Headlines
Key dates in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 3, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 3, 2025
4 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 in Portugal. Despite extensive investigations and media coverage, her case remains unsolved. Key suspect Christian Brueckner was named in 2022.
LONDON (Reuters) -Three-year-old Madeleine McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, in central England, disappeared on May 3, 2007 during a holiday with her parents in the Algarve region of southern Portugal.
Eighteen years on, Portuguese police have begun searching an area of land near where she disappeared.
Here is a chronology of developments:
2007
May 3 - Madeleine goes missing from her bedroom between 9.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. while her parents Kate and Gerry are dining with friends around 100 yards away at a resort in Praia da Luz.
May 5 - Police say they have put together a sketch of a suspect and confirm they believe Madeleine is still alive and being held within three miles of the crime scene.
May 8 - Police say they have investigated 350 suspicious incidents but still have no idea where she might be.
May 10 - The search around the resort winds down.
May 14 - Police search a villa just up the road from where Madeleine was snatched and take a British man, Robert Murat, to a police station for questioning. He is later released.
June - The McCanns travel to Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Morocco to appeal to the public to help search for their daughter.
September - Kate and Gerry McCann are questioned by Portuguese police. They are both named as suspects, but police do not bring charges against them. The couple then fly back to Britain with their twins, Sean and Amelie. In a brief statement after landing, Gerry says: "We have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine".
2008
March - McCanns accept 550,000 pounds of libel damages from the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers over allegations they made that they were involved in Madeleine's death.
July - Portuguese authorities end their investigation and say the McCanns and Murat are no longer suspects. Murat wins libel damages from 11 papers who had said he was involved.
2009
March - The McCanns launch a new appeal for information in the Algarve.
May - The McCanns publicise the search for their daughter with an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's U.S. chat show.
2011
May - British Prime Minister David Cameron asks London's Metropolitan Police to investigate the case.
2012
April - British police say Madeleine could still be alive and release an artist's impression of what she may look like.
2013
June - Britain agrees to fund a full-scale police investigation.
October - Police release e-fits as part of an appeal to find a suspect who officers say is of "vital importance". Portuguese police reopen their investigation.
2014
June - Police search scrubland near to Praia da Luz.
2015
July - Australian police test the remains of a girl found in a suitcase, but they are not Madeleine's.
2019
March - Netflix releases an eight-part series about the disappearance of Madeleine.
2020
June - German police say they have a new suspect and appeal for information about a German man currently imprisoned in Germany for sexual assault offences. Convicted child abuser and drug trader Christian Brueckner was likely responsible for her disappearance, they say.
July - Portuguese authorities explore three disused wells but find no evidence of a body. German police search an allotment near Hanover.
2022
April - Portuguese prosecutors formally identify Brueckner as a suspect in the disappearance. He is the first suspect they have named since Kate and Gerry McCann in 2007.
May - New evidence has been found, potentially incriminating the key suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, said the German prosecutor investigating the case.
2023
May - Portuguese authorities assisted by German police search a reservoir near the area where Madeleine went missing.
2025
January - The German prosecutor investigating the disappearance says there is currently no prospect of charges being brought against Brueckner.
June - Portuguese police launch a new search for traces of the child's body, focusing on an area between Praia da Luz and one of the houses where Brueckner lived.
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her bedroom in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Police created a sketch of a suspect and believed Madeleine was still alive, potentially held within three miles of the crime scene.
In May 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron requested London's Metropolitan Police to investigate the case of Madeleine McCann.
In April 2022, Portuguese prosecutors formally identified Christian Brueckner as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
In May 2023, Portuguese authorities, assisted by German police, searched a reservoir near the area where Madeleine went missing.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
