After three days, international investigators ended the search in the Maddie McCann missing person case at the Arade reservoir in Portugal. Perhaps they discovered a new lead.
Silves/Munich – 16 years ago, Madeleine McCann suddenly disappeared from her family's apartment in a holiday resort in Portugal. Since then, there has been no sign of life from the girl, who was only three years old at the time of her disappearance. For the parents, this is an unimaginable, agonizing waiting time. Now there is new hope to possibly learn something about Maddie's fate. During the three-day search operation at the Arade reservoir, investigators found new traces, according to a media report.
Fate of Madeleine McCann uncertain: newspaper reports after search operation at reservoir of "relevant clue"
The Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manha wrote of a "relevant hint". But the investigation could drag on. During the search around the reservoir, which came about at the instigation of the German investigative authorities, officials from Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom secured soil samples and scraps of fabric.
During the search in the "Maddie" case, a "relevant clue" has apparently been discovered. © picture alliance/dpa/PA Media | Pa/picture alliance/dpa/AP | Joao Matos/Assembly
German profiler and former homicide investigator Axel Petermann told the British Mirror that the traces "will be examined and evaluated by experts within a few days". But The Telegraph writes that the evaluation could take weeks or months.
Case "Maddie": Does the clue come from the environment of the suspect Christian B.?
The investigators did not want to comment in detail about the traces and the search operation. But according to media reports, there are growing indications that the German investigators had previously received a tip from a "very credible" source who knew the suspect Christian B. The 45-year-old is being investigated for murder in the "Maddie" case.
According to The Telegraph, B. is said to have visited the reservoir several times with his motorhome. This was also the case "a few days" after the disappearance of the then three-year-old Madeleine McCann in May 2007. The area, which is about 50 kilometers away from the resort, is said to have called B. "his little paradise". According to Correio da Manha, German investigators believe it is possible that Madeleine McCann was killed in the dam and thrown into the water. Recently, a woman from Poland claimed to be the missing Maddie. (mt)
