Why did the mccanns kill madeleine

More than a decade has passed since 3-year-old Madeleine, on vacation with her parents and younger brother and sister in the beach resort town of Praia da Luz, Portugal, disappeared from her bed on the evening of May 3, , without a trace. With local police slow to respond, Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, both British doctors, turned to the international press to enlist the help of the entire world in finding their daughter.

Hundreds of man-hours spent searching, millions spent on international investigations, endless global media attention, thousands of false Madeleine "sightings," even a meeting with the pope, and more than 13 years of desperate hope have yielded not a single viable clue.

When asked by Van Sant why they were so certain of this terrible outcome, Prosecutor Wolters responded, "We have strong evidence that Madeleine McCann is dead and that she was killed by our suspect, Christian B. Because of German law, Wolters is not allowed to use Christian Brueckner 's full name nor comment on the evidence they have against him, but it is no secret that this career criminal and repeat sex offender is their prime suspect in the abduction and possible murder of Madeleine McCann.

In fact, he has been on their radar for some time. Wolters says that in , a decade after Madeleine had disappeared, a person contacted German police and gave them the suspect's name. Official documents obtained by "48 Hours" show that Brueckner's life of crime began when he was arrested for theft at the age of Two years later, in , he sexually abused a child in Germany.

Brueckner fled to Portugal to escape serving his sentence. Until when he was extradited to Germany to serve his sentence. But he would soon return to Portugal, where Brueckner lived out of a VW camper van before eventually moving to a house. Mark Hofmann : He lived in a house right about one mile from the crime scene where Madeleine was … abducted. While living in Praia da Luz, investigators say Brueckner had returned to a life of crime, often stealing from hotels and holiday apartments.

Mark Hofmann : He was known for burglary in hotel resorts and Maddie disappeared from around a hotel resort. Jim Gamble : The hypothesis that it was a burglar who responded in an opportunistic way is one that I've always thought is credible.

In fact, just one year before Madeleine disappeared, Brueckner was arrested in Portugal for theft. But it is unknown what the Portuguese police knew about his past sexual offense in Germany. But it is clear that Brueckner should have been looked at more closely by the Portuguese authorities from the beginning.

German investigators now believe they have discovered a key piece of evidence. On May 3, , a call was made to Brueckner's cellphone approximately one hour before Madeleine disappeared.

Peter Van Sant : The cellphone information that you received … do you believe that placed him around the resort area at the time that Maddie McCann disappeared? Hans Christian Wolters : The phone number placed Christian to the Ocean Club, but we have to find out which person uses this phone at this time. Normally it was used by Christian B. But we don't know which person used it on the 3rd of May in Gamble says this lead could have been pursued at the time if Portuguese police had only analyzed the cellphone data.

Jim Gamble : I believe the information that now ties the present suspect's phone to the area would have been available at that time if someone had looked for it. And German investigators also learned that immediately after Madeleine went missing, Brueckner did something suspicious: he put his car in someone else's name.

Shortly after that, he quietly slipped out of Portugal and returned to Germany once again. Brueckner eventually settled in Braunschweig, and briefly ran a small general store by a school and kept a low profile. Mark Hofmann : Pretty often these child molesters — this is like their dirty little secret. They don't talk about it to anyone … But they talk about their crimes and fantasies quite openly to other child molesters or other offenders. As it turns out Wolters and his team learned Brueckner was still operating in the darkest shadows of society.

In he posted in a pedophile chat room on Skype. Mark Hofmann : This was a Skype chat where he openly discussed his fantasies of torturing little children and using them and raping them for a couple of days.

Although Brueckner's posts made no mention of Madeleine McCann, the search of an abandoned factory once owned by Brueckner would uncover photos and videos that would raise more questions. As Wolters and his team continued their investigation into Christian Brueckner's past they learned that long before that alleged drunken confession in a bar, his name had been linked to Madeleine McCann's. Hans Christian Wolters : There was a first hint to our suspect in But the police contacted Christian B.

While it didn't pan out, just one year later he was back on police radar. According to documents obtained by "48 Hours," in , photo files and 68 video files of child pornography were confiscated from Brueckner's home while he was living in Braunschweig. During this time, he was also charged with sexually abusing a 5-year-old. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison for committing both offenses. Mark Hofmann : If I look at his life and criminal record, it seems a little bit like he was always fleeing and trying to escape law enforcement.

So, whenever he committed a crime, whenever he was investigated in connection with some crimes, he left the country. And then, if there is a house of horrors in this tragic mystery it may be a deserted factory deep in the woods of Saxony Anhalt, Germany, that Christian Brueckner once owned.

