Heartbreak for Madeleine McCann's parents as suspect Christian Brueckner will NOT be charged this year
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Madeleine McCann, 3, went missing on May 3, 2007, from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. After years of investigation, convicted rapist Christian Brueckner was finally named as an “arguido” or “formal suspect" in 2022.
German prosecutors have now revealed that Brueckner will not be charged even this year. Kate and Gerry, who are McCann's parents, received the news in April 2022 that Brueckner had been made an official suspect. Meanwhile, McCann was also in the news recently as a woman named Julia Wandelt declared herself as Madeleine McCann.
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Madeleine McCann case: How Christian Brueckner became prime suspect in toddler's 2004 disappearance
Statement by prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters claimed that they are struggling to prove the case and that the investigation will take a lot longer. A friend, who was questioned by detectives, said, "It felt like they are struggling. They just asked the same questions again; there was nothing new," reported MARCA.
A written statement released by the Portimao section of the Faro Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution (DIAP) when Brueckner was arrested read, “As part of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007, a person was made an arguido on Wednesday. The man was made an arguido by the German authorities in execution of a request for international judicial cooperation issued by the Public Ministry of Portugal. The inquiry is led by the Portimao section of the DIAP in Faro with the assistance of the Policia Judiciaria police. The investigation has been carried out with the cooperation of the English and German authorities.”
Statement by Christian Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher
In a Discovery Plus documentary called ‘Prime Suspect: The Madeleine McCann Case’, Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher stated, “My client hasn't been charged with anything. He is under investigation and under suspicion. I have to assume that they do not have any concrete evidence. I think that's quite typical for us Germans. We think we are something special, at least in Europe, and think we can do things better than other nations. We will see if that is the case but I don't think so," as previously reported by MEAWW.
Further, he added, "It is no secret that the Portuguese have a different theory of what happened to the German BKA (federal police). The German prosecution could put an end to this theory when they finally put their cards on the table. This would be fair to the suspect and for the parents - both sides could judge for themselves how robust they consider the evidence to be.''
How did Madeleine McCann's case resurface once again?
The interest in the case resurfaced once again after Julia Wandelt, 21, a woman from Poland, set up an Instagram account in mid-February and claimed that she was McCann. She stated that she had freckles on her leg and a speck in her eye in the exact spots that McCann had. Wandelt also explained that she looked similar to Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry. Wandelt has now flown to the US with a private investigator in an attempt to find her true identity.