Evidence recovered from property owned by the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s 2007 disappearance in Portugal suggests the missing toddler girl is dead.
German police reportedly searched an abandoned factory owned by Christian Brüeckner, a convicted rapist, and recovered masks, chemicals, guns, and children’s clothes and toys. Police allegedly also found a hard drive containing pictures that suggest McCann is deceased, according to the U.K. Sun.
READ: Madeleine McCann’s Suspected Killer Acquitted in Separate Child Sex Case
Brüeckner purchased the property for $26,000 in 2008, a year after McCann’s abduction in Portugal. A dog detected the evidence in 2016, which reportedly included a wallet, six USB sticks, and two memory cards buried under Brüeckner’s dead dog.
According to the U.K. Sun, the devices contained stories by Brüeckner in which he fantasized about snatching children. Police reportedly also seized a case containing pictures of 4- and 5-year-old girls.
The U.K. Sun reported that a nude selfie places Brüeckner 35 miles from where McCann was abducted in 2007. McCann was three when she vanished from her bedroom while vacationing at a Portuguese resort with her parents and family friends.
Last year, a German court acquitted Brüeckner in an unrelated rape and child sexual abuse case. Presiding Judge Uta Engemann concluded there was insufficient evidence to convict him and some of the witnesses were not credible.
During the trial, detective Titus Stampa said police located Christian Brüeckner’s Hotmail account and a hard drive related to the McCann case.
Stampa testified that he was “not allowed” to talk about how Brüeckner’s external hard drive was related to the toddler’s disappearance. However, he did reveal that Brückner used another email account to share child abuse content.
While handing down the acquittal, Engemann stressed that the child sex trial in Germany is unrelated to the McCann case. However, reports indicated that some of the discredited witnesses in that case are possible witnesses in McCann’s disappearance.
Brüeckner is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany for raping an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2005. Last year’s acquittal means his release, at latest, is slated for this September.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Feature Photo: Handout]