Three Door Moves

[Alice Purjorick]

I don't believe in the dress rehearsal because they must have known Kate was measuring the door gaps- and thank goodness she did- or she would never have noticed Maddie gone at 10pmish.

Lets look at two very interesting sentences.

Gerry 'I felt there was someone  in the apartment'   (he was there for 10mins) why didn't he check?

Kate ' I checked the twins were breathing- I thought it strange they did not wake up'  (she is a trained anesthetist). why did she not panic at them not waking up?

Why do these sentences still leave me wondering after all this time?



9

Because somethings about this case leave you with the uneasy feeling that they don't hang together any too well and other things hang together a bit too slick?

[Miss Taken Identity]

Yes indeed.  also, the mention of tea stains on PJ's and little Maddie trying to tell her parents she was scared as she woke up and they were not there?  Seriously, if that wasn't a shot across the bow I don't known what was. 

Too many things do not add up. There is no answer to these questions, or Spammys  about how the 'abduction' took place.

[John]

Behind the wicker chair, a large vent? Is that what backs on to those 3 vents outside, to the right of the front door?
I was just wondering why Kate never mentioned a change in temperature in the room, with the wind blowing in.
We know it was rather chilly outside - both she & Gerry had worn fleeces to go to dinner & crecheman & the man the Smiths allegedly saw were both warmly dressed. It suggests either the window hadn't been open for very long or the room was not heated.

A good point misty, the bedroom would have been rather chilly if the shutter was up and the window fully open.  Strange that Matt never mentioned a temperature differential in the department yet made reference to a slightly increased light level.  &%+((£

[misty]

A good point misty, the bedroom would have been rather chilly if the shutter was up and the window fully open.  Strange that Matt never mentioned a temperature differential in the department yet made reference to a slightly increased light level.  &%+((£

Looking at the proximity of the 2 bedroom doors & the bathroom door in relation to the patio door, it struck me that an intruder, upon hearing the patio door sliding,  would have been able to leave the children's room, unsighted, & nip into the parents room (possibly hiding behind the floor-length curtains). Supposing the intruder entered before Gerry's 9pm visit, not anticipating that a check would be made quite that early - Gerry used the bathroom & checked the children - that would account for the first "moving door".
Gerry then left, the intruder went back into the bedroom, sedated the children, opened the window etc, then left via the partially-locked front door with Madeleine - that would account for the second door move. Matt has already admitted he didn't see Madeleine in her bed but the shutters would have been up by then, accounting for the increased light. Had the twins not been sedated, I believe they would have been awoken by the chill & draught from the open window.
This would mean that the abduction did indeed occur between 9 & 9.30 and bring the Tannerman sighting back into the equation..

[pegasus]

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P9/09_VOLUME_IXa_Page_2322.jpg
Notice the void area in the corner of the child bedroom.
No chimney on roof at this position.Possibly contains elec boxes for apartments A G K ?

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P9/09_VOLUME_IXa_Page_2310.jpg
Top right photo. High above the cooker is that a vent hood? Wind may enter the child bedroom window and go out this vent hood making the through draught to blow curtains and slam bedroom door.

[sadie]

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P9/09_VOLUME_IXa_Page_2322.jpg
Notice the void area in the corner of the child bedroom.

Again, well spotted Pegasus. 

What do you think that is all about?

Could anyone hide in there?   Somehow I think not, but am happy to be found wrong.

[John]

Opening any external door on a breezy night would create an increased pressure within the apartment which would have had a tendency to push open any internal doors.  This for me explains the first two door moves.  The third move was a combination of the front door being opened followed by someone centering the children's bedroom.

[pegasus]

http://www.allmystery.de/i/t79bd1b_the-ocean-club-appartments-in-praia-da-l.jpg
Eureka. Found the through draught. See that 3-storey-high vent chimney on the left of the building. You can see it continue down the wall. That must connect to the cooker vent hoods in the kitchens of 5A and 5G and 5K.
So air flows in the open child bedroom window and out the vent hood in the kitchen and up that vent chimney. The gravity effect will make the through draught even stronger. So there folks you have your slamming door and blowing curtains, exactly as truthfully described by the witness.

[misty]

Opening any external door on a breezy night would create an increased pressure within the apartment which would have had a tendency to push open any internal doors.  This for me explains the first two door moves.  The third move was a combination of the front door being opened followed by someone centering the children's bedroom.

I should have added that I don't believe there was a 3rd door move.  Matt found the door open at an angle of about 50% and he didn't say in his initial or subsequent statement that he altered the position of the door.
Matt Oldfield statement 4th May 2007
*snip*
At around 9.25pm, the interviewee went into his apartment and Madeleine's apartment to check on the children. He states that the door of the bedroom that was occupied by Madeleine and the twins, was open and that there was enough light in the bedroom for him to see the twins in their cots.
                                      ===========================================

Matt Oldfield statement 10th May 2007 (revised)
*snip*
That he did not enter the bedroom where MBM and the twins were sleeping. He recalls that the bedroom door was half open, making an angle of 50 degrees. He does not know how far away he was from the bedroom door.
                                        ===========================================
Quote from "Madeleine" page 71


At 10pm I went back to the apartment myself. I entered the sitting room via the patio doors, as Gerry & Matt had done and stood there, listening, for a few seconds. All was silent. Then I noticed that the door to the children's bedroom was open quite wide, not how we had left it. At first I assumed that Matt must have moved it. I walked over & gently began to pull it. Suddenly it slammed shut, as if caught by a draught..


