daughter's disappearance.
Since 2020, most of the investigations have been directed against a German who is said to have stayed in Portugal from 2000 to 2017 and against whom five proceedings are ongoing.
The registered sex offender who is currently being held in Germany has not yet been officially charged in the Maddie McCann case.
The McCann family are hoping for new results while the investigation is still ongoing, according to their Facebook post: "We expect a breakthrough."
Maddie McCann's parents with emotional Facebook post
In their Facebook post, Kate and Gerald McCann wrote that they "still miss Madeleine... still miss her very much." They didn't "know what words to use to describe our feelings." So they posted alongside a photo of Maddie McCann a poem by Clare Pollard called The Contradiction.
It's about how people aren't themselves when someone else is missing: "I'm still talking to you.
How can you be so close and yet so far?”
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On the anniversary of Maddie McCann's disappearance, the parents are hoping for an early breakthrough.
© Joe Giddens/AFP
Below the poem, Madeleine McCann's parents express their gratitude for their great sympathy and support in the search for their daughter.
"It really helps," they write.
The Official Find Maddie Campaign has over 500,000 followers on Facebook.
Under the post marking the anniversary of the disappearance, people are still praying for Maddie to be found.
If she is still alive, she would be 19 today.
A 21-year-old Polish woman recently claimed to be the missing Madeleine McCann.
However, software proved the opposite with a probability of 99 percent.
Rubric list image: © Joe Giddens/AFP
