Bit off the wall but I'd add 'given away' to that list. Maybe unlikely but could it have been a pre planned money making scam from the get go?
3 June 2007
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said: "We continue to investigate the possibility that whoever took this child could have done it for money, and hasn't asked for a ransom because they've panicked with the headlines the case has generated.
"Who would dare ask for money for this child when her image is going around the world?"
He added: "A kidnapper could easily have a child hidden, possibly close by."
21 May 2007
"There are strong suspicions we are dealing with a sexual predator. As a rule these individuals abuse their victims, kill them and get rid of the bodies.
"What we want is to find the girl safe and sound, but it is true as time goes by this hope is becoming less likely."
Forensic scientists have found no evidence to suggest Madeleine's room at the Praia de Luz resort was broken into, the source said.
There were also no fingerprints other than those of the family and no sign of a struggle. The source added: "These are preliminary results and further tests may bring new clues.
"It is painful to say this, but we must be realistic the chances of finding her alive are getting less and less.
"All the publicity in the media may have made the kidnapper get rid of his victim and any clues."
Detectives today said they want to quiz a cousin of prime suspect Robert Murat.
Police sources said they were "very eager" to talk to Genaro Acosta Gonzalez, an estate agent working in Spain.
The development came as Maddy's father, consultant cardiologist Gerry McCann, arrived back in Britain.
25 May 2007
Earlier, it emerged British police have taken a more active role on the ground in the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. Experts have begun working around the holiday apartment in southern Portugal where the she went missing three weeks ago. Police would not say which British force had sent the two specialists, who could be seen taking measurements and walking around with plans of the crime scene in Praia da Luz.
27 May 2007
Madeleine's father, Gerry, said the sighting of the man "with what appeared to be a child in his arms" was "significant" to his daughter's case.
Portuguese police said they released the description of the man seen on the night the four-year-old was taken from the Praia da Luz apartment in the Algarve, Portugal, in order to eliminate false leads.
Mr Murat said: "It isn't me. But the description is so vague that it won't put me out of the picture."
"I hope that I will soon be in a position to clear my name."
But Mr McCann said he still "truly believed" his daughter was alive.
"If she was dead I think the search was so extensive they would have found something," he said.
29 May 2007
Experts from Britain are attempting to trace the abductor of Madeleine McCann by following a trail left by mobile telephone signals.
A team of British telecommunications specialists has arrived in the Algarve to attempt to pinpoint the movements of telephones around the resort complex where Madeleine was abducted 26 days ago.
Their arrival came as Madeleine’s parents released the final mobile telephone images of the child before her abduction. They show her excitedly starting the week’s holiday in Portugal.
The mobile telephone tracing technique was used to collect evidence that helped to convict Ian Huntley for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
Trails are created by silent transmissions sent out by every mobile phone even when not in use. Each signal is picked up by masts, which create a timed computer log of the handset’s movements. By measuring the strength of the signal, the location of the handset can often be narrowed to an area as small as a few square yards.
Detectives will use the information to verify statements provided by guests and staff at the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine was taken from her bed.
29 May 2007
The video clip released last night had been captured on the mobile phone of a friend.
It shows Madeleine clambering up the aircraft steps, clasping her pink Barbie rucksack. In her excitement she slips, grazing her shin.
But Mr McCann said she was so thrilled about going to Portugal she refused to get upset. "She was really brave. She started crying but stopped almost immediately," he said.
"When we got to the top of the steps I saw she had grazed her shin. It looked really sore - the step was just the right height for her leg. It was something that usually would have caused 10 minutes of crying rather than 10 seconds."
It all changed when the
British dogs arrived.
