MADELEINE McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007 and police believe Brueckner may have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years later, no one has been charged for this reason. These are the key dates:
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10:00 p.m.
May 14, 2007 – Real estate developer Robert Murat is considered “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch a defamation lawsuit against Tal e Qual, a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine.
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann get “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins.
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Gonçalo Amaral is removed from the case after criticizing British police in a newspaper interview.
July 21, 2009 – The Portuguese police withdraw the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard begins a review of the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officials say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive.
July 4, 2013 – Two years after reviewing the case, Scotland Yard began its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
October 24, 2013– The Portuguese police reopen their case after finding new lines of investigation
November 27, 2013 – Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together.
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an additional £85,000 to continue from April to September.
September 28, 2017 – British police receive £154,000 to maintain the investigation until March 2018.
November 2017 – The police moved the search to Bulgaria.
May 2018 – Another round of funding is awarded, believed to be around £150,000.
September 2018 – An additional six months of financing is requested from the Ministry of the Interior
November 2018 – Further funding is granted, estimated to be around £150,000.
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory. Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents.
June 2019 – Another round of funding is awarded, believed to amount to £300,000 in government cash.
June 2019 – Portuguese police are investigating a “new lead and suspect” following conversations with British officers.
June 2020 – The new main suspect is the German pedophile Christian Brueckner.
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search for a remote reservoir in the Algarve. Brueckner called his “little paradise”