The Story of Madeline McCann

The case of Madeline McCann has to be the most prominent in recent history. Her name alone sparks very contrasting opinions on what really happened on the night of the 3 May 2007 in the family’s holiday apartment in Portugal. Unfortunately, the case still remains unsolved up to this day but public opinion points the blame to her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. While there is not enough solid evidence to get her parents arrested, they are still considered to be the most likely suspects, with a paedophile kidnapping ring being second.

On May 3, the McCann’s decided to go for dinner with their friends in a restaurant that was just over 50 metres away from the apartment they were staying in. The couple, along with their friends left their children in their beds back in the apartment instead of taking them out to dinner. Roughly every half an hour, one of the adults would check on all the children routinely throughout the evening to make sure they were alright.

At around 9.30 pm, it was the turn of the McCann’s friend, Matthew Oldfield to check on his children and he also offered to check on the McCann’s three, so Kate could stay chatting. When he reached the McCann’s apartment, the children’s bedroom door was open and Oldfield states he didn’t walk the whole way into the room so he could see Madeline, only far enough so he could see the McCann twins. At 10 o’ clock, Kate checked on her children to find the bedroom window and shutters open and Madeline gone. Madeline was reported missing to the hotel staff at around 10.30pm and people were out searching for her until the early hours of the morning, hoping she had wandered off on her own.

Madeline McCann with her noticeable green eyes and brown fleck

Attention turned towards the McCann’s as it was revealed that they ‘sedated’ their children to make sure they slept through the night. The public found this very concerning, seeing as both of the McCann’s are in the medical field. Cadaver dogs were sent inside the apartment and alerted to finding a suspicious scent behind the couch and in the wardrobe. They also alerted inside the car that the McCann’s had rented after Madeline was reported missing. This is when the public put the majority of their blame on Kate and Gerry.

One of the McCann’s friends, Jane Tanner, stated she witnessed a man carrying a small child walking away from the apartments on the night Madeline went missing at around 9pm while she was checking on her children. The attention went into finding out who this man was but it was later proven that a man matching the description Tanner gave was collecting his daughter from the resort’s night creche so he was ruled out of the investigation and Tanner’s sighting was noted as being unrelated to the disappearance of Madeline.

Millions of pounds were donated to the charity, Madeline’s Fund, to help carry out investigations and to set up a reward if she was found. Some of the British population were not happy with the amount of money that was given to find one little girl, while hundreds of children go missing with no such attention. A Netflix documentary was created in March of this year (2019), but the McCann’s did not want to be a part of it’s creation.

Twelve years later, and Madeline has sadly still not been found. Whether you believe the parents were involved or that it was a planned abduction, it is a tragedy that this little girl has not been recovered.