Two moves, not three.

[pegasus]

Yes agreed the 21.30 and 22.00 checkers see identical bedroom door angle.
And because of the way the wardrobe sticks into the room, 50 degrees gives as good a view into the room as 90 degrees.
.
 

[misty]

Yes agreed the 21.30 and 22.00 checkers see identical bedroom door angle.
And because of the way the wardrobe sticks into the room, 50 degrees gives as good a view into the room as 90 degrees.
.

IMO the logical conclusion is that the abductor, having seen ROB checking at around 9, did not anticipate Gerry also checking within the net 5-10 minutes. Someone had already entered the children's room, but not opened the shutters or window, before Gerry arrived. Therefore, the point of entry was not the window.
It is also worth pointing out that the blind was up on the window above the dining table and also open-slatted in the kitchen, providing a partial view of the interior from the balcony on the opposite side of the road where the pile of cigarette butts was found.

[Brietta]

http://www.allmystery.de/i/t79bd1b_the-ocean-club-appartments-in-praia-da-l.jpg
Eureka. Found the through draught. See that 3-storey-high vent chimney on the left of the building. You can see it continue down the wall. That must connect to the cooker vent hoods in the kitchens of 5A and 5G and 5K.
So air flows in the open child bedroom window and out the vent hood in the kitchen and up that vent chimney. The gravity effect will make the through draught even stronger. So there folks you have your slamming door and blowing curtains, exactly as truthfully described by the witness.

Most definitive explanation I’ve seen.

Cancels out our discussion on the bedroom door at the small veranda.

Dr McCann pulling the door towards her would be enough to alter the pressure causing the door to slam and the through draught would ‘whoosh’ the curtain when she opened it. 

Well done, pegasus, I think that's that one solved.  What are you going to work on next?

[pegasus]

IMO the logical conclusion is that the abductor, having seen ROB checking at around 9, did not anticipate Gerry also checking within the net 5-10 minutes. Someone had already entered the children's room, but not opened the shutters or window, before Gerry arrived. Therefore, the point of entry was not the window.
It is also worth pointing out that the blind was up on the window above the dining table and also open-slatted in the kitchen, providing a partial view of the interior from the balcony on the opposite side of the road where the pile of cigarette butts was found.

I find the theory, that an intruder entered the apartment and moved the bedroom door and hid in a wardrobe during the 21.10 check, far too complicated. That first move of the door is much more simply explained by a child getting up to go to the bathroom then returning to bed before 21.10.

And the second move of the door can be simply explained by a child opening the door between 21.10 and 21.30 to go from the child bedroom into for example the lounge or the other bedroom.

Maybe I have been over-reading the  "Complete Works of Ockham" but I do not see any need at all to introduce an intruder to explain the two door moves.

[misty]

I find the theory, that an intruder entered the apartment and moved the bedroom door and hid in a wardrobe during the 21.10 check, far too complicated. That first move of the door is much more simply explained by a child getting up to go to the bathroom then returning to bed before 21.10.

And the second move of the door can be simply explained by a child opening the door between 21.10 and 21.30 to go from the child bedroom into for example the lounge or the other bedroom.

Maybe I have been over-reading the  "Complete Works of Ockham" but I do not see any need at all to introduce an intruder to explain the two door moves.

First, well done on the flue/air pressure explanation.
Regarding the intruder - he didn't have to hide in a wardrobe. Simply by concealing him/herself behind those floor-length curtains in the parents' room would have been enough, chancing that Gerry would not be going in there.
IMO that is more feasible than your suggestion of Madeleine leaving her room and hiding after being awoken by the sound of the shutters, with the intruder fleeing. Why didn't Kate find her, hiding & crying, afraid to move, when she returned to do her check? There is absolutely no evidence Madeleine left that apartment of her own free will that night - and if she had gone outside I think she would have just stood there, wailing for her mum & dad.

[pegasus]

First, well done on the flue/air pressure explanation.
Regarding the intruder - he didn't have to hide in a wardrobe. Simply by concealing him/herself behind those floor-length curtains in the parents' room would have been enough, chancing that Gerry would not be going in there.
IMO that is more feasible than your suggestion of Madeleine leaving her room and hiding after being awoken by the sound of the shutters, with the intruder fleeing. Why didn't Kate find her, hiding & crying, afraid to move, when she returned to do her check? There is absolutely no evidence Madeleine left that apartment of her own free will that night - and if she had gone outside I think she would have just stood there, wailing for her mum & dad.

I am pleased with finding that kitchen hood connecting to a tall vent chimney, because it provides the through draught which proves that the witness is telling the truth about the bedroom door slamming after she set it to the almost closed position, and also is telling the truth about the curtains blowing in.

Looking at past cases, there are far more cases involving a child hiding in response to an attempted burglary, than there are cases of an intruder hiding behind curtains while an adult resident is in the apartment.