Madeleine McCann's parents entered a 'Pact of Silence' with friends to hide what happened on night of her disappearance, documentary claims
Netflix documentary 'The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann' has thrown new light on the world's biggest ever missing child mystery. The film is once again exploring the possibilities of what might have happened on the day the three-year-old British toddler disappeared from her vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Madeleine's parents, Getty and Kate McCann, for the last 11 years, have used every means in their power in an effort to locate their daughter. However, authorities, detectives and even multiple journalists who have been working on the case believe that three-year-old's parents are hiding crucial information which could help them solve the mystery. According to the documentary, some of these crucial detail could be in what Portuguese media outlets called the "Pact of Silence" of the McCanns.
Madeleine McCann mysteriously disappeared from her parents’ vacation apartment at the Ocean Club resort on the night of May 3, 2007. The child's parents were just 50 meters away from the apartment, dining at a tapas restaurant with several close friends while Madeleine and her twin siblings slept in the house.
McCanns were on holiday with their seven friends and eight children in all. The McCanns said that a person from their group checked on the children every 20 minutes throughout their meal. However, Kate McCann at about 10:00pm that night discovered that Madeleine was missing from her bed.
Other adults who were present at the dinner included David and Fiona Payne, Fiona’s mom Dianne, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, Russell O’Brien and partner Jane Tanner.
The "Pact of Silence" was first mentioned when Portuguese journalists Margarida Davim and Felícia Cabrita suggested that there was an agreement made between the McCanns and their friends present at the dinner table that night to not divulge any details of what might have happened that night. Some critics have said that it does not seem plausible that an adult from the group checked on the eight children between them in 20-minute intervals, according to Refinery.
Cabrita said that it seemed suspicious to her that investigators suspected there was a kidnapper without probing the adults who were there with the McCanns. "We know that, in most cases, the culprit is someone who is close to the child," the journalist explains in the documentary.
The journalist also noted that the McCanns’ apartment was not in clear view from where their party was seated at the tapas restaurant. However, Gerry and Kate have said otherwise.
"From the position I was in, it was completely impossible to see the apartment or the room where they had left the children to sleep," Cabrita adds. "As an investigative journalist, I have to ask, why? Why would you lie about such a simple thing?
These suspicions, along with multiple other questionable details of that night, are why the Portuguese journalists believe that the McCanns and their friends have made a "Pact of Silence" in an attempt to keep the truth of what unfolded on that mysterious night from coming out.