Madeleine McCann, 3, went missing in 2007
A 2016 search of Brueckner’s home includes a hard drive that indicates Madeleine is dead, say police
A hard drive police discovered at Christian Brueckner’s home allegedly includes evidence police say indicates that Madeleine McCann is dead, according to an investigative report by a British newspaper set to air on Channel 4 in the UK this week.
The Sun reported this week that its investigative update is set to air on the network on Wednesday, May 7, which includes new information about a hard drive that contains photographs authorities believe indicates that Madeleine, who went missing in 2007, is dead. According to the newspaper, authorities searched the property in 2016.
PEOPLE recently looked back at the 2007 abduction and murder case surrounding the missing 3-year-old British girl. No one has ever been charged in her disappearance, though German authorities have said Brueckner, 48, the primary suspect.
Madeleine, who would’ve turned 22 next week, is believed to have been taken from her family’s vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Madeleine, who was just days shy of celebrating her 4th birthday at the time of her disappearance, had been left alone at the family’s vacation apartment with her twin 2-year-old siblings while their parents Kate and Gerry McCann dined at a nearby restaurant.
The McCanns were initially considered suspects in their daughter’s disappearance after forensic tests revealed traces of Madeleine’s blood in a car they rented 25 days after her disappearance. However, more than a decade later, police zeroed in on Brueckner and named him a primary suspect in the case.
German authorities previously said they have evidence that connects Brueckner, a convicted rapist, to McCann’s murder. Brueckner is currently serving a sentence for a rape conviction.
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Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who was leading the investigation into Brueckner, said during a 2020 CNN interview that authorities “actually have findings that suggest that he is Madeleine McCann’s murderer.” However, Wolters lamented that investigators had “insufficient evidence to convict” Brueckner of McCann’s kidnapping and murder. By 2022, German and Portuguese authorities announced they had an “official” suspect but did not clarify whether it was Brueckner.
Now, the new Sun investigative report says that authorities have continued searching Brueckner’s property for clues, discovering his deceased dog, and a wallet containing six USB sticks and two memory cards buried underneath the animal.
One hard drive was described by police as “deeply concerning,” according to the Times of London. German police allegedly told The Sun that during the search, they found more clues — including writings by Brueckner describing the kidnapping of young children. Police also said they discovered photographs depicting child abuse, along with more than 75 children’s swimsuits and toys.
Brueckner has a history of sexual abuse, including against children, PEOPLE previously reported. The German national had first been charged with committing sexual offenses against children in 1993 and was later extradited from Portugal to Germany in 2017, where he spent 17 months in prison for sexually abusing a child.
He later was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005. He is expected to be released from prison in September 2025.
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