In May 2007, the British McCann family was on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
On the evening of May 3, parents Gerry and Kate left their three sleeping children in the hotel apartment to have dinner with friends in the hotel area.
When they later looked at the children, they discovered that 3-year-old Madeleine had disappeared.
A major search was launched and the case received much attention in the international press.
The parents became suspicious
The police received information that someone had seen a man carrying a child away.
But in September of that year, the parents became suspicious of the disappearance.
The parents were later removed from the investigation and Portuguese police admitted that the authority had drawn hasty conclusions.
In June 2020, German police announced that a then 43-year-old German prisoner was suspected of the disappearance.
He is in prison convicted of rape in the same region where Madeleine disappeared.
The man denied any involvement in the three-year-old's disappearance.
Convicted rapist
Barely two years later, on April 21, 2022, the man was formally suspected by the Portuguese authorities.
According to the prosecutor, the investigators had acted on information from German authorities, reports Reuters.
For the Portuguese police, the investigation has been a battle against the clock.
On May 3, it has been 15 years since Madeleine MacCann disappeared and the statute of limitations in Portugal for crimes with a maximum penalty of 10 years is exactly 15 years.
But according to Aftonbladet's Oisín Cantwell, who followed the case for a long time, the police have now bought themselves time.
- It is not as dramatic as you might think.
This suspected German man is now formally notified of suspicion and this means that the limitation period is broken.
It is therefore possible to continue investigating it, you do not have to add it to the documents, he says in Morgonstudion.
Madeleine McCann has still not been found.
At the moment, three parallel investigations are also underway by the Portuguese, British and German police.
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be turned on to play video
Read more about browser support
The browser is not supported
SVT does not support playback in your browser.
We therefore recommend that you switch to a different browser.
Read more about browser support
Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal on May 3, 2007 - 15 years later she is still missing.
A German man is now formally suspected of her disappearance.
Photo: Metropolitan police handout / AP Photo / Paulo Duarte / TT