Could more have been done to preserve a potential crime scene?

[faithlilly]

After the arrival of the witness and his colleague Vitor Martins the scene was isolated and the inspection began, namely the collection of statements and inspection of the scene, the respective reports that were subsequently attached to the process documents.

For me, that is the key paragraph

So the scene was sealed as soon as a PJ officer arrived. Seems the non-isolation of the scene can't be put down to Amaral then.

Pity eh ?

[Alice Purjorick]

Are these officers statements in the files Alfred because I have never read that any officer said the McCann's or their friend's was affected by drink ?

Why pray worry ourselves about the official files when we have a press renowned and admired the world over for its diligence and veracity of reporting? I could find no officers names mentioned in the article...

[John]

Amaral in his book at page 53 considers the following...


These first observations are not the only ones that lead us to consider a set-up. The way the bed sheets were arranged but also the child's soft toy equally raise doubts. - Do you see how the sheets are lying? You'd think the child got out by herself....or that she didn't sleep there. - Someone could have unintentionally touched the curtains while looking for the little girl inside the apartment. - And the soft toy she slept with? That's not in a natural position either. How would she have found it, along the pillow like that? - The mother says that the soft toy was beside the pillow when she noticed the disappearance, which, according to her, was its usual place. - Which means that the little girl slept without holding it? Children normally clutch their security object to fall asleep. But if that's not the case, the way it's placed doesn't seem natural. She would inevitably have moved it turning over in her sleep. - The pink blanket is also really tidy, almost folded. Where cases of missing children involve the close family, modification of the crime scene is common. But the comings and goings and searches inside the apartment might be the source of these changes. We have to be absolutely sure that it's not a deliberate attempt to put up a smokescreen. - What does the father say? - That when he came to see the children, it was all like that, the blanket and the soft toy. We carry on looking at the photos of the bedroom: the two cots are in the middle of the room and are in the way of an adult moving around. - Why is there nothing more than mattresses? All the bed linen has been removed. I really wonder why...

So who removed the bed linen and why...where did it go?

[Eleanor]

I expect it was removed with the twins when they were taken elsewhere.  It would have been needed quite possibly. 
I really don't understand what the mystery could be.  There is none, as far as I can see.

[Alfred R Jones]

Amaral in his book at page 53 considers the following...


These first observations are not the only ones that lead us to consider a set-up. The way the bed sheets were arranged but also the child's soft toy equally raise doubts. - Do you see how the sheets are lying? You'd think the child got out by herself....or that she didn't sleep there. - Someone could have unintentionally touched the curtains while looking for the little girl inside the apartment. - And the soft toy she slept with? That's not in a natural position either. How would she have found it, along the pillow like that? - The mother says that the soft toy was beside the pillow when she noticed the disappearance, which, according to her, was its usual place. - Which means that the little girl slept without holding it? Children normally clutch their security object to fall asleep. But if that's not the case, the way it's placed doesn't seem natural. She would inevitably have moved it turning over in her sleep. - The pink blanket is also really tidy, almost folded. Where cases of missing children involve the close family, modification of the crime scene is common. But the comings and goings and searches inside the apartment might be the source of these changes. We have to be absolutely sure that it's not a deliberate attempt to put up a smokescreen. - What does the father say? - That when he came to see the children, it was all like that, the blanket and the soft toy. We carry on looking at the photos of the bedroom: the two cots are in the middle of the room and are in the way of an adult moving around. - Why is there nothing more than mattresses? All the bed linen has been removed. I really wonder why...

So who removed the bed linen and why...where did it go?

Does Amaral ever go on to venture a theory as to why the cot bedding has mysteriously vanished?  If not what was the point of making a mystery of it in the first place?  as Eleanor has pointed out, there's a pretty logical answer, but maybe Amaral doesn't think like like that.

[ferryman]

I Support The McCanns From France.  And Anywhere Else I Happen To Be.

They're all the same, these itinerant McCann-supporters ...

[stephen25000]

Does Amaral ever go on to venture a theory as to why the cot bedding has mysteriously vanished?  If not what was the point of making a mystery of it in the first place?  as Eleanor has pointed out, there's a pretty logical answer, but maybe Amaral doesn't think like like that.

Logical answer, or just plain wrong ?

[Benice]

I expect it was removed with the twins when they were taken elsewhere.  It would have been needed quite possibly. 
I really don't understand what the mystery could be.  There is none, as far as I can see.

