Madeleine McCann Case Chronology
Posted September 7, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The story of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance has spread throughout the world. The doe-eyed child vanished from her Portuguese villa last May and has been the subject of an intense manhunt ever since. Here’s a review of the troubling case.
May 3: The child is reported missing from a holiday apartment in the town of Praia da Luz in the Algarve resort region. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, left her asleep with two smaller siblings while they had dinner at a nearby restaurant, and said they checked frequently on the children. They say Madeleine was kidnapped.
May 6: Police say there is evidence the girl was abducted, and appeal for her return.
May 11: David Beckham and other soccer stars appeal for Madeleine’s safe return. Police in Portugal scale down local searches, saying the case has become an international investigation.
May 12: Madeleine McCann turns four.
May 13: Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling pledges a contribution to a $3-million reward for the safe return of the child.
May 13: Robert Murat, a Briton who lives near the complex where the child vanished, is questioned after British journalists report him to police, saying he was poking around the crime scene and implying that he was part of the investigation.
May 18: A website set up to help find Madeleine receives some 65 million visitors in 48 hours.
May 30: The McCanns meet at the Vatican with Pope Benedict to discuss their ordeal. The pontiff pledges to pray for her safe return.
July 10: Murat is questioned by police in the company of his lawyer, and again the next day. He insists he has nothing to do with her disappearance.
Aug. 3: Authorities in Belgium say they are taking seriously a reported sighting of the child in the town of Tongeren. Police issue a drawing of a Dutch-speaking man reportedly seen with the girl and an English-speaking woman at a table outside a pub. Authorities eventually carry out DNA tests on a milkshake bottle from the pub, but no DNA from the child is found on it.
Aug. 7: Portuguese media report that sniffer dogs found traces of blood in the hotel room where Madeleine went missing. This forensic evidence is sent to Britain for testing.
Aug. 11: Police say new evidence prompts them to consider the possibility the girl is dead.
Sept. 7: Kate McCann is called in for questioning by police, and a family spokesman says she is considered a suspect. McCann is questioned for more than four hours and leaves the police station without being charged. Later that day, her husband Gerry is also labelled a suspect by authorities.
