They Thought the Case Had Gone Cold—Until a ‘Terrifying Secret’ Was Found in an Abandoned House… Madeleine McCann’s Parents Are Devastated

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The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance stayed in a “wild camping” ground on land now being searched for clues by police where a mysterious white tent was erected in the days after her disappearance, it has been claimed.

Searchers are focusing on at least five derelict farmhouses and barns where Christian Brueckner camped at the time Madeleine went missing.

An eyewitness has told Dan Whitehead from Sky News that the polcir have changed to focus of their search.

“The focus yesterday for police was on disused farm buildings, close to where the prime suspect Christian B lived,” he siad.

“It’s clear that the activity has moved elsewhere at the moment.”

Photos show searchers using ground penetrating radar at an abandoned property just a few miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann was last seen alive.

Portuguese police have delivered a blunt verdict on the renewed search for Madeleine McCann. An anonymous Portuguese police source said at the start of the latest operation that they have “low expectations” about the searches but have been given their “orders” and are “not going to stand in the way”.

They told The Sun: “The information that’s being put out in the public arena is that they’ll last five days with the preparation work and clean-up afterwards and we’ve been told to expect three days of full work on the ground. But on the Portuguese side at least there’s wishful thinking this could all be done in one day. We would love to be proved wrong and see a significant discovery because it’s what we’ve all been working towards for so many years.”

The German suspect is currently serving a seven-year jail term Germany for raping an elderly woman in 2005.

The crime took place in the same resort from which Madeleine disappeared two years later.

He is due for release this September. He denies any involvement in the McCann case.

The German moved to Portugal in 1995 after serving a two-year prison sentence in Germany for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in 1994.

He is known to have lived in a cottage n Praia da Luz.

He is alleged to have confessed on two occasions to kidnapping and sexually abusing the toddler – once to a friend in a German bar in 2017 and again to his prison cellmate in 2020.

There was no suggestion in either alleged confession that he killed her, and he continues to deny any involvement.

Search teams have begun clearing the surrounding areas of more abandoned structures, Sky News reports.

Hedge trimmers are being used by officers around more run-down buildings in the same scrubland area on the outskirts of Lagos.

Kate and Gerry McCann won’t be commenting while the current search which is underway.

The couple won’t make public comments during the “active police investigation”, staff at the Find Madeleine Campaign said.

Images show a yellow digger at the search site.

It was being used to shift rubble from inside one abandoned structure deep inside the police cordon as searches continue a few miles from where Madeleine vanished, reports The Independent.

The scale of this week’s searches could be the most extensive since the initial investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance was closed in 2008 – a year after the toddler vanished in Praia da Luz, reports The Mirror.

It will focus on wells, ruins, and water storage tanks on 21 plots of privately-owned land.

Authorities have now employed a digger in the search, according to reports.

The excavator was seen pulling back earth as the number of people on site has grown today, on the second day of the search.

This is what it looks like inside one of the derelict properties which has been searched by teams in the countryside a few miles from the resort where Madeleine was last seen, reports The Mirror.

Two police officers are standing next to one of the derelict farm houses and flying a drone over the abandoned property.

It is the first time a police drone has been seen being used in the ongoing search operation, reports The Mirror.

The area is in the middle of a tourist region, it is a few hundred metres north is a golf club and resort, while in the opposite direction are some steep cliffs leading to the sea.

Along the cliffs, is a hiking trail along the cliffs known as Trilho dos Pescadores, or the Fisherman’s trail, reports BBC News.

New images show authorities searching the abandoned building linked to the Madeleine McCann search.

Today is the second day of the search which began yesterday and will run until June 6.

New images show the search site today in Portugal.

Pictures show Police officers at the scene close to Praia De Luz where searches are being carried out by officers.

The searches are taking place in the countryside and the images show police tape and a police van in the area.

You can watch a live stream of the search in Portugal which is currently underway.

To watch, scroll to the top of this live blog.

