On this day in 2007, less than two weeks before her fourth birthday, Madeleine McCann of Rothley, England, vanishes during a family vacation at a resort in southern Portugal. McCann\u2019s disappearance prompted an international search; however, she has never been found.<\/p>\n
In May 2007, the McCann family\u2014parents Gerry and Kate McCann, Madeleine and her 2-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie\u2014were vacationing with a group of friends at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz (\u201cBeach of Light\u201d), a tourist village along Portugal\u2019s Algarve coast. On the evening of May 3, Gerry and Kate McCann went with friends to the Ocean Club\u2019s tapas bar, leaving a sleeping Madeleine and her brother and sister in the family\u2019s ground-floor apartment, located near the tapas bar. The McCanns and their friends agreed to check on the children every half hour. At around 10 p.m., Kate McCann went to the apartment and discovered Madeleine was missing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Portuguese police initially believed the little girl had wandered off and would be quickly found. As a result, they failed to promptly distribute a description of the missing child or search cars crossing the Portugal-Spain border, less than two hours from Praia da Luz.<\/p>\n
McCann\u2019s disappearance generated widespread media coverage in Europe and beyond. English soccer star David Beckham made a televised plea for her safe return, and \u201cHarry Potter\u201d author J.K. Rowling reportedly donated millions to help find the little girl. Gerry and Kate McCann, observant Catholics, also had an audience in Rome with Pope Benedict, who blessed a photo of Madeleine.<\/p>\n
On September 7, 2007, Portuguese officials named Gerry and Kate McCann, both of whom are physicians, as suspects in their daughter\u2019s disappearance. Soon after, authorities leaked word that Madeleine\u2019s DNA had been discovered in the trunk of the car her parents rented in Portugal almost a month after she vanished. There was speculation that the McCanns, in order to enjoy an evening out, had given their children sedatives and that Madeleine had a fatal reaction to the dosage she received. Afterward, the McCanns faked her abduction and hid her body for weeks before transferring it to the trunk of their rental car. Gerry and Kate McCann labeled this theory ridiculous, particularly given the fact that they were under intense media scrutiny and constantly followed by reporters. The local Portuguese police chief later admitted that the DNA tests were inconclusive.<\/p>\n
In July 2008, Gerry and Kate McCann were formally cleared by Portuguese officials of any involvement in their daughter\u2019s disappearance. A third person who had been considered the case\u2019s only other formal suspect, a British man living in Portugal, was cleared as well. Additionally, Portugal\u2019s attorney general said there was insufficient evidence for police to continue their investigation.<\/p>\n
The McCanns hired private detectives to keep looking for their daughter and have made publicity tours throughout Europe and the U.S. to raise awareness about her plight. In November 2010, the couple signed a deal to write a book about their search for Madeleine, the proceeds of which will go toward continuing to fund the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On this day in 2007, less than two weeks before her fourth birthday, Madeleine McCann of Rothley, England, vanishes during a family vacation at a resort in southern Portugal. McCann\u2019s disappearance prompted an international search; however, she has never been found. In May 2007, the McCann family\u2014parents Gerry and Kate McCann, Madeleine and her 2-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3502],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}