New suspect in the search for little Madeline McCann

Police have been given additional funding to extend the investigation

A British newspaper is claiming that investigators have zeroed in on a possible person of interest in the search for missing Madeline McCann, who vanished from her family’s vacation apartment at a Portuguese resort nearly ten years ago.

According to the Express, police are looking to question an individual who was is believed to have been in the area of Praia da Luz at the same time Maddie’s family was vacationing there, who may have information that will help solve the case. It is unclear if this person is being pursued as a suspect or a witness, and the newspaper did not identify them.

The night Maddie McCann disappeared, witnesses at the resort told police they saw a man carrying a small child in pajamas toward the beach.

The report comes amid news that British investigators will be extending their investigation with an additional £85,000 in funding from the Home Office.

Metropolitan Police told the BBC only that the investigation was ongoing, and declined to discuss any specifics.

Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann have continued to search for the child, who was close to her fourth birthday at the time of her disappearance, and maintained that they had nothing to do with the disappearance despite allegations from a former Portuguese police chief who worked on the case in its early stages, who wrote in a book that he believes Maddie died accidentally and her parents covered it up.

Kate and Gerry had been dining a tapas bar on the resort property the night Maddie went missing. The group claimed to have been periodically checking on the children throughout the evening. The Portuguese police reportedly were suspicious of the McCanns early in the investigation.

According to a report in The Telegraph, the parents have been critical of the investigation, arguing that focusing on the parents compromised a more thorough search for the child in the crucial early stages.

 

Photo: Handout