Kate and Gerry McCann said in a post on Find Madeleine: “The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to ‘leave no stone unturned’ is unwavering. We will do our utmost to achieve this.”

German police officers, including forensic experts, are expected to take part in the search along with Portuguese officers, with the activity due to last until Friday, reports Daily Mail.

In April 2025, the UK government approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating Madeleine’s disappearance, reports BBC.

On her 22nd birthday in May, Maddie’s parents gave an emotional tribute to their daughter.

Kate and Gerry McCann thanked their “faithful supporters” for “never forgetting” about her.

The couple said that “no matter how near or far” their “beautiful and unique” Madeleine was, she “continues to be right with us”.

Posting on their ‘Find Madeleine’ website, the McCanns maintained that their determination to track down their missing daughter was “unwavering”.

Madeleine McCann has now been missing for over 18 years.

She had been sleeping in a ground-floor holiday apartment with her two twin siblings while her parents and a group of family friends dined in a restaurant 55 metres away.

The group checked on the children every 30 minutes but when Kate McCann checked on them at roughly 10 pm, she found Madeleine was not there.

Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manha reports that, so far, no leads have been uncovered.

“The investigations were suspended at the end of the day, without finding anything relevant to the investigation,” the outlet said.

Search teams only have until the weekend to carry out their work.

This could change if anything significant is discovered.

This is the first search for Madeleine since May 2023.

The last time police resumed searches in the case was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries took part in an operation searching near a dam and a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Praia da Luz resort.

The new search will last three days, unless police find anything significant, reports The Mirror.

A well-placed Portuguese source said said: “They will be land searches only. The main objective is to look for any signs of Madeleine’s body.”

A former British Police detective, Mark Williams-Thomas, who has worked on some of the world’s most high profile missing persons cases, has given his take on the new searches for Madeleine McCann.

Taking to social media, he wrote: “The police in Portugal are going to search for the German police – the areas surrounding where Christian B (CB) rented a small farm building. The search is looking for evidence of Madeleine McCann’s body. I thoroughly investigated this whole area for my @paramountplus series and we filmed a lot of the area around. It was 10 months before Madeleine went missing that CB was last seen at that address. I cannot see any evidence being found.”

Authorities have drained a well and cleared areas of dense vegetation near abandoned buildings in countryside a few miles from Praia da Luz.

German investigators joined Portuguese police officers and firefighters as teams used strimmers, shovels and chainsaws to clear undergrowth and debris around the abandoned building.

About a dozen officers focused on the building where digging was taking place, while another cleared large rocks, reports Sky News.

The operation, led by German and Portuguese authorities, is focused on areas near Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family.

His renewed effort is driven by German prosecutors’ urgency to gather evidence against Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in the case, before his scheduled release from prison in September 2025.

Brueckner, a convicted sex offender, has been linked to the area through past residences and alleged activities. Investigators are employing advanced technologies, including ground-penetrating radar, to examine sites previously overlooked or minimally explored.

The search aims to uncover any potential evidence that could solidify the case against Brueckner, who continues to deny involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Madeleine McCann vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, just days before her fourth birthday.

Her disappearance sparked one of the most high-profile missing person investigations in history, involving police from Portugal, the UK, and later Germany.

In 2020, German authorities named Christian Bruckner, a convicted sex offender, as a formal suspect, though no charges have been brought.

Despite years of investigations and numerous leads, Madeleine’s fate remains unknown.

German investigators and Portuguese police officers and firefighters were searching in the countryside several miles from the Praia da Luz resort, where the 3-year-old disappeared from her bed while on vacation with her family on May 3, 2007.

The teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. Firefighters pumped water out of a well.

Almost two decades on, investigators in the U.K., Portugal and Germany are still piecing together what happened on the night the toddler disappeared.

She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends outside.

Teams investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 18 years ago have taken samples of potential evidence from properties near Praia Da Luz in Portugal.

Emergency services, including police from Portugal and Germany as well as firefighters, were looking into abandoned property near the area where Madeleine went missing.