German investigators probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 15 years ago in Portugal have found new evidence against the chief suspect, a prosecutor told Portuguese television.
“The investigation is still ongoing and I think we found some new facts, some new evidence, not forensic evidence but evidence,” Brunswick prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told Portugal’s CMTV channel in an interview broadcast late Tuesday.
Madeleine McCann went missing from Portugal’s Praia da Luz seaside resort on May 3, 2007 when she was three years old.
Her disappearance sparked a huge manhunt and an international media frenzy, with photographs of Maddie plastered across billboards and news bulletins.
Last month, Portuguese authorities joined German prosecutors in declaring a convicted German rapist the prime suspect in her disappearance.
German police revealed in 2020 that the prime suspect was a child sex offender, already in jail in Germany, and that they believed he had killed her.
“Christian B” is serving a seven-year sentence in Oldenburg, northern Germany, for raping a 72-year-old American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.
“We are sure that he is the murderer of Madeleine McCann,” Wolters told CMTV, offering no further details about the case or searches of a van owned by the suspect.
No charges have been brought against Christian B. in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance. Her body has never been found.
According to the German investigation, phone records identified the suspect near the hotel complex where Madeleine disappeared.
“Christian B has no alibi,” Wolters told CMTV.
On Tuesday, Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said “our need for answers, for the truth, is essential” as they marked the 15th anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.