German authorities have begun a new search when Madeleine McCann, near the Portuguese resort, disappeared, who was seen 18 years ago.
The three-year-old British girl disappeared from her bed while on vacation with her family at the Praia da Luz resort in southern Portugal on 3 May 2007.
According to Portuguese police, detectives who act at the request of German prosecutors will conduct “extensive searches” in the southern Lagos region of Portugal this week.
The search is expected to last three days, with more than 30 German police searching for 21 private land after Portuguese authorities allowed them to fly to the country, according to BBC News.
The prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, who was in charge of the investigation, did not give a detailed description of the “judicial measures” that occurred in Portugal. They said the Portuguese authorities are taking these measures with the support of officials from the German Federal Criminal Police.
The UK's Metropolitan Police said it was “aware of the search conducted by the BKA (German Federal Police) in Portugal, as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.”
The unit added: “The Metropolitan Police Department does not exist in the search and we will support our international colleagues if necessary.”
One of the areas of interest in the search lies between Praia da Luz and a house near the resort, the main suspect in the case was the German national identified by the media as Christian Brüeckner.
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Bruckner is currently sentenced to seven years in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.
Brüeckner spent many years in Portugal, including when his children disappeared. Bruckner denied any involvement in her disappearance.
The last time the police resumed the search for the case was in 2023, when detectives from three countries participated in an operation near the dam and near the reservoir about 50 kilometers from the Playa Da Luz Resort.
German police requested a search, and German police claimed that a suspect in the case visited the area when McCann disappeared.
Brüeckner was appointed “Arguido” in 2022, meaning the suspect after German authorities said “new evidence” linked him to McCann.
During the active search, officials used rakes and HOE-like tools to create ground beside the dam, while the little Dingbird in the reservoir observed other firefighters.
Officials in the Algarve, Portugal, began a search as part of an investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
YUI MOK/PA Images via Getty Images
Portuguese media said this was the fourth search of McCann's initial search in the Algarve region in 2007, and then two more in 2013 and 2014. Another search was held in Germany in 2020.
Last month, McCann's parents commemorated the 18th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance, saying their “unforgettable determination is unwavering.”
“We will do our best to achieve this.”
In February, Eugenea Collins, a woman from Arkansas, said she was the real McCann and posted an offer on Instagram in September 2024 with username Theofficialmadeleinemccann. This account contains numerous side-by-side photos of Collins and McCann.
Madeleine McCann (left) and Eugenea Collins (right) claim to be the missing girl.
Madeleine McCann / Eugenea Collins / Facebook Family
In another social media post, Collins shared a picture of her biological father, Eugene, and claimed that he looked similar to Bruckner.
“I'm always told in the photos that the man was my biological father, Eugene Collins. The man I named after me. I never had anything to do with this man, and I was always told that he had some discomfort in his head.”
“My mother never allowed us to have any relationship with him, and now I understand why.”
Collins said she had met “a few times”, claiming he was “always weird about taking pictures.”
“When I first saw Christian Bruckner's pictures, I immediately realized that person,” Collins wrote.
Collins said she tried to contact Arkansas police on her claims, but they didn't take her seriously.
– Documents with the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
