6/8/2017. .
It's been just over 10 years since British three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from the vacation home where was she was staying with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and two-year-old twin siblings in the resort town of Praia da Luz, Portugal. According to reports, Kate and Gerry tucked Madeleine and her siblings safely into bed on the evening of May 3rd, 2007, and then went out to dine with seven fellow vacationers to a tapas restaurant close by. Upon returning home at about 10PM, and despite regular checks on the children, they discovered that their daughter Madeleine had vanished without a trace.
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The ensuing search for toddler Madeleine swept media worldwide and became one of the biggest news stories of the decade. McCann's parents became a regular news presence and the subjects of intense public scrutiny, and accusations of police incompetence flew left and right. Read on to see what has come to light in the years since little Madeleine's tragic disappearance.
There have been numerous unidentified 'people of interest'
In the 10 years since Madeleine seemingly vanished into thin air, a number of witnesses have come forward to describe people of interest who, to this day, have yet to be identified. In October 2007, Scotland Yard released sketches of a man who witnesses claimed to have seen uncomfortably carrying a young girl close to the McCann's vacation apartment around the time that the McCanns were out to dinner. (It was later announced in 2013 he was unlikely to be connected with the case.) Then in 2009, the police revealed drawings of a man, described as "very ugly," who had been seen "acting suspiciously" in the days leading up to the disappearance.
In August 2009, a woman with an Australian accent because the focus on attention; she was described as a "Victoria Beckham lookalike. Likewise, she has never been located. In addition, an unidentified "woman in purple" was announced as a person of interest as recently as May 2017.
The case was a media sensation
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Madeleine McCann's disappearance generated what can only be deemed a media frenzy. As Vanity Fair detailed in an extensive 2008 article, tabloids worldwide picked up the case and covered it in extensive detail. A columnist for The Guardian even went so far as to compare the story to "the Second World War." The public likewise scrambled for any available information, with a source telling Vanity Fair that "Panorama, a BBC newsmagazine show, bought the same five-month-old footage of the McCanns (shot by a family friend) as ABC's 48 Hours and repackaged it" and "viewership rose by 2 million, to 5.3 million."
The McCanns themselves have appeared on television multiple times to tell their story and plead for information that would lead to their daughter's return. As Vanity Fair reports, these media efforts on the McCann's behalf absolutely furthered public interest, with the "Find Madeleine Web site visited by more than 80 million people in three months after the disappearance."
The McCanns also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, having been the subject of a bidding war between Winfrey and Barbara Walters for their first public statements. Interest in the couple and the case continues to this day; the couple gave an interview to journalist Fiona Bruce to mark the 10th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
The investigation was controversial from the beginning
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Accusations of mismanagement and incompetence have flown since the very beginning of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.
From the beginning of the investigation, Portuguese police came under intense international scrutiny; according to Vanity Fair, they were dubbed "the Keystone Cops" and "Butt Heads" by reporters. As Vanity Fair reported in 2008, the leader of the investigation had been "accused of covering up a beating by his subordinates of a Portuguese woman who was ultimately convicted of killing her own child."
Additionally, per Vanity Fair, there were no dogs trained in tracking missing people available in the small vacation town of Praia da Luz, so "local residents actually used household pets under the guidance of police with drug-sniffing dogs." The Telegraph also reported in 2007 that the police had failed to gather crucial DNA evidence from blankets, sheets and pillows from Madeleine's bed. And as recently as 2017, sources are still coming forward to criticize what they see as failings on the part of the Portuguese police.
The McCanns themselves were suspects
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Shortly after Madeleine's disappearance, rumors started to swirl that Kate and Gerry were involved in their toddler's disappearance; specifically, that she had been accidentally killed and that the two were attempting to cover it up, a charge that the couple have always vehemently denied. According to Vanity Fair in 2008, the Portuguese police told the McCanns in September 2007 that they were "arguidos" or "formal suspects" in Madeleine's disappearance, though no charges have ever been filed and the status was revoked in July 2008.
Portuguese ex-police officer Goncarlo Amaral has been extremely public about his theory that the McCanns themselves accidentally killed their young daughter, and that British intelligence agency MI5 assisted them in covering up the accidental death. Amaral, who was one of the original investigators of Madeleine's disappearance, even released a book in 2008 accusing the McCanns of faking their daughter's abduction to hide their involvement in her demise. In 2015, the McCanns sued Amaral for libel and won, though the decision was later overturned.
Amaral is rumored to be working on a second book about the case, with the McCanns ready to sue again.
