On May 3, 2007, Madeleine McCann disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the age of three. On April 28th, she and her family arrived in Portugal for a vacation and stayed in apartment 5A at the "Mark Warner OceanClub Resort," which included rented out apartments to travelers and tourists. Seven of the McCann's friends and their children were also staying at the same resort in surrounding apartments to hers.
At around 8 p.m. Kate, Madeleine's mother, took her and her two younger twin siblings back to the apartment to put them to bed, leaving the patio door unlocked but curtains closed for easy access to check back on their children throughout the night while her, her husband and friends went to dinner at a tapas bar located 50 yards from their apartment. This was an every night occurrence, where the parents would go every half hour back to their apartments and check on their children. Gerry McCann checked on his kids at 9:05, and with all three children still asleep, he left back to the restaurant. On his way back to the table, he stopped to talk to a friend, where Jane Tanner, a friend of the family was going to check on her kids when she saw a man carrying a young girl away from the apartments. She didn't think of much of this and proceeded to her apartment.
At 9:30 p.m., Matthew Oldfield went to go check on his kids and offered to check on the McCann's children as well, where he found the door to her room slightly ajar, and saw the two younger twin siblings asleep, but cannot say for sure if he saw Madeleine. At 10 p.m., Kate went to check on her children again and found the window open and Madeleine gone. Leaving behind her two other sleeping children in the apartment, Kate left to go tell her friends and husband that Madeleine was gone, where she said, "They've taken her."
Police were called at 10:15 p.m. and the resort was notified. At 10:30 the police arrived, along with the National Criminal Investigation Police Unit later on. A thorough search was conducted of the area, with Kate and Jerry staying in their apartment. They did make a statement later that night asking for the return of their child or any information that could be beneficial to the case. The man Jane described had dark hair, was around 5'7, between ages 35-40, normal build, and didn't look like a tourist, which was also confirmed by another couple, the Smith's, who described the girl he was carrying as between ages 3-4, blonde, pale and wearing pink pajamas.
Mistakes were made following the case including not sealing off the apartment as a crime scene, leaving it to be contaminated, border guards were not alerted and a global missing person report was not filed until five days after Madeleine's disappearance.
Some theories to this case begin with her parents' involvement, where they might have "accidentally" killed Madeleine and tried to cover it up by having somebody take her during the night, or that they gave their children sedatives to sleep while they were out and Madeleine reacted poorly to it, causing her death. Many believe that due to the near 19 million the McCann's spent on investigators and search-related materials, they could not have been involved. Some sketches of the man that were seen carrying a girl resembled Gerry McCann as well... or just a "normal" kidnapping could have occurred.
There have been over 8,000 potential sightings of Madeleine recorded in hundreds of countries since her disappearance, but none have led to any arrests or serious inquiries from the police. One of the most serious sightings was in Amsterdam and was revealed when Portuguese police released their case files. It showed a blonde girl of Madeleine's age and description, who told a shopkeeper her name was "Maddie" and she had been "taken from mummy". It is not clear if investigators followed up on this sighting.
A new documentary, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, details the events around her vanishing and further explains those who were involved or were considered potential suspects. To this date, 13 years after her vanishing, no concrete leads are being followed and no suspects remain in custody. However, a student named "Harriet" went viral over three years ago when she became convinced that she was Madeleine McCann. She seems to share eerie features of the girl who went missing over a decade ago, including similar birthmarks, baby pictures, and a feature in her green eye where the iris drips. The search continues for Madeleine McCann.
Listed below are other articles that explain more about Madeleine McCann's disappearance:
https://thetab.com/uk/2019/03/15/48-questions-kate...
https://thetab.com/uk/2019/03/19/madeleine-mccann-...
