48 Hours - The Puzzle: Solving the Madeleine McCann Case

Episode Date: March 1, 2021

Thirteen years after a child is abducted, investigators have a credible suspect. Is the puzzle of what happened to her complete? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca We have breaking news in one of the world's most infamous missing persons mystery. A German prisoner has been identified as a new suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a holiday resort in Portugal 13 years ago. It is every parent's greatest fear. Please, please do not hurt her. Please don't scare her. Please tell us where to find her. Three-year-old Madeleine McCann, taken from her bed with no clue left behind. We don't know where she is. We don't know who's taken her. We don't know why.

A massive search. A global media storm. And an international investigation. Days turned into months, turned into years with no answers. That hope is still there. There's still hope that we can find Madeleine. It's a mystery that has been compared to a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces missing. Until now. The accused is a sex offender with several previous convictions, who has already been convicted of sexual abuse of children.

His name is Christian Bruckner. He absolutely matches the profile of a person who could potentially abduct and or kill a little girl like Madeleine McCann. Was he anywhere near the resort where this crime took place? He lived in a house around about one mile away from where Madeleine was potentially abducted. abducted. It's one part of the puzzle, you can say, but there are some pieces missing for this puzzle to complete it. His cell phone was tracked at the crime scene or at least next to the crime scene the night Maddy disappeared. That call puts him in the area at the time the crime was committed.

On his property in Germany, they found USB drives with pictures and videos of child abuse. It's when you put those things together that you get that clearer focus, where the jigsaw becomes much, much more complete. For the first time in 13 years, I have to say, I actually felt here is a credible suspect. Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu

Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu Cynhyrchu with Madeleine. Madeleine is a beautiful, bright, funny and caring little girl. She is so special.

We need our Madeleine and Madeleine needs us. Please give our little girl back. It's been more than a decade of waiting for Kate and Jerry McCann. We will leave no stone unturned in the search for our daughter, Madeline. Years of searching since their daughter disappeared on May 3rd, 2007. We have to be hopeful. It's what keeps us going and keeps us focused. Now, they finally may be closer to finding out what happened to Madeline. Now they finally may be closer to finding out what happened to Madeleine. This past June in Braunschweig, Germany, Prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters held a press conference and made a stunning announcement.

German police had a suspect, 43-year-old Christian Bruckner. He also had devastating news. He declared that Madeleine McCann was likely dead. It's been said that German prosecutors are always very tight-lipped. You must have some strong evidence that allowed you to make that statement to the public. We have strong evidence that Christian B. killed Maddy McCann. But you don't have a body, correct? There's no body? No, we have no forensic evidence.

Then how can you be so certain? We have other evidence. Just as German law does not allow Wolters to use Bruckner's full name, he also cannot say what that evidence is. I heard the news that the Germans had a credible suspect and my first thing was, here we go again. Jim Gamble was head of the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and involved in the early investigation. Madeline's case was complex.

Over the years, he has seen countless leads end up as dead ends but this time he believes the Germans may be on the right track. Everyone including myself who's touched this case is more hopeful with the German case than we've been in 13 years. years. Back in May of 2007, British doctors Jerry and Kate McCann were on vacation with their family in Praia da Luz, a resort town in the Algarve region of Portugal. The coastline's beautiful, the sunshine's beautiful. Jane Hill is a BBC News anchor who covered Madeline's story. It was just a regular, relaxed week in the sun. The five members of the McCann family, including Madeline and her younger twin brother and sister,

stayed at the Ocean Club. They were joined by several other families. The Ocean Club Resort was seen as a place where families went they'd gone there for generations it was seen to be family-friendly and safe. We're having a great holiday, we had lots of fun. Especially fun for Madeline. She might look like Kate but in terms of personality she's much more of a mccann, she's very extroverted and lively. She's very social. But their idyllic holiday would soon come to an end.

On May 3rd, at around 8.30pm, the McCanns left their sleeping children alone in their unlocked apartment and went to meet friends at the resort's tapas bar about 50 yards away. That was their routine behavior. They'd been doing it all week. And the friends would take turns. So every 15 minutes or so, one of the adults from the group would go back and just check on their sleeping children and check that everything was okay. At 10 p.m., when it was Kate's turn, she found the twins sound asleep. But this bed, Madeline's bed, was empty. Kate said to me, Jane, Madeline's gone. Madeline's gone. Jane Tanner was one of the friends who was dining with the McCanns. It's the least thing you'd ever think in a million years,

that a child is going to be abducted in a safe family resort. When Tanner heard that Madeline had disappeared she says she remembered that earlier in the evening as she walked near the ocean club she passed a man who had caught her attention. Well as I was walking up the road this man was walking across the top of the road and carrying a small child. The thing that I noticed the most was he was holding her and I could see her bare feet and the bottom of the pyjamas. Tanner told the Portuguese police what she had witnessed that night, but investigators didn't appear to take immediate action.

