Even though it has been six years since her disappearance, Scotland Yard is opening a new investigation involving Madeleine McCann. Madeleine was just about 4 years old when she disappeared from her parent's vacation home in Portugal in 2007. Her parents went out to dinner leaving her behind with her twin siblings. When they came home, their youngest daughter was gone. The investigation was thought to be closed, but the British prime Minister said a few things and the next thing you know Scotland Yard has opened a fully funded investigation again. The parents were long ago cleared as suspects and the pair published a book about the disappearance in 2011. With all the stories in the news lately about missing children being found, and since no body was ever found, I think there should be another look. It is hard to believe there was not even one clue.
So sad...
ReplyDeleteI hope they find her but you hate to think what she may have been through, poor child. Prayers to her and her family.
ReplyDeletePoor parents what a nightmare
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine what families go through when a loved one just disappears with no trace. And it is a miracle that there have been some instances lately of missing people found after many many years missing, but I think it is more an exception to the rule and it gives false hope to so many people. It is just so sad.
ReplyDeleteI read about this a month or so ago, but as of then, Portugal refused to help. What a nightmare.
ReplyDeletePlease let her be found alive and not too traumatized...
ReplyDeleteI send her love and light whereever she is. would love a happy ending.
ReplyDeleteThe Portuguese cops were totally incompetent in their perfunctory investigation & insisted forever that the McCann's killed their daughter.
ReplyDeleteIt's fairly obvious that there was/is an organized gang stealing pretty, little blonds to sell somewhere in the world, either to slimy people that want a kid desperately or to slave rings that raise them to be prostitutes, usually in some Arab country!
I agree about an organized gang kidnapping kids. In the McCann's case it never sat right with me that they left her alone in the hotel room while they partied with friends. I know they said they kept checking on her but that would seem to draw even more attention that she was on her own to anyone watching them.
DeleteSex slavery/trafficking is a problem in most countries, not just Arabic nations..this was very sad, but I also couldn't comprehend leaving young children alone in a house..my 2 year old knows how to lock/unlock and open the door on her own, so imagine what a 4 year old could do left to her own devices
DeleteMaddie was/is their oldest daughter and I still think this entire affair stinks.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I think that family already knows where that child is. The mysterious stench in the car boot, the small amount of her blood found by the sofa, and the father removing the refrigerator from the room and taking it to a dump is enough circumstantial evidence for me. They drugged those children to sleep through the night so they could party, and gave too much to Madeline. They had access to the drugs being doctors and apparently it's a somewhat common thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI would be more than happy to eat my words if she is found, but I don't think she will be, at least not alive.
Wow I wasn't aware of those details! That makes me sick. They had plenty of money. They could have easily hired a nanny for the night.
DeleteProbably where Casey Anthony got her idea.
DeleteSadly is agree . The parents were always hinky ...i never knew about a fridge being removed?
ReplyDeleteI want to know why the children were left all alone in the hotel room with no adult supervision to begin with. What kind of parents DO that?
ReplyDeletePogue I know of a couple who routinely leave their 8 and 4 year old alone to party with neighbors across the street. It's infuriating. I have a ten month old and I hate going in the basement to do the laundry without taking a baby monitor.
DeleteWasn't the restaurant in the hotel that they were staying at? It's not like they were out on the town. Maybe more like if you lived in a mansion and your children were asleep in one wing, while you were hanging out in your batcave?
ReplyDeleteJa'ime: I wasn't aware of that information. I'm guessing that if they do finally find out what happened it won't be good either way. Sad, sad...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read, the parents are the most likely suspects. As Ja'mie mentioned, they drugged their kids to stay out at night. I wonder how many times they did that? There is a lot about the parents that is questionable.
ReplyDeleteA doctor I used to work for would drug his daughter when they took long flights.
DeleteCould be another Amanda Berry-like deal. Maybe an plotter has her locked up somewhere
ReplyDelete@Oopsy_Daisy: It wasn't an hotel. More like a holiday park. The restaurant was a different building. It was only a two minute walk, but they couldn't see the apartment from the restaurant.
ReplyDelete2 minutes is a long time away from children of that age . I know I couldn't leave my boys alone for 2 seconds
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember reading there were traces of blood and cadaver stench in the trunk of the car. Which is why Portugal went the way they did. I sincerely doubt she's alive though. Which may be for the best since I doubt she would have been kidnapped by Ozzie & Harriet adoptive parents of the year.
ReplyDeleteI've stayed in hotels and gone to the hotel restaurant with a baby monitor while my 1 and 4 year old slept. Don't think they had a monitor though.
ReplyDeleteWhether they did it or not, I doubt the parents have been officially cleared if they weren't rich. Same with JonBenet's parents.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the parents did it by accident (gave her too big a dose of drugs). And even if they didn't do it they should have been charged with negligence.
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ReplyDeleteThe refrigerator, which I had never heard of, seems to be only a rumor.
ReplyDeleteI'm not ready to damn the parents, would they have spent so much money to search for her even after they were cleared. They were idiots for leaving their kids no doubt, lulled into a false sense of security by being in this compound like resort.
This white van and the cleaners sounds interesting.
