• Police conclude search for clues about Madeleine McCann in Portuguese swamp

German prosecutors will look into several items found last week in a search operation in Portugal related to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, prosecutors said Thursday, though they said they could not yet say whether they were related to the British girl who disappeared in 2007.

Last week, investigators searched for clues for three days around a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Praia da Luz resort where the girl, then three, was last seen. The new search was in response to a request from prosecutors in Braunschweig, Germany, investigating a German man in connection with the disappearance.

In a brief statement Thursday, prosecutors said "some items were obtained," without elaborating.

"These will be analyzed in the coming days and weeks," they added. "It is not yet possible to say whether specific objects are related to the case of Madeleine McCann."

German authorities thanked Portuguese and British police for their cooperation and said they hoped their investigation into the 46-year-old suspect in the case would continue for a long time.

In mid-2020, German authorities said the German national, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, was a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

The suspect is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is being investigated as a murder suspect in the McCann case, but no charges have been filed. She spent many years in Portugal, also in Praia da Luz, at the time when the little girl disappeared.

The case of Madeleine McCann sparked international interest for years, with reports of sightings of the girl as far away as Australia. Several books and television documentaries have also been published about the case.

British, Portuguese and German investigators have yet to piece together what happened the night the girl disappeared from her bed in the Portuguese seaside resort on May 3, 2007. He was in the same room as his brother and sister, two-year-old twins, while his parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

  • Portugal
  • Germany

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