Madeleine McCann Disappearance: Officials Raise Hope Case Could Be Cracked With Dayslong Search of Dam in Portugal

A renewed search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal could represent a “major breakthrough” for the case, according to authorities.

Portugal’s Judicial Police have confirmed reports they would be conducting the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of British officials in the Algarve region, which is where 3-year-old Maddie disappeared in 2007, TCN-9 reported.

On May 22, police were seen putting up tents and cordons in an area by the Arade dam, which is about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, the last place Madeleine was seen alive. The dam was previously searched in 2008, TCN-9 reported.

One of the suspects in Madeleine’s case, German man Christian Brueckner, was active in this region during the time Maddie disappeared.

Brueckner has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance and has not been charged in relation to the investigation. He has been charged in Germany for several separate cases involving sexual offenses allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, according to TCN-9.

Investigators have mapped off about a mile of the reservoir to search and they estimate the process should take a couple days, criminologist and forensic anthropologist Xanthe Mallet told TCN-9.

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Mallet said visibility is a problem in these types of water bodies, “but obviously they have good reason to be going back to this reservoir.”

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolter told TCN-9 that his office would release a statement about the case on May 23.