Christian Brückner: Madeleine McCann murder suspect probed for rape, murder of teen whose testicles were hacked
The German man who is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is now being investigated over the horrific rape, torture, and murder of a 13-year-old boy, authorities have confirmed.
The Frankfurter Neuer Presse has named Christian Brückner, 43, as a potential suspect in the March 1998 death of Tristan Brübach, who was found murdered in the Frankfurt suburb of Höchst and whose case remains unsolved.
Brübach was last seen alive at Bruno-Asch-Anlage, a park in front of Frankfurt-Höchst railway station, around 3.20 pm on March 26, 1998. His body was discovered by children walking home from school in a pedestrian tunnel that runs alongside an underground section of the Liederbach river.
When police arrived at the scene, they found that the teen had been beaten unconscious and strangled, though the cause of death was a long slash across the neck. Both testicles, as well as flesh from his buttocks and thighs, had been removed.
There were evidence and witnesses. The murder weapon was on a concrete block nearby while the murder itself had been witnessed from a distance by three teenagers who did not realize at the time what they were seeing.
A description of the suspect produced a composite sketch, and a year later, police uncovered Brübach's rucksack in a forest in Niedernhausen, 15 miles away from the crime scene. In it, they found a Czech-language road atlas of Germany, which is believed to have belonged to the suspect as the teen did not speak Czech.
Investigators now believe that Brückner, who is a convicted pedophile and has been linked to Madeleine's disappearance as well as a series of other abductions, could be behind Brübach's death.
"We are checking whether there are any connections between the two cases [Madeleine and Brübach]," Chief Prosecutor Noah Kruger told German daily newspaper Bild.
The news comes as it was reported that prosecutors had written to Madeleine's parents stating they had "concrete evidence" she was dead.
"We have written to the McCanns to tell them Madeleine is dead and explaining we just cannot say what the evidence," revealed Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation into Brückner. "We have concrete evidence that our suspect has killed Madeleine."
"British police have been informed but don’t have all the evidence we have," he continued. "The results of our investigation have been shared but not every detail has been passed to Scotland Yard. I don’t think the McCanns have been informed of all the details but they know the results."
He said he sympathized with the parents but could not reveal any further details because it might jeopardize their investigation. "I know it would be of relief to the parents to know how she died but it would hamper the investigation if we give away too much information," he explained. "This is a murder case, not a missing person's case. We have been quite clear throughout that we are investigating a murder and have evidence for that. We can understand the pain of the parents and they want relief, but it is better for them that we have a clear and successful conclusion to the case."