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A friend of mine helped search for Madeleine, the night she disappeared.
I also know a family who arrived in PDL a week later after Madeleine disappeared. They had friends already there, who witnessed the aftermath of what happened, and the blanket press coverage which ensued in the days after.
There is more as regards the latter, but at best secondary information.
I would assume you are not going to name names. I can understand why one would not. But it is a shame. Any tiny sliver of information about the reality of Luz in May 2007 is extremely valuable.
So may I ask you a quite different question? It is small, but important, and it does not involve identifying your friend.
I would be most interested in knowing the precise route by which your friend got from Faro to the Ocean Club. Let me simplify this to 2 options. One was an MW bus, and MW did the registration and keys on board. The other was that your friend headed to the OC without MW intervention, and so had to register at OC 24hr reception.
I happen to be interested in the latter. But of course, that does not influence the route your friend took.
Perhaps you could also enquire of the family you know who went out a week later? Two bites at the cherry?