Still Searching for Maddie

Most readers will remember the case of Madeleine McCann, the little British girl who disappeared in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in Portugal at the age of three. (To refresh your memory on the details of the case, the Wikipedia article is a useful compendium.)

Maddie is back in the news again after the Portuguese police began a new search for her remains at a reservoir, initiated at the request of the German authorities, who think a convicted German sex criminal may be the likely culprit.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from Portuguese daily Público:

The Maddie Case

Police with faces covered and divers search for traces of Maddie at the Arade Dam

In Algarve, German police follow the trail of one of their fellow countrymen, arrested for the rape of an elderly woman. The “film” repeats itself 16 years after the child’s disappearance.

By Idalio Revez
May 23, 2023

The scene repeats itself. Judicial Police and German authorities conduct searches at the Arade Dam (Silves) in an effort to investigate what could be the latest clue in solving the Maddie case — the English girl who disappeared from Praia da Luz 16 years ago.

The operation is being carried out under the observation of the English police, but it is the German investigators who are most visible in front of the media circus that is set up around the reservoir, with a water level much lower than would be normal for the time of year.

Christian Bruckner, serving a sentence of seven years in a prison in Oldenburg for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal, is the link that led to Judicial Police to reopen this process, at the request of the German authorities. The searches for what may be the biological remains of Maddie are concentrated in a location next to the dam where Bruckner lived in a trailer park.

Dozens of journalists rushed to the location, especially Portuguese television channels, but also Spanish, German, and English, with more than one team to cover the event. “Searching for something,” but for what was not known.

The only certainty is that this is another police attempt to add to an investigation on which millions of euros have been spent — and which remains without any conclusion. In 2008, Attorney Aragão Correia paid investigators out of his pocket to conduct searches at the location. What was found at the time were animal cadavers and garbage.

The German police make a point of showing their presence. The investigators don’t even let you see their eyes. Passing in front of the journalists in all-terrain vehicles, black caps on their heads and wearing dark glasses.

TV cameramen, prevented from getting near the location where the operation is being carried out, north of the dam, spread out in the hills of the range to capture possible discoveries on land or in the reservoir.

The operation is being supported by a group of divers from emergency rescue of Silves and by elements of the GNR (National Republican Guard). In contrast to the Germans, what is noted among the Portuguese authorities is an attitude of discretion, typical of one who has seen this “film” several times. The Judicial Police predict that the searches should last two or three days, without revealing more details.

For an English-language account of the search at the reservoir, see this CBS News article.

2 thoughts on “Still Searching for Maddie

  1. Christian Bruckner doesn’t sound very German to me.

    Now if it was someone named Mohammed, Muhammed, Mahomet, Farik, Aziz, or Innocent then it would be a very German sounding name.

  2. Thy wit doth provide soft-landing for thy regular assiduous observations!

    Are you aware of retired Navy Seal Jack Carr’s Book/TV episodical movie “Terminal List”?

    I watched it recently and was impressed by its accuracy and how it contributed to my own, ever-expanding dot-connecting, regarding the Deep State and the deepening cavern of deceit and corruption that constitutes Washington, DC.

    Chris Pratt, as Protagonist James Reece (Navy Seal) is excellent, as are most of the cast. – Other commenters of your ilk, not limited to Ned G, MC in Sderot and GeorgiaBoy, will appreciate “Terminal List”.

    A German speaking Irish REBEL Abroad.

    PS: Meine Irische nahme ist Micheál Mac Cxxxxxc und meine Alter Ego ist Max Modine.

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