▲It's the case that shocked the world. Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her parents' apartment while on holiday in Portugal in 2007. The young girl was left alone with her siblings, and has not been seen since. It's one of the most complicated criminal cases in history, with unreliable evidence, false leads, and police suspicion of the McCann parents. Let's revisit the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and see if there was anything that we missed along the way.

▲Let's get to know Madeleine. She had blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and a dark strip on the iris of her right eye. She was three years old at the time of her disappearance.

▲On April 28, 2007, the McCanns started their spring break at Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal.

▲They were on holiday with seven friends, known as the "Tapas Seven," who had eight children between them. The Seven dined at 8:30 pm at the resort's tapas restaurant.

▲The McCanns stayed at 5A, Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva. 5A was a ground-floor apartment with two public entrances, one in the front and one in the back.

▲Her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, worked as physicians. Maddie was born in 2003, and they had twins in 2005.

▲Ten minutes later, Jane Tanner (one of the Seven) apparently saw a man carrying a child. This would be called the "Tanner sighting."

▲The Seven had booked their table for the last night of the holiday. The parents left the children in the apartments, which weren't far from the restaurant.

▲At around 9:05 pm, Gerry checked on his children in 5A. They were sleeping in a bedroom next to the front door. Madeleine slept by the door, and the twins were in the middle of the room. No problem, apart from the fact that the door was wider open than he remembered.

▲Kate ran back to the Tapas Seven, apparently yelling "Madeleine's gone! Someone's taken her!"

▲At 9:30 pm, Tapas Seven member Matthew Oldfield offered to check on 5A, but didn't get a proper look inside the room. Kate checked at 10:00 pm, and found Madeleine missing.

▲All ranks of Portuguese police were notified by midnight. Sixty staff and guests searched until 4:30 am.

▲This gave a time frame for the investigation, but it was found that the man was simply another tourist returning home from the Ocean Club that night.

▲At 10:00 pm, the same time Kate reported her daughter missing, tourists Martin and Mary Smith apparently saw an uncomfortable-looking man carrying a young blonde girl 500 yards (460 m) from 5A. Police focused on this after the Tanner sighting was dismissed.

▲There were many mistakes made in the "golden hours" after the disappearance, and the McCanns clashed with the Portuguese police throughout the case.

▲What's more, motorway CCTV wasn't requested, and the roads were not appropriately monitored. It took Interpol five days to issue a worldwide missing-persons alert.

▲Among other things, border and marine police were not properly notified for hours. There were no house-to-house searches, or even roadblocks (Kate claimed).

▲The news spread, with this becoming "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history," according to the Daily Telegraph.

▲Many people in the resort weren't interviewed, and the crime scene was not properly secured. Forensics from 5A were sent to three different labs, and around 20 people had walked through 5A before it was closed off.

▲Police reports show that 5A was empty for a month after Maddie disappeared, and was then rented out to tourists until tests continued in 2007.

▲The media circus arguably made things worse for police, who were apparently suspicious of the McCanns from the start.

▲The McCanns hired a Renault Scenic car on May 27. Sniffer dogs reportedly reacted inside of the car, potentially implying Madeleine had been inside. On June 6, the McCanns were asked about their involvement by a German journalist.

▲Murat was apparently spotted by several witnesses, and he was thoroughly investigated on May 15. However, he was cleared of suspicion in 2008.

▲The McCanns have been criticized for how they have "marketed" Maddie's disappearance. Speaking with Vanity Fair, Gerry said this was to keep his daughter in the public eye.

▲12 days after Maddie disappeared, Robert Murat (a British-Portuguese man) became the first "arguido" (formal suspect). He stayed 150 yards (137 m) from 5A, in the same direction the "Tanner sighting" man was walking.

▲The McCanns set up a PR team and a fund to raise money and awareness. Due to the rise of Twitter and social media, the case received unprecedented attention around the world.

▲Sol, a Portuguese newspaper, published a critical piece on the McCanns later that month. Among other things, the article pointed out alleged inconsistencies in their account of the night Maddie disappeared.

▲In July 2007, police started to suspect that there was no abduction, and that Madeleine had died in the apartment.

▲DNA tests from the car were inconclusive, but the McCanns were made "arguidos" on September 7. They returned to the UK two days later.

▲Since then, not too much has happened. Chief Inspector Gonçalo Amaral (pictured) left the case months after the McCanns left Portugal, before publishing a book accusing them of foul play. The Portuguese Attorney General closed the case on July 21, 2008.

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Since then, the UK has been handling the search. There's been several inquiries and leads, but nothing conclusive. As of 2018, the total cost of the inquiry is £11.75 million. The McCanns are no longer suspects in Portugal, and are presumed innocent in the UK.

Madeleine goes missing: remember the story

Madeleine McCann went missing back in 2007. Nothing else is certain.

04/06/20 por StarsInsider

LIFESTYLE True crime

It's the case that shocked the world. Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her parents' apartment while on holiday in Portugal in 2007. The young girl was left alone with her siblings, and has not been seen since. It's one of the most complicated criminal cases in history, with unreliable evidence, false leads, and police suspicion of the McCann parents. Let's revisit the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and see if there was anything that we missed along the way.