The Most High-Profile Missing Person Cases in Modern History.
Unraveling the Mysteries and Search for Answers.
It was supposed to be a relaxing family vacation for Madeleine McCann and her family, but it turned into a nightmare that they would never forget.
Madeleine, a three-year-old British girl, was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, her two-year-old twin siblings, and a group of family friends in the resort town of Praia da Luz, Portugal.
On the evening of May 3rd, 2007, the McCanns left their children asleep in their ground-floor apartment and went to dine with friends at a nearby restaurant.
They checked on the children periodically throughout the night, but when Kate returned to the apartment at around 10 p.m., she discovered that Madeleine was missing.
The Portuguese police were called and an extensive search was launched, but Madeleine was nowhere to be found.
As the days turned into weeks, the investigation took a dramatic turn when the police became convinced that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and that her parents had covered it up.
The McCanns were given suspect status in September 2007, a decision that would have a devastating impact on their lives.
They vehemently denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance, but the media frenzy that ensued made it difficult for them to clear their names.
Despite the lack of evidence, the case was archived in July 2008, leaving the McCanns to continue their search for their daughter on their own.
They hired private detectives to continue the investigation, but it wasn't until 2011 that Scotland Yard launched its own inquiry, known as Operation Grange.
The senior investigating officer on the case announced that he was treating Madeleine's disappearance as "a criminal act by a stranger," most likely a planned abduction or burglary gone wrong.
Scotland Yard released e-fit images of men they wanted to trace, including one of a man seen carrying a child toward the beach on the night Madeleine vanished.
The Portuguese police reopened their inquiry shortly after this, and Operation Grange continued to pursue a small number of inquiries described in April 2017 as significant.
But it wasn't until 2020 that there was a major development in the case.
Police in the German city of Braunschweig announced that there was a new suspect in Madeleine's disappearance.
Public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters was convinced that this individual had abducted and murdered the child, but as of yet, no one has been charged in connection with the case.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann remains one of the most high-profile missing person cases in modern history.
The search for the truth continues, and the McCanns remain determined to find out what happened to their daughter.