@msgirl
ReplyDeleteThere was a 'Find Maddie' fund set up to help them fund thrie search activities, which has been subject to numerous fraud allegations. I recall it mostly helped to pay the mortgage on their home and fund their legal representation.
It is alleged that very little money raised from the public by this fund has been used to search for Maddie.
@danceonfire: I do remember hearing the same thing.
DeleteI always thought that the parents might have sold her. There are so many couples looking for kids that fit her description that I wouldn't be surprised. Besides, if they overdosed her then why wouldn't they just admit to that and face consequences?
She was actually the oldest daughter, which in my opinion is worse. Why would you leave a 4 year old with 2 year old twins? I don't wish this on anyone and if they're innocent it must be a weight to carry, but why would two educated people leave 3 very young children, unsupervised in an unfamiliar country?
ReplyDeleteI thought the police decided the parents did it and that why the investigation stopped(?) from what I remember, police dogs reacted to blood on the steps going out and away from the back patio. sent dogs also responded to the same blood as being maddie's. that, together with what was mentioned above, caused the police to come up with the theory that the child died on the steps. out if fear the parents disposed of her body. first hiding it behind the couch, and later moving it in the car to another location.
ReplyDeleteNow you guys are making me want to go Google but I don't have time. I remember at the time thinking the parents had done it... Then a couple of years ago, some articles popping up with information that the Portuguese police had ignored tips including other nearby attempted kidnappings and a couple of reports by other tourists reporting seeing a girl with Maddie's distinctive eye coloration with a gypsy/Romany family a couple years afterwards.
ReplyDeleteIt was sufficient evidence to put doubts in my mind.
I would NEVER leave my children alone in a hotel room. Why couldn't they just order room service or one parent could have went and got some food?
ReplyDeleteNo matter who is responsible the fact is this wouldn't have happened if the parents hadn't left 3 children under 5 alone in a foreign country.
ReplyDeleteIf the hadn't been middle class and doctors they would've been arrested for child endangerment. The fund set up to find Maddie has been plundered by the parents to pay their mortgage and other household bills. Unacceptable behaviour by any standards. If you've ever seen them interviewed, the mother comes cross as very arrogant, a real how-dare-you attitude to any question about why they left the children alone.
I wouldn't leave a 16 year old alone in a foreign country.
Who the fuck would leave three children under the age of 4 alone in a hotel room? Are you kidding me?? And so many resorts offer baby-sitting services. This is just unacceptable. And I am so not a baby-monitor-type mom. Now I have to go read about this.... Christ, this is going to piss me off.
ReplyDeleteI only just started reading about this, but there were seven adults, and I can not believe that one of the seven adults wasn't like, "Hey, maybe one of us should stay behind and watc the kids." And these were all educated people.
ReplyDeleteAfter so long it will be almost impossible to pick up a trail. Cold cases are solved, but almost always because new technology comes to light that allows evidence to be re-examined. That's not really applicable to this situation from what I know of it.
ReplyDeleteUnless someone who knows something comes forward I don't see the poor little girl's body being found.
Don't forget we're putting our American morals on the situation. This couple doesn't operate under the American way of doing things, which is why we're outraged. Just like topless beaches, they are acceptable some places, but not here in America. What they did was perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, in that resort community. The refrigerator thing was just a rumor, no fact. There are plenty of stories of parents doing things that we get outraged about: smoking while pregnant. Stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Silly Girl.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that irritated me is the hotel offered a nanny service that they easily could've taken advantage and didn't.
ReplyDeleteThe father posted a blog about removing the refrigerator months after the fact and then took it down after being criticized. They found it at the dump he took it to but by then it had been severely compromised.
*Also the father had the Prime Minister step in at the time with Scotland Yard and usurp the Portugese investigation because his brother was friends with him. It's not often heads of state get personally involved in kidnappings.
ReplyDeleteI found this whole thing incredulous at the time, and read some of the reports, the parents were at the very least, horribly negligent IMO.
Ja'mie, you took the words right out of my mouth--I feel the McCanns were the original Casey Anthonys. As far as the extensive search goes, how far would you go to cover your own ass in that situation? They were more intelligent (albeit no less selfish) than Casey Anthony or Scott Petersen, so they had to make it look good to divert attention from themselves. Poor Maddie!
ReplyDeletei still don't understand why they left the door open. One of the kids could have wandered off. And what about the twins, couldn't they be hypnotized?
ReplyDeleteThat is all just a bunch of vicious rumors which have haunted the family for six years. Somebody took their oldest daughter and the useless Portugese police tried to cover up their mistakes in their "investigation" by blaming the parents. I've read a lot about this case and seen documentaries and my heart really bleeds for this poor family.
ReplyDelete@Becca Parker
ReplyDeleteyou dont hate arabs do you?? I find your comment very insulting and narrow minded. Have you ever been to an arab country. I guess not.
wasted resources
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the police's reaction, these parents failed their children. ANYONE leaving children of this age alone is wrong, I don't care how many times you successfully do it. Nor do I care how much you blather on about how you love your children.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have children you are committing to making a change in your life and providing for them, and that means providing them with the bare minimum of safety. Being left alone as a child is traumatic and possibly damaging to your psyche, aside from the danger it opens you up to.
Some people seem to take more care with their cars than their children. That poor baby.