There was quite a laissez-faire attitude. She's wandered off somewhere, she's probably got lost, we'll find her, she'll come back. And that was one of the criticisms, that the police activity didn't really get going until the next day. Police in Portugal are investigating claims that a three-year-old British girl has been abducted. By that time, Madeleine's disappearance

was making headlines across the world. I'm Jane Hill, live in the Algarve, where there is still no sign of... My editor took me off air the day after she disappeared and said, get on a plane to Portugal. Hill was one of the first British journalists at the scene. Why did this capture people's attention so? It is every parent's nightmare, isn't it? In some ways, Madeleeline was more than a daughter

to the McCanns. She was their miracle. Unable to conceive, the couple endured a series of grueling in vitro fertilization procedures until Kate finally became pregnant with Madeline. What was it like for Jerry and Kate when Mad madeline was born um well they were walking on air quite frankly family friend john corner spoke to 48 hours back in 2007. the bond between kate and madeline was is something amazing really please if youleine, let her come home to her mummy, daddy, brother and sister. Within days, Madeleine's face fuelled one of the largest international searches for a missing child in history. Madeleine's face became so familiar.

She became ubiquitous. Madeline! Madeline! Madeline! Madeline! It was heartbreaking because photographs were released that the family had taken on that holiday. It's obviously extremely difficult.

Every day, me and my team were there. We just watched the press pack grow and grow and grow. As the cameras followed the McCanns everywhere, it seemed Kate was never without Madeline's pink stuffed animal. Well, it's something that Madeline has with her every night. And if she's upset or not well, then she has Crittle Cat. And so it provides me with a little bit of comfort, something of Madeleine close to me.

Days passed and the McCanns grew frustrated as the Portuguese police conducted their investigation and shared very little. Portuguese police are not allowed to reveal any details of an ongoing investigation, not just to reveal any details of an ongoing investigation. Not just to people like me, to the family involved. And what happens when you have no information? You get rumour, gossip, speculation.

There was no proof of anything. That's the trouble. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free, 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups

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Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. It's almost a week since Madeline was abducted from her holiday apartment. The expat community in the Algarve were the first to join the search for Madeline. And six days on, they still feel compelled to carry on the hunt. I cried yesterday. I'm crying now. I'm just very upset about it. There were rumours circulated all the time.

I can't tell you what a rumour mill it was. And you would think, where is this coming from? can't tell you what a rumor mill it was and you would think where is this coming from a week after madeline's disappearance suspicion fell on a man who lived just down the street from where madeline had vanished why you just thought be the one journalist tell me who is robert murat robert murat is a british expat who lives in Empresa de Luz. So he had local knowledge and he spoke Portuguese and engaged with a number of reporters and others in proximity to the investigation and offered himself up to provide help

by way of translation or advice. Police quickly named Marat a suspect. Witnesses say Marat showed up at the Ocean Club after Madeline disappeared and claimed he was acting suspiciously. Marat's mother said that wasn't possible. They couldn't have seen him. He was at home all night. Then the public began to turn on the McCanns for leaving their daughter alone.

for leaving their daughter alone. Did it go from, we feel so sorry for you, to how could you have done that? There were people saying that. I recorded an interview with a man from the Algarve Tourist Board. He said, I mean, you keep an eye on your suitcase, why would you not keep an eye on your child? It's a question Janeane hill had to raise

when she became the first reporter to interview kate and jerry mccann a lot of people in the last three weeks have said i can't imagine doing such a thing i wouldn't be able to leave three children in that situation how do you deal with those sort of comments? I think, you know, no one will ever feel more guilty than us. If you thought for a minute that someone could abduct your child, of course you would never have left them. Portuguese investigators also began eyeing the McCanns. Three months after Madeline vanished, specially trained sniffer dogs were flown in to scour the family's vacation rental.

Traces of blood were detected inside the apartment and in the trunk of the McCann's rental car. Partial samples of the blood were recovered and sent to a British lab for DNA testing. But the results indicated that the blood found in the apartment did not belong to Madeleine. And the results from the DNA in the rental car were inconclusive. Well, I've seen the letter from the forensic science lab. The forensic tests didn't say this DNA is Madeleine McCann's because actually the full analysis of that says that up to half

the forensic scientists in the lab would have had similar DNA characteristics. It was not a complete DNA sample. What's more, the car wasn't actually retained by the McCann's until weeks after Madeleine had gone missing. And if you were to believe that Madeleine was in the boot of the car, they must have either killed her and or hidden her sometime earlier, recovered her body whilst the media were surveilling them, hidden it in the car, then moved it to a place where they could dispose of it, where no one could see that happen, and then bring the car back. It just doesn't add up. The forensics don't add up. And yet, four months after Madeleine vanished...