In investigators conducted multiple searches of this property. And what they found was troubling. Mark Hofmann : Law enforcement confirmed that they found at least three girl's swimsuits in his camper van. So, of course, you need to ask the question, who do these swimsuits belong to? Mark Hofmann : On this property they found … USB drives containing … pictures and videos, including videos and pictures of child abuse.

And also, videos which he produced himself. It seems that Brueckner had a long fascination with recording his crimes. In , a witness came forward saying they had seen a videotape from of Brueckner raping a year-old American woman at her home in Portugal. Up until then, the attacker's identity had not been known. Mark Hofmann : This was not just rape. This was the most brutal form of rape I ever heard of. That assault had taken place close to the Ocean Club and 2 years before Madeleine McCann disappeared.

Brueckner was charged and convicted for these crimes in Mark Hofmann: He is definitely a bad guy. He's definitely a psychopath. And he is definitely a full-time criminal. Wolters will not reveal details about his current investigation into Christian Brueckner, but he is adamant about one thing.

Hans Christian Wolters : You may speculate. But I'm not allowed to tell you if you are right or if you are wrong. But despite the evidence he says he has, Wolters admits he needs more of it in order to charge Brueckner. Hans Christian Wolters : And in Germany, we … charge someone only if we are sure that he will be sentenced by the court.

If there are doubts … we don't charge him. Wolters says one key piece of evidence they need is to find the person who made that call to Brueckner's cellphone approximately one hour before Madeleine disappeared on May 3, Mark Hofmann : This might be the only person who could confirm that indeed, Christian B. Although investigators made an appeal to the public, they have been unable to identify the mystery caller.

The McCanns have not commented on Christian Brueckner, but on their website they posted: "We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace. Meanwhile, Brueckner has remained silent behind prison walls where he is serving a 7-year sentence for raping that year-old American woman. Brueckner's lawyer spoke to 9 News Australia.

Wolters admits that without a body or forensic evidence this case will be hard to solve, but he is not backing down. Peter Van Sant : And do you believe there are people out there, whether it be in Portugal or Germany, who have information about this case that is important? Hans Christian Wolters : We think that there are people who can help us and we hope that these people will contact us or the police.

Jane Hill : I have spent many years hoping that there will be a resolution. BBC News anchor Jane Hill, who covered Madeleine's story from the start, hopes this new investigation will finally provide answers—as painful as they may be—for the McCanns.

Jane Hill : I hope … that there can be closure in some way for a family that has spent and-a-half years not knowing what happened to their little girl, not knowing what they can say to her younger brother and sister about where she's gone. If anyone has information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, please visit www. Anna Noryskiewicz and Paolo Marenghi are the field producers.

Michael Loftus is the broadcast associate. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. He is currently serving a "long" prison sentence "for an unrelated matter", German authorities said in June , and the suspect is now being investigation for the "possible murder" of Maddie McCann. Maddie's disappearance also faced renewed interest last year following the release of the Netflix documentary, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

But the McCann family refused to be involved in the project, citing the ongoing police investigation into their daughter's disappearance. We did not see and still do not see how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and, particularly given there is an active police investigation, could potentially hinder it," the statement read. Kate and Gerry McCann with a digitally-altered photo of what their daughter Maddie might look like now.

Image: Getty. So why have the McCann's been unable to shake the accusations against them? We explore every single theory linking the parents to Madeleine's disappearance, so you can decide for yourself.

Kate and Gerry McCann were labelled as guilty very early on. During one of their first press conferences following Madeleine's disappearance, Kate and Gerry McCann were asked by a German radio reporter if the "finger of suspicion" was being pointed at them.

Kate McCann replied: "To be honest I don't actually think that is the case. I think there is a very small minority of people that are criticising us. You know we are very responsible parents and we love our children so much. I think it is very few people that are actually criticising us.

Gerry McCann said he had "never" heard anyone considering them suspects. The mysterious "Pact Of Silence" is one of the many theories addressed in the new Netflix documentary.

The McCanns holidayed with seven friends and their five children in Portugal, and they dined together almost every night at their resort's tapas restaurant, which led to the media labelling the group, "The Tapas Seven". One of the odd inconsistencies she found was in Gerry McCann's claim that the table at the restaurant had a direct "line of sight to the apartment," which is why they chose to dine there.

Why would you lie about such a simple thing? They also heard that the "Tapas Seven" gathered to work out their timeline and then revised it.