Portugese Police Name Kate McCann, the Mother of Missing Madeleine McCann, as Suspect in Girl’s Disappearance (Update: Gerry McCann as well)
Four year old Madeleine McCann went missing four months ago while she and her family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal. After all the investigation, after all the searching for missing Madeleine McCann, Portuguese police are about to do the unthinkable. The mother of Madeleine McCann is about to be named a suspect in the disappearance of her daughter.
The mother of a British girl who disappeared four months ago in southern Portugal is to be named a formal suspect in the case Friday, a family spokesman said, a shocking twist to a case that has gripped much of Europe. Kate McCann was questioned for almost 11 hours on Thursday, and is due back at a police station in Portimao, a town in Portugal’s Algarve region, later Friday morning, family spokesman David Hughes told The Associated Press. (FOX NEWS)
Madeleine: Blood In Parents’ Car?
Portuguese police have suggested to Kate McCann that traces of her daughter’s blood were found in a car the family hired 25 days after the girl went missing, a family friend said.
Mrs McCann, who is being questioned again by police, fears she will be charged today over the death of Madeleine.
In this bizarre turn of events, after all the efforts put forth by the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, either this is one of the most strange efforts by parents to find their missing child or the Portugese police have blown it. Kate McCann was questioned for over 10 hours. Both Kate and Gerry McCann have denied any involvement in their daughters disappearance.
After Mrs McCann was questioned for over 11 hours yesterday, the McCann’s lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu, insisted she was interviewed only as a witness.
Portuguese laws severely restrict what those privy to an investigation may say publicly, but Mrs McCann is said to be “amazed and concerned” by the news that her status has changed.
Previously Kate McCann and her husband Gerry had always met police together and officials described the meetings as informal. Both have denied any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.
But yesterday Mrs McCann was interviewed alone and Mr McCann is expected to be interviewed separately at around 2pm today. (The UK Telegraph)
What does it mean under Portuguese law to make one a suspect?
Under Portuguese law, an arguido has certain legal protection that is not extended to a witness, including the right to remain silent during questioning and the right to legal representation.
It is not uncommon for people caught up in criminal investigations in Portugal to declare themselves arguidos in order to receive this protection.
The family spokesman said: “Just before the session ended last night, they made it clear they had some further questions to ask which would require her to be in arguido status rather than just witness status.”
Madeleine’s mother to be declared suspect
The sudden shift in the investigation came after authorities received forensic evidence from the holiday apartment in the Algarve where Madeleine vanished on May 3.
Timeline: The disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Kate McCann ‘to be declared a police suspect’
Towards the end of the grilling, the Portuguese police told Mrs McCann that they planned to declare her the second “arguida”, or formal suspect, to be named in the four month investigation into the toddler’s disappearance.
The news emerged from Justine McGuinness, the spokeswoman of Kate and Gerry McCann, who told Reuters this morning: “She will be formally declared a suspect.”
Discuss the case at Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum
UPDATE I: Gerry McCann expected to be named suspect as well
Family spokesman David Hughes told The Associated Press she had been told she would be formally named as a suspect.
“They told her last night that it would happen today. That’s definite,” he said.
Madeleine’s father, Gerry McCann, also was expected to meet with police later in the afternoon and a friend of the family, Clarence Mitchell, told the AP that he too would be named as a formal suspect.
The couple has maintained their innocence throughout.
UPDATE II: GERRY MCCANN DECLARED A FORMAL SUSPECT
[...] for 4 months. In a bizarre twist of events, Portuguese police have named Madeleine’s mother, Kate McCann, a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance. Share [...]
Pingback by Missing Madeleine McCann Shocker … Kate McCann Named as Suspect in Maddys Disappearance | Scared Monkeys | September 7, 2007
Hmmmmmmm not sure what I think about this one! On one hand I think it is ridiculous to think that the couple would have accidently killed their own daughter and then lied about a kidnapping to cover it up…………and then…..on the other hand, isn’t there some sort of mental illness (can’t remember the name of it) where the mother of a child will harm the child repeatedly for attention?? I will be interested to see how this all plays out.
Comment by Sandy | September 9, 2007
it’s called Munchhausen Syndrom by Proxy. It’s not really that ridiculous for them to try to cover it up by making up the story about a kidnapping. Susan Smith did it, remember? That little girl was so beautiful, it breaks my heart to think that a mother could even accidentally kill a child. sad times.
Comment by Kim | September 13, 2007
i think that her parents killed her. u can tell they am not even bovered
Comment by rachel | July 4, 2008
[...] family was vacationing in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The Portuguese police name Maddy’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann suspects in her [...]
Pingback by Portugal Officials Open Missing Madeleine McCann Case File … Detectives Lied about DNA Evidence | Scared Monkeys | August 4, 2008
This another set of parents that one or the other killed her, or she got into the parents drugs and died and they are covering it up. I pray that she’s alive, but honestly 4 months and noone has come forward to say they have the little girl. Or no one has seen her except 1 person. I read alot of crime magazines, books and watch real police stories shows and I peronally believe she is dead and they will never find her little body.
Comment by Le Etta | August 8, 2008