Today, Kate McCann has returned to Portimao to be questioned by the Portuguese police. Portuguese police declare the McCanns are guidos, suspects in their own daughter's disappearance. The enormous media coverage in this. Do you believe in some ways that pressured Portuguese authorities to say, we have our real suspects,

it is Kate and it is Jerry? Well, I can't speak to that. You'd have to talk to the senior investigating officer from the Portuguese police. But in my opinion, do I think that that type of pressure would focus the attention of the senior investigating officer? Of course.

48 Hours reached out to the Portuguese police for comment, but they did not reply. The McCanns should have been suspects day one, minute one, hour one. And I don't believe for one second the McCanns committed this crime. But what I'm saying is your attention should be, first of all, to look at the parents and actually to rule them in or rule them out.

Not to wait until you're months down the line where you have exhausted all of your other ideas to then say, well, actually, it must be the parents. Because that's not fair on anyone. Surprisingly, almost immediately after being declared suspects, the McCanns were allowed to fly to the UK, returning home for the first time without their daughter. We have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter, Madeline.

Kate McCann told her family that Portuguese investigators had pressured her to sign a confession in which she was to admit that Madeleine had died accidentally and that Madeleine's disappearance had been staged. Kate refused. 48 Hours spoke to Kate's mother in 2007. Kate said, why would I sign that confession, you know? If an accident had happened, Madeline had fallen,

Kate and Jerry wouldn't have hidden that. When the McCants were named as suspects in Portugal, were they seen as suspects in the UK as well? I'm sure there were people in the UK who did think that they had had some involvement. And that was reflected particularly in the British tabloid press. Some British newspapers began running unsubstantiated, sensational storylines.

And what happened is the war of the tabloids began to take place. The onslaught of wild accusations continued for months, effectively portraying the McCanns as killers. And then you get the armchair detectives. With social media, you've got the geeks, freaks and morons. But when you've got this world of bile being created online, then people continually feed it. It wasn't until the following summer, in July 2008, that Portuguese investigators cleared the McCann's. By then, Gerry and Kate had spent nearly a year under a cloud of suspicion.

Gerry and Kate had spent nearly a year under a cloud of suspicion. It's hard to describe how utterly despairing it was to be named our Guido and subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's abduction. The police also cleared Robert Marat but what had happened to little Madeline? The McCanns remained singularly focused on finding out. I think there's a really good chance she's still alive. I guess I feel she's out there. More than two years had passed since Madeleine McCann's mysterious disappearance, and Portuguese investigators were no closer to knowing what happened to her. As head of the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre,

Jim Gamble knew he had to take action. Madeleine disappeared on the 3rd of May 2007, while on holiday with her family in Portugal. We produced a viral video called A minute for Madeleine McCann. If you know who is involved and you're keeping this secret. The video that said it's never too late to do the right thing and if you know something go to your local police. I understand that the video was in seven different languages is that right?

Yes it was in Chinese, in Arabic, in Spanish. If you're keeping this secret, please. I mean, it was downloaded in every part of the world. And as the views ticked up, so too did the number of potential leads. Give me a sense of the number of sightings that were pouring in from all over the world during these years. There's been a number of sightings of Madeleine McCann in Australia, in parts of Africa, across Spain, Portugal and beyond. All turned out to be nothing. The trail went cold.

But things were about to heat up. In 2010, Gamble was asked by the British government to officially review the case. When Portuguese police began this investigation, you believe they made some fundamental errors. I do think they made some critical errors. Gamble says Portuguese investigators failed to take a close look at everyone staying near the Ocean Club at the time. It was clear that, you know, the searches were ad hoc. The fact is that all of the details of all of the people who'd stayed in that apartment block or had been in proximity at the time hadn't been captured. Gamble also found that cell phone data around the Ocean Club the day Madeleine went missing

hadn't been properly analyzed. The telephone companies captured all of that information in 2007, yet there was absolutely no evidence that any of that cell size data had been investigated. In June 2010, Gamble finished his case review and submitted recommendations to the British government. But for almost a year, nothing happened. Until... Gerry McCann wrote an open letter on the front page of a popular tabloid to the Prime Minister. And in a day, Operation Grange was commissioned. the Prime Minister. And in a day, Operation Grange was commissioned.

