Since reopening the case of missing three-year-old Madeleine McCann, police have now identified 38 potential suspects in the disappearance of the little girl, The Guardian reports. The persons of interest are from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Italy and police believe the people on the list might either be connected in the girl's disappearance or know something about it. Scottland Yard police also believe Madeleine, who would be nine-years-old, could still be alive.
This new development comes after two years of Met officers reviewing evidence. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the inquiry, spent the last two years pouring over evidence obtained during the Portugal criminal investigation and from evidence obtained by the seven private investigators Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, hired.
"I believe Madeleine is alive," Redwood told The Guardian. "The review has given us new thinking, new theories, new evidence and new witnesses to pursue. It is a positive step in our hunt for Madeleine that our understanding of the evidence has enabled us to shift from a review to an investigation."
This has to be excellent news for the parents but also upsetting as they have to once again relive and hope to figure out what happened to their daughter. According to the Daily Beast, the Portuguese police oversaw the initial investigation but focused largely on the parents as suspects, ignoring crucial leads. The case was closed in 2008 after the parents were ruled out as suspects. Now that the Met police are involved in the investigation they have a better chance of following leads and more room to investigate, the Daily Beast reports. They can now arrest all 38 potential suspects if they need to so they can begin to rule people out and narrow down who was responsible. They also want to focus on a group of British cleaners who witnesses said they saw "in a mysterious white van" the day after Madeleine was abducted.
The Metropolitan police has reportedly sent the Portuguese authorities a formal letter asking for assistance in the new investigation regarding "new theories and new evidence" in the disappearance of the girl. Detectives are still at an early stage in the investigation, which is being called Operation George, and don't expect to make any arrests anytime soon. The Scottland Police are also asking the media "to restrain" reporting on the story in the coming weeks and months. They believe this is their last chance to find out what happened to the little girl.
Madeleine went missing from her parent's holiday apartment in May 2007 while on a family vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, The Guardian reports. The girl and her two young twin siblings were asleep in the bedroom while their parents had diner not far away. The adults took turns checking on the kids, which the Daily Beast reports is not uncommon in guarded family resort communities. On one of the checks the twins were still asleep but the little girl was nowhere to be found.
"Kate and Gerry warmly welcome this shift in the Metropolitan police emphasis. They see it as a huge step forward in establishing what happened and hope that it will lead to bringing to justice whoever was responsible for Madeleine's abduction," a spokesperson for the family, Clarence Mitchell, said.