I presume one reason being that the twins were wrapped in the blankets they were sleeping in -  before taking them outside into a cold, breezy night.

A few simple enquiries by Amaral would have easily cleared that up IMO  - but Hey - why miss an opportunity to turn an innocent action into a suspicious one in the minds of his readers.

[Brietta]

I presume one reason being that the twins were wrapped in the blankets they were sleeping in -  before taking them outside into a cold, breezy night.

A few simple enquiries by Amaral would have easily cleared that up IMO  - but Hey - why miss an opportunity to turn an innocent action into a suspicious one in the minds of his readers.

Absolutely ... insidious, but it worked.

Obvious that whoever lifted the twins took them wrapped in their bedding, so I don’t think there is much mystery there, just a little bit of sensationalism on the part of the author to plant absurd suspicion.
Two objectives in one sentence ... gets the boot into his target ever so subtly ... and it sells books.

I’m more interested in what happened to the bed linen which was on Madeleine’s bed.  Was that bagged and preserved?

We've seen the evidence photographs of markers where hair was lifted ... but I can't see anything about what happened to the bedding subsequently ... am I missing something?

[pegasus]

The bedding of that single bed was still there afternoon 4th I think.
What happened to it after that I don't know, I find no record of it being kept.

[Brietta]

The bedding of that single bed was still there afternoon 4th I think.
What happened to it after that I don't know, I find no record of it being kept.

Me neither ...  Understandable in 2007 when forensic techniques were not as advanced as now.  A pity they were not bagged and preserved as a fresh look using modern methods might have yielded a trace.  It was my understanding also that the apartment was allowed to be cleaned and the bedding washed days after the event … but I cannot find a cite to support that.

[pegasus]

Me neither ...  Understandable in 2007 when forensic techniques were not as advanced as now.  A pity they were not bagged and preserved as a fresh look using modern methods might have yielded a trace.  It was my understanding also that the apartment was allowed to be cleaned and the bedding washed days after the event … but I cannot find a cite to support that.

The apartment was next inhabited on 12th June (see Vol 11 Pages 2945-2956) therefore it must have been cleaned and bedding changed before that date.
All personal possessions were allowed to be removed about lunchtime on Saturday May 5th.

[Brietta]

The apartment was next inhabited on 12th June (see Vol 11 Pages 2945-2956) therefore it must have been cleaned and bedding changed before that date.
All personal possessions were allowed to be removed about lunchtime on Saturday May 5th.

You might be interested in the following.
The transcript is mine so apologies for anything missed (eg anchor's questions).  I think it ties in with the topic of the thread.

Retired FBI special agent Stephen Moore  …  CNN

NSY are going back to look at what should have been looked at in 2007. 

They are essentially having to rebuild this investigation from the ground up. 

A crime scene is perishable – investigation is a consumer – it consumes time it consumes evidence the further you get from the actual crime the less chance you have, if anyone can do it SY can do it. 

I believe it has been so badly botched by the Portuguese they can’t even start with anything they have they have to rebuild it from its foundation.

They did a classic mistake, they decided on a conclusion very early on + basic forensic mistakes you add basic police mistakes …

It’s like the Amanda Knox case in Italy, they screwed it up from the beginning and now it has to be restarted.

If you do something wrong forensically it sends the investigators off on the wrong tangent – for instance it’s the red herring here where they thought the DNA of the victim was found in the rental car of the parents that’s completely fallacious.
It never happened, investigators wasted years on that

Very optimistic that they are going in the right direction

There is a chance
 http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/10/14/madeline-mccann-moore-newday.cnn.html

[pegasus]

That Moore guy makes a crime-scene-preservation comparision with the Knox case.
I am going to make a purely crime-scene-preservation comparision with the Sharp case.
There, the Met, as far as I can see, allowed the family to continue living in the residence?
Surely that was not good for preservation of forensics?
At least the PJ did the right thing to move the family out within a few hours of the "disappearance".

[ferryman]

That Moore guy makes a crime-scene-preservation comparision with the Knox case.
I am going to make a purely crime-scene-preservation comparision with the Sharp case.
There, the Met, as far as I can see, allowed the family to continue living in the residence?
Surely that was not good for preservation of forensics?
At least the PJ did the right thing to move the family out within a few hours of the "disappearance".

An invalid comparison.

There was no reason, initially, to believe that any crime had been committed in the home.

The first assumption was that she had left the home voluntarily of her own free-will and come to harm subsequently.