Search for Madeleine McCann

[OneFrenchEgg]

I know this invites controversy and blame, but is it possible to share how much I hope the new search yields a location for her finally and she can be returned to her family.

Yes, thank you @OneFrenchEgg

I think Richard D Hall has gone wayward, but his doc on the McCanns was exceptionally well-researched and I felt it was totally credible several years ago.

Yes fingers crossed for a successful tomorrow

What is a success for you?
Finding a body would mean the child died.

I think she is dead. Success would be finding her body to return her to her parents.

I so hope that the family finally have a successful outcome after all this time and sadly, that would mean finding her body. There’s no happy outcome to this so the best the family can wish for is closure.

We arrived in Praia da Luz for our first family holiday with then 9 month old DS the morning after she went missing so saw a lot of the police searches, swarms of press etc first hand. We’d travelled during the night so hadn’t seen any news coverage so when we saw her poster all over the town we first assumed she was a local girl that had been missing for a while. It still upsets me when I think about my nearly 17 year old and the 16 years her family have missed.

I hope so much that there is some resolution to this tragic case. I simply cannot imagine the pain the McCanns have suffered and wish them all the very best.

I can't believe there is still a full time investigation into her disappearance. Fair enough if new evidence comes to light. But surely unjustified otherwise.

I believe the German man suspected will soon be released. That would be great motivation to find him guilty of another crime.

He was imprisoned in 2022 for seven years, I believe.

But wouldn't a body be completely dissolved after 16 years in water?

Some human remains will still be there. Bodies have been found after forty/fifty.

I think it will be extremely hard to find the remains of a tiny toddler 16 years after death occurred in a huge reservoir.

Police couldn't find Nicola Bulley in a a much smaller river.

@Onomatopoeia4 bones remain for a long time, but as others have said, not easy to find in such a large area. They are searching parts of land around the lake as well as the lake itself which I believe is 14 meters deep. Talk about a needle in a haystack.

The alternative is probably worse though really.

I don't think the toy car belonged to Ben. I never believed the deathbed confession theory, it was all very weird and I think at the time they thought it wasn't possible he could've gotten that far to the building site.

Do you suppose they might HAVE already figured that out?

They are looking for clothing

I read that, and that the source was balm informant they trusted. I would be so pleased to see this resolved, albeit no answers will be palatable.

It would be great if it got resolved, but I'm pessimistic and think it won't.

The idea that they would find clothing after 16 years is just crazy to me.

I read the same earlier, that they were looking for clothing and the police had taken away some bags containing something yesterday but from what I can gather, they still haven’t really found what they’re looking for.

I know they are adamant that the suspect has done it. He must have been really clever to cover his tracks if it was him.

It would be lovely if all of these missing children were found in loving homes with no memory of their biological families (and some are) but usually they’re trafficked for other reasons and if it was my child I’d rather she was killed instantly than live a life of pain and fear.

I also think if she was taken to be kept alive they would have killed her anyway because her face is so recognisable.

The last time they looked in this area they found bones but they weren’t hers and so perhaps they need to bag and check anything they find.

Hope they find what happened to her

I guess it feels still possible for her to be found. When I think of Katrice Lee, Ben Needham, Andrew Gosden - you just wish all these children could be returned, to give some tiny relief to their families. So many more I've read about - a boy stolen from a back garden in England, before you even look beyond the UK.