The three-year-old mysteriously vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, 17 years ago.
Madeleine’s disappearance remains shrouded in mystery to this day and has been described as ‘the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history.’
Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann, have remained steadfast in their search for their daughter, nearly 17 years after her disappearance.
Marking the somber anniversary, her devastated family shared an emotional update on the official Finding Madeleine website, reflecting their continued hope and heartbreak.
In a prior statement, Kate made a startling revelation regarding what she believes may have contributed to Madeleine’s disappearance.
Madeleine vanished on the night of May 3, 2007, from her bed in a holiday apartment located in Portugal’s Algarve region. At the time, she was sleeping alongside her younger twin siblings while her parents dined nearby with friends.
Her disappearance sparked an international search effort that has spanned continents and drawn global attention.
Although the case has remained in the public eye for years, Madeleine’s whereabouts are still unknown. Over time, there have been many developments, but no definitive answers.
BBC Panorama reports that in 2023, a delegation of senior officers traveled from Lisbon to London to meet with Madeleine McCann’s father.
According to the report, the officers issued an apology for the way detectives had handled the investigation and treated the family.
The McCanns have not publicly responded to the apology.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is involved in the investigation, described the apology as “a good sign,” noting, “It shows that, in Portugal, there’s development in the McCann case.”
Christian B, a German prisoner, was officially named as a suspect in the investigation in 2022.
According to the BBC, he has now been cleared by a German court of rape and sexual abuse charges in an unrelated case.
Christian B has consistently denied all allegations against him, including any connection to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Prior to recent developments in the investigation, Madeleine’s mother shared a significant detail about the night her daughter went missing.
In her 2011 memoir ‘Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her,’ Kate divulges a revelation she unearthed a year after police documents became public.
The missing girl’s mother was left horrified after finding a note from the holiday apartment complex while scanning through the police files.
In her book, Kate explained how on the holiday where Madeleine went missing, her group of nine went to a tapas restaurant every night.
Initially, it was complicated to accommodate such a large party, however, they managed to get a blocked booking ‘penciled in’ for the rest of the week.
After reviewing police records, Kate became deeply troubled by how easily accessible the restaurant booking information had been to the public.
“The note requesting our group reservation was written in a staff message book that remained on a desk at the pool reception for much of the day,” she wrote, according to The New Zealand Herald.
“This book was, by its very nature, available to all staff—and quite possibly, though unintentionally, to guests and visitors as well.”
One particular detail in that note stood out to Kate and caused her significant concern: it revealed that the McCanns had left their children alone in their holiday apartment.
“To my horror, I saw that, no doubt with the best of intentions and simply to explain why she was bending the rules, the receptionist had included the reason for our request: we wanted to dine close to our apartments because we were leaving our young children there and checking on them periodically,” she continued.
Kate went on to explain that the group of nine adults had arranged their own system of taking turns to check on the children throughout the evening, rather than bringing them along or using the resort’s child care services.
“We now bitterly regret that decision and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives,” Madeleine’s mother concluded.
