On this Day: Madeleine McCann goes missing from hotel room in Portugal
It's 10 years since the little girl disappeared,never to be seen again.
ON May 3, 2007, less than two weeks before her fourth birthday, Madeleine McCann of Rothley, England, vanished during a family vacation at a resort in southern Portugal.
The little girl’s disappearance prompted an international search; however, she has never been found.
In May 2007, the McCann family – parents Gerry and Kate McCann, Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie – were on holidaywith a group of friends at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz (‘Beach of Light’), a tourist village on Portugal’s Algarve coast.
On the evening of May 3, Gerry and Kate McCann went with friends to the Ocean Club’s tapas bar, leaving a sleeping Madeleine and her brother and sister in the family’s ground-floor apartment, located near the tapas bar.
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The McCanns and their friends agreed to check on the children every half hour. At around 10pm, Kate McCann went to the apartment and discovered Madeleine was missing.
Portuguese police initially believed the little girl had wandered off and would be quickly found. As a result, they failed to distribute a description of the missing child promptly or search cars crossing the Portugal-Spain border, less than two hours from Praia da Luz.
Madelaine’s disappearance generated widespread media coverage in Europe and beyond. English soccer star David Beckham made a televised plea for her safe return, and ‘Harry Potter’ author, JK Rowling, reportedly donated millions to help find the little girl. Gerry and Kate McCann, staunch Roman Catholics, also had an audience in Rome with Pope Benedict, who blessed a photo of Madeleine.
On September 7, 2007, Portuguese officials named Gerry and Kate McCann, both of whom are physicians, as suspects in their daughter’s disappearance. Soon afterwards, authorities leaked word that Madeleine’s DNA had been discovered in the boot of the car her parents rented in Portugal almost a month after she vanished.
There was speculation that the McCanns, in order to enjoy an evening out, had given their children sedatives and that Madeleine had had a fatal reaction to the dosage she received. Afterward, the McCanns had supposedly faked her abduction and hidden her body for weeks before transferring it to the trunk of their rental car.
Gerry and Kate McCann labelled this theory ridiculous, particularly given the fact that they were under intense media scrutiny and constantly followed by reporters. The local Portuguese police chief later admitted that the DNA tests were inconclusive.
In July 2008, Gerry and Kate McCann were formally cleared by Portuguese officials of any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance. A third person who had been considered the case’s only other formal suspect, a British man living in Portugal, was cleared as well. Additionally, Portugal’s attorney general said there was insufficient evidence for police to continue their investigation.
The McCanns hired private detectives to keep looking for their daughter and have made publicity tours throughout Europe and the United States to raise awareness of her plight. In November 2010, the couple signed a deal to write a book about their search for Madeleine, the proceeds of which would go towards continuing to fund the investigation.
Despite all efforts, a decade along the line there is still no sign of Madelaine.
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