New search test for Maddie McCann: Investigators dig in Portugal

New search test for Maddie McCann: Investigators dig in Portugal

On June 5, 2025, investigators from Germany and Portugal have completed a new search in the case of Maddie McCann, who has been missing since 2007. This took place on the Algarve coast in Portugal, near the seaside resort of Praia da Luz, where the then almost four -year -old Maddie disappeared during a family vacation. During the search that started on Tuesday and ended on Thursday, around 25 officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) searched a forest area and several dilapidated houses around the village of Atalaia. The German investigators used excavators, shovels and saws to examine the overgrown landscape.

The search area included around 50 hectares and has already been explored several times. Thanks to the use of radar devices, possible traces in the soil could be identified and samples for further evaluation were removed. Despite intensive investigations and several excavations, there were no relevant discoveries. According to media reports, the background to the current search is still unclear, and the Portuguese criminal police have not published any official messages about their course. The Braunschweig public prosecutor Christian Wolters was cautious about the expected results of the search.

Details on the suspect

Maddie McCann disappeared from the apartment of her family on May 3, 2007. The focus of the investigation is the 48-year-old Christian B., who lived during Maddies near Praia da Luz and dialed his mobile phone into a radio cell near the holiday complex on the night of disappearance. Christian B. is currently in Germany a seven-year prison sentence due to the rape of a 72-year-old US citizen who took place in Praia da Luz in 2005. His prison sentence is expected to end in September 2025. In October 2023, he was acquitted in a process of raping and sexual assault in Portugal. So far there has been no charges against him in the Maddie case, and the presumption of innocence continues to apply. If there is no further legal development, it could be released in the early 2026 at the latest.

The last searches in the Maddie case took place on a reservoir on the Algarve two years ago and were unsuccessful. Despite the setbacks, Maddie's parents do not give up the search for her daughter. They emphasize their determination to turn every stone around to clarify their daughter's fate.

additional context for crime

As part of the international combating of crimes and improving crime statistics, the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime Composition (UNODC) works on the collection of relevant data. The aim of this organization is to provide political information and analyzes to ensure that cross -border comparisons of data are possible. UNODC develops standards for national crime and criminal justice information systems as well as for dark field examinations, with the aim of lending the prevalence of crime more transparency. These efforts may also be important in cases such as that of Maddie McCann, where the understanding of crime and victim protection is of central importance.