Additional conspiracy theories abound
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In addition to the controversial rumors about the McCann's own involvement in the disappearance, numerous conspiracy theories have proliferated in the 10 years since Madeleine went missing.
These various theories include: that Madeleine was taken by a human-trafficking ring; that she was abducted after wandering out of the apartment to look for her parents; that she was kidnapped as part of a botched robbery; and that she was the victim of a targeted kidnapping by a family wanting a child.
Despite ongoing speculation, however, none of these theories has ever been proven conclusively.
In addition to the controversial rumors about the McCann's own involvement in the disappearance, numerous conspiracy theories have proliferated in the 10 years since Madeleine went missing.
These various theories include: that Madeleine was taken by a human-trafficking ring; that she was abducted after wandering out of the apartment to look for her parents; that she was kidnapped as part of a botched robbery; and that she was the victim of a targeted kidnapping by a family wanting a child.
Despite ongoing speculation, however, none of these theories has ever been proven conclusively.
Celebrities got involved to help...
As media attention exploded, a number of high-profile people lent their time and reputations to helping the McCanns locate their daughter. Some notable names included David Beckham, who filmed an appeal for help, Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and bestselling author of the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling, who donated money to help locate Madeleine and reportedly advised Kate McCann while she was writing her 2011 book Madeleine: Our Daughter's Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her. ]
Actor and Virgin Airlines magnate Sir Richard Branson donated millions to a reward fund, and then-Pope Benedict briefly met with the McCanns in 2007 to bless a photo of their daughter.
... and to cast blame on the McCanns
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However, some celebrities haven't been so generous to the McCanns.
In May 2016, Sharon Osbourne made some ungenerous remarks about the McCanns on her show The Talk, specifically noting that she felt it was "insane" that they had left their children sleeping while they went to dinner close by. A close friend of the McCanns responded to Osbourne's off-the-cuff comments, saying, "Kate and Gerry have never forgiven themselves and this should not have been aired in a random way, as it apparently was. It's based on ignorance of the true facts. While she's entitled to her view she should keep it to herself."
The case created tension between the U.K. and Portugal.
Relations between the Portuguese police, who were the initial investigators on the case, and the British police became incredibly tense over the years.
Portuguese police accused the U.K.'s forces of acting "like a colonial power" in their country. Pedro do Carma, deputy director of the Policia Judiciaria and a leading detective on the case, expressed his outrage in May 2017 to the BBC's Panaroma series that four local men in Portugal had been made suspects by the British police without any proof. For their part, members of the British police force (and much of the media) felt that the Portuguese police had done an insufficient investigation, as detailed in the above slide.
Meanwhile, the McCanns had a testy relationship with both Portuguese and British detectives, with claims that the Portuguese Police treated them inhumanely and that they were "left for long periods without any updates or communication with the investigators." In 2008, Vanity Fair reported that the McCanns were horrified to learn that "without [their] knowledge or consent, the [Portuguese] police had photocopied Kate's diary, examined her borrowed Bible, and removed Gerry's laptop."
The McCanns also worked with private investigators and reportedly refused to share information with British detectives.
One prime suspect died in 2009
In November 2013, the Huffington Post reported that a prime suspect in the case had died in 2009. Euclides Monteiro had been an employee at a resort near where the McCanns were staying in Praia da Luz, until he was fired in 2006. Reports suggested that he may have kidnapped Madeleine as an act of revenge.
However, the McCanns responded through a representative, saying, "We are aware of reports in the Portuguese press. They are pure speculation and the McCanns are not going to give a running commentary on every new report."
The investigation is ongoing
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The search for Madeleine, who would now be 14-years-old, carries on, with the McCanns continuing their efforts through Facebook and the official "Find Madeleine" website.
Additionally, CNN reported in May 2017 that "London's Metropolitan Police still has a dedicated team of four detectives working the case, in conjunction with their Portuguese police counterparts." Scotland Yard's efforts, deemed "Operation Grange," have been ongoing for six years, and according to CNN, "around $15.7 million has already been spent on the search for Madeleine. In March, the UK's Home Office approved $103,000 to fund the inquiry through September 2017." However, to date, no one has been charged.
And despite the many years that have gone by, Kate and Gerry McCann continue to hold onto hope that their daughter will be found and returned. During an interview to mark the anniversary of the disappearance, Kate McCann explained, "I do all the [birthday] present buying. I think about what age she is and buy something that, whenever we find her, will still be appropriate. A lot of thought goes into it."