Operation Grange became one of the largest and most expensive investigations in British history. The full weight of Scotland Yard was now brought in to assist the Portuguese investigation. There was a sense in the UK that this was almost a fresh start. Let's regroup, let's see what wasn't looked at, let's go through witness statements, let's see whether we can make fresh appeals for information and really revitalise this. That meant taking another look at every possible scenario of what might have happened that night. Could this be that the child simply walked away?

Could it be an abduction? Could it be a burglary that's gone wrong? Could someone have broken into the room? Might they have been disturbed by Madeline? And could they have responded out of fear, out of anger and nervousness and taken her away? There was one dark scenario that weighed most heavily,

the possibility that Madeline had been kidnapped by a sex offender. Obviously that was our biggest fear, but just the thought of someone so lovely and beautiful, our child being subjected to something like that was enough to destroy us. like that was enough to destroy us. Operation Grange solved one early mystery, the identity of the man seen in this police sketch whom that family friend had reported seeing.

Scotland Yard determined it was just a man on vacation with his child. Aged progression technology was also used at the time to further the investigation. I have on many occasions looked at images of children who have been found and the likeness sometimes is remarkable. By 2016, the number of allegedleine sightings had grown to more than 8,600, spanning more than 100 countries. Scotland Yard investigated every credible lead, but none led anywhere. How could it be that years later there was still no trace of this little girl? How was that possible? Nothing. What we're waiting for over these years is all these bits

start to fall into place. The cell site data, information about suspects, other sex offenders in the area. We're waiting for that last piece to fall into place. Then this past June, from a small German city, some startling news. German police revealing that a convicted sex offender currently serving a jail sentence is now the prime suspect. After years of dead ends, finally a promising suspect. This 43-year-old German man. A look into his past would reveal a monster. Have you ever wondered who created

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early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. On the anniversaries and on our birthday, they are by far the hardest days, by far. In 2017, Gerry and Kate McCann marked a grim anniversary. It had been 10 years since their daughter disappeared. Whatever it takes for as long as it takes, but there's still hope that we can find Madeleine. So certainly from my point of view, you know, somebody knows what's happened. Little did the McCanns know, more than 500 miles away in Braunschweig, Germany, police had received

a game-changing new tip. German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters. In 2017, a person contacted the German police and gave us the name of Christian B. According to news reports, Bruckner, who German authorities refer to as Christian B., allegedly made a drunken confession to a friend that he knew what had happened to Madeline. Germany's highest police agency conducted an investigation, and what they uncovered was that Bruckner had a long and disturbing background of crime spanning three decades. Who is Christian B? Christian B is a criminal who committed a lot of financially motivated crimes, like burglary or drug trafficking.

Mark Hoffman is a crime and intelligence analyst based in Germany who has studied Christian Bruckner. He also has a darker side. Authorities say he had a history of targeting little girls. He is a very likely psychopath with no empathy, no deep feelings, who is interested in feeling some sense of power over defenseless victims, especially young children.

So he absolutely matches the profile of a person who could potentially abduct and or kill a little girl like Madeleine McCann. Official documents obtained by 48 Hours show that Bruckner's life of crime began when he was arrested for theft at the age of 15. Two years later, in 1994, he sexually abused a child in Germany. Bruckner fled to Portugal to escape serving his sentence. He moved from job to job. He moved from crime to crime.

Until 1999, when he was extradited to Germany to serve his sentence. But he would soon return to Portugal, where Bruckner lived out of a VW camper van before eventually moving to this house. He lived in a house around about one mile away from the crime scene where Madeline was abducted. While living in Praia da Luz, investigators say Bruckner had returned to a life of crime, often stealing from hotels and holiday apartments. He was known for burglary in hotel resorts, and Maddy disappeared from a hotel resort.

So it's possible that this crime maybe started as a hotel burglary and it ended as the potential kidnapping and or killing of Maddy McCann. Jim Gamble says that theory is certainly possible. 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 Madeline disappeared, Bruckner was arrested in Portugal for theft. But it is unknown what the Portuguese police knew about his past sexual offense in Germany.

48 Hours reached out to them to find out, but they did not respond. But it is clear that Bruckner 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 3rd, 2007, a call was made to Bruckner's cell phone approximately one hour before Madeline disappeared. The cell phone information that you received, do you believe that placed him around the resort area at the time that Maddie McCann disappeared? The phone number placed Christian B. 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 2007. Gamble says this lead could have been pursued at the time if Portuguese police had only analyzed the cell phone data. 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, Bruckner did something suspicious. He put his car in someone else's name. He deregistered his car one day after the disappearance. Shortly after that, he quietly slipped out of Portugal and returned to Germany once again. Bruckner eventually settled in Braunschweig and briefly ran a small general store by a school and kept a low profile. 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. As it turns out, Wolters and his team learned Bruckner was still operating in the darkest shadows of society. In 2013, he posted in a pedophile chat room on Skype. 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 Bruckner's posts made no mention of Madeline McCann, the search of an abandoned factory once owned by Bruckner would uncover photos and videos that would raise more questions. Do you think Christian Bruckner is responsible for the disappearance of Madeline McCann?

