Her face with the big clear eyes had gone around the world. 15 years after the disappearance of little Maddie, a suspect has been indicted in Germany at the request of Portuguese justice. The disappearance of the little British girl had caused an international stir in May 2007. The almost 4-year-old was abducted and killed where she was vacationing with her parentsin the seaside resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal.
The suspect, whose identity has not been confirmed, was charged on Wednesday. The 45-year-old man is in custody in Kiel, in northern Germany, for another case of rape committed in the same region of southern Portugal in 2005 on a 72-year-old American woman.
German authorities say they have evidence since 2020
This twist comes as the German authorities claim since 2020 to have evidence of the murder of little Maddie, after having identified a German repeat pedophile, “Christian B.”, as the main suspect. According to German investigators, he lived at the material time a few kilometers from the hotel where the child disappeared.
After 14 months of controversial investigations, marked in particular by the indictment of the parents, before they were cleared, Portuguese police closed the case in 2008 before reopening the case five years later. But it took until June 2020 for the case to be revived.