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Animal bones are reported to be among limited findings after a three-day search for forensic evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann case, who vanished from a holiday home in Portugal 18 years ago, was called off.
Local media said some material had been gathered on Wednesday and sent for analysis to see if it contained anything relevant to the investigation.
German investigators were given until Friday to search an area between Praia da Luz and the cottage where he lived at the time of the toddler’s disappearance in 2007.
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in case, is due to be released from prison within months.
A neighbour who lived near Brueckner around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance described him as “quite angry”, and said she would hear him having rows with his girlfriend.
German national Brueckner, who was formally identified as a suspect in 2022, has denied any involvement.
German and Portuguese police congratulate each other as search ends
As the third day of the search for evidence in that 18-year-old mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance drew to a close, German and Portuguese investigators congratulated and embraced each other.
The latest search for evidence in the case wound down on Thursday in Atalaia, not far from Praia da Luz, the last place Madeleine was seen alive.
The search effort focused on a 120-acre swathe of land covered in scrub and abandoned farm buildings.
Searchers used everything from a JCB and drones to shovels, pickaxes and their hands to search the vast area in 29C heat.
On Thursday evening, after the Augustiner beers were carried away, some officers struggled to grapple with the tents they were taking down because of the blustery conditions.
Rachel Clun6 June 2025 08:20
Watch: Inside buildings scoured in new search for Madeleine McCann
Rachel Clun6 June 2025 08:13
Alex Croft6 June 2025 08:05
Recap: How did the search play out?
A three-day search for Madeleine McCann failed to bear fruit and was brought to a close by German police on Thursday afternoon.
Media flocked to Praia da Luz, the charming Algarve resort where Maddie went missing, amid hopes that authorities had found a lead in where the girl’s body could be.
Police used ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, reported The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin, who was on the scene.
Images showed as authorities scoured bushes in the area, discovering animal bones among other findings which have not appeared to bring answers any closer.
As the search finally came to a close, teams of German and Portuguese police officers were seen shaking hands and embracing following a debrief and started to pack up a tent at their base in the 120-acre search site in Atalaia, which was once home to a farming community, Amy-Clare Martin reported.
One team member was seeing carrying a crate of German beer.
Alex Croft6 June 2025 07:46
Watch: New search for Madeleine McCann gets underway in Portugal
Watch: New search for Madeleine McCann gets underway in Portugal
A new search has begun for Madeleine McCann, with Portuguese and German police carrying out searches in Lagos 18 years after the three-year-old went missing. Footage shows officers at Praia da Luz, the last known location of Madeleine, and also at a house near a holiday resort where the main suspect Christian Brueckner used to live. Madeleine vanished from an apartment complex on 3 May, 2007 whilst on holiday with her family, prompting a Europe-wide police investigation. Investigators from Germany have taken the lead in the case since identifying 48-year-old Brueckner - who is currently in prison for a separate crime - as their prime suspect in 2020. Brueckner has denied any involvement in the three-year-old’s disappearance.
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 07:15
Mapped: Where police will begin new major search for Madeleine McCann
German police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are launching a major new search in Portugal.
Madeleine disappeared in 2007 while on holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz. She vanished from a bedroom in a holiday apartment complex while her parents were out for dinner with friends a short walk away.
The subsequent search for the missing girl became one of the highest-profile unsolved missing person cases in the world.
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 05:00
What happened to Madeleine McCann? Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery as new search launched in Portugal
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 04:00
What we know about the new search for Madeleine McCann
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 03:00
Christian Brueckner was a drifter and sex offender – why did police ignore him when Maddie McCann disappeared?
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 02:00
‘Everybody’s fed up’: Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
On a stop sign at the entrance to Praia Da Luz, faded graffiti declares: “STOP McCann circus.”
The stencilled message - now hastily sprayed over - was once daubed on every stop sign in the town as locals reeled from the devastating impact of the British toddler’s disappearance in 2007.
Tourism halved in the charming Algarve resort as the mystery of Madeleine McCann turned into a media storm which they have struggled to escape ever since, according to weary residents.
Read the full story by The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:
Alexander Butler6 June 2025 00:01