See what makes Bruckner a compelling suspect at 48hours.com. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking

story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app,

Apple Podcasts or Spotify. As Wolters and his team continued their investigation into Christian Bruckner's past, they learned that not long before that alleged drunken confession in a bar, his name had been linked to Madeleine McCann's. In 2013, German police had received their first tip that Christian Bruckner could be involved in her disappearance. There was a first hint to our suspect in 2013. that Christian Bruckner could be involved in her disappearance.

There was a first hint to our suspect in 2013, but the police contacted Christian B. and there was nothing found to investigate any longer. While it didn't pan out, just one year later, he was back on police radar. According to documents obtained by 48 Hours, in 2014, 391 photo files and 68 video files of child pornography were confiscated from Bruckner's home while he was living in Braunschweig. During this time he was also charged with sexually abusing a five-year-old. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison for committing both offenses.

But before serving his sentence, he fled once again to Portugal. 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. Bruckner would later be extradited to Germany once again to serve his sentence. And then, if there is a house of horrors in this tragic mystery, it may be this one. A deserted factory deep in the woods of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, that Christian Bruckner once owned. In 2016, investigators conducted multiple searches of this property. In 2016, investigators conducted multiple searches of this property. 48 Hours has learned these searches were part of a broader investigation into child pornography. And what they found was troubling.

Law enforcement confirmed that they found at least three girls' swimsuits in his camper van. So of course you need to ask the question, who do these swimsuits belong to? Investigators have not revealed if they know the answer, but that's not all they found. 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. And these USB drives were in a plastic bag buried under his dead dog in the ground. It seems that Bruckner had a long fascination with recording his crimes. In 2018, a witness came forward saying they had seen a videotape from 2005 of Bruckner raping a 72-year-old American woman at her home in Portugal.

Up until then, the attacker's identity had not been known. This was not just rape. This was the most brutal form of rape I ever heard of. brutal form of rape I ever heard of. That assault had taken place close to the Ocean Club and two years before Madeleine McCann disappeared. Bruckner was charged and convicted for these crimes in 2019. His DNA matched DNA found at the scene. He is definitely a bad guy. He's definitely a psychopath and he's definitely a psychopath,

and he's definitely a full-time criminal. But the question is, is he really guilty in the Madeline McCann case? Folters will not reveal details about his current investigation into Christian Bruckner. But he is adamant about one thing. We're sure that Christian B. murdered Madeline McCann because of the evidence we have. And may I speculate that that evidence may include

photographs or video of Maddie McCann? 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 Bruckner. 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 piece of evidence they need is to find the person who made that call to Bruckner's cell phone approximately one hour before Madeline disappeared on May 3rd, 2007. This might be the only person who could confirm that indeed Christian B. was holding his cell phone in his hand that night. And this would be a proof that not just his cell phone was at the crime scene, but that he was at the crime scene. Although investigators made an appeal to the public, they have been unable to identify the mystery caller.

The phone which was used for the call to Christian B was a prepaid phone, so we are not able to find this person in an easy way. The McCanns have not commented on Christian Bruckner, but they posted this on their website. We will never give up hope of finding Madeline alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace. Meanwhile, Bruckner has remained silent behind prison walls where he is serving a seven-year sentence for raping that 72-year-old American woman. Bruckner's lawyer spoke to Nine News Australia. He is innocent until proven guilty. Bolters admits that without a body or forensic evidence,

this case will be hard to solve. But he is not backing down. And you believe there are people out there, whether it be in Portugal or in Germany, who have information about this case that is important? We think that there are people who can help us and we hope that these people will contact us or the police. 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 McCants. I hope that there can be closure in some way

for a family that has spent 13 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. she's gone. Madeline is a beautiful, bright, funny and caring little girl. She is so special. We beg you to let Madeline come home. If anyone has information about the disappearance of Madeline McCann,

please go to findmadeline.com. Pure hell to not know where your child is. Aniyah Haley Blanchard disappeared. Blanchard is the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris. I'm always fighting for my baby girl. We're going to bring you home, Anaya. You're coming home, so don't worry. 48 Hours, Saturday at 10, 9 central on CBS. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.