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Posted on 09/15/2007 2:40:29 PM PDT by UKrepublican
MADELEINE: 'BODY THROWN INTO THE SEA'
Police fear that the body of Madeleine McCann will never be found and only a confession by her parents can convict them of killing her.
The startling revelations came as officers told of their worries that her body was dumped far out to sea in a bag weighted down with stones. Detectives are convinced she is dead and believe her remains are now gone for ever, a vital piece of missing evidence which seriously weakens their case against Kate and Gerry McCann.
For the first time, police chiefs in Portugal are admitting that the allegedly damning DNA evidence they have gathered in the couple’s apartment and hire car may not be enough to bring charges against them. A senior source in the Policia Judiciaria, which has led the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine on May 3, 135 days ago, said only a confession could now bring a conviction.
Investigators believe the body of the youngster, who would now be four years old, was most probably thrown off a British-owned yacht out at sea after being moved from a hiding place. They are now working on the theory that Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39-year-old doctors, received help from accomplices to move the body and cover up the crime, despite intense scrutiny.
The seven friends on holiday with the McCanns at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz are expected to be questioned again by detectives investigating the accomplice theory. All the friends deny any wrongdoing.
The news came amid startling developments yesterday, including the apparent discovery of blood in an apartment next door to that used by the McCanns. Detectives believe the apartment holds the key to where Madeleine’s body could have been stored in the hours after she went missing.
The discovery was revealed after reports claimed that Madeleine died following an overdose of sedatives. Police are working on the theory that the youngster was repeatedly drugged by her parents – an allegation Kate and Gerry McCann vehemently deny.
Detectives have asked British forensic experts to look for evidence the toddler was given pills on the night she disappeared and earlier occasions.
As Kate and Gerry McCann left their £600,000 home in Rothley, Leics, for a meeting with their solicitors in London, a senior Policia Judiciaria officer told of his misgivings about the case. The officer, who declined to be named, revealed that the absence of a body meant detectives only had forensic evidence and information from interrogations to build a case.
The admission comes only two days after the McCanns went on the offensive after being named official suspects, issuing a challenge to detectives: “Find the body and prove we killed her.”
The senior officer in the Policia Judiciaria admitted that the McCanns’ stance could destroy the case because detectives have “nothing concrete”. He admitted officers were still struggling to piece together events on the afternoon and evening of May 3. In particular, detectives have so far been unable to uncover the chain of events from 2pm until 10.41pm when the police were eventually called after Kate McCann said her daughter was missing.
“There are a lot of clues, signs and indications, but without more elements it’s impossible for us to determine what happened in those vital hours,” the officer said. “Even if the blood and traces gathered in the car or the apartment were confirmed to correspond 100 per cent to the little girl’s DNA, that wouldn’t prove anything.
“Those elements could only confirm – and at the moment we don’t even have that – that the little girl was in the apartment, which is plainly obvious, and in the car. In either of the cases, nothing would prove homicide, just that the body of the little girl had been transferred in the vehicle.”
The officer admitted that a number of fundamental questions remained to be answered, confirming the views of the McCanns’ high-powered legal team that the Portuguese authorities are a long way from presenting a strong case.
The officer went on: “We don’t know if Madeleine is dead and, if she is, how it all happened. Was she strangled? Could she have been beaten? They are all questions only the parents could clarify in an eventual confession.”
Kate and Gerry McCann strenuously reject claims of being involved in Madeleine’s death and disposing of her body, and challenged detectives on Wednesday to find their daughter and prove they killed her. A close friend said: “The legitimate question to ask Portuguese police is: Where is the body? Where is the evidence that Madeleine is dead?”
The case against the McCanns detailed in a dossier now before Judge Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias appears to rest mainly on potentially damaging forensic test results. These are said to include Madeleine’s DNA in traces of bodily fluid, as well as a mass of hair, discovered in the McCanns’ hire car which was rented 25 days after she vanished.
Portugal’s attorney general has indicated the investigation still has some way to go and suggested stricter bail conditions could be imposed on the couple. On Tuesday public prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses ordered the 10 police files in the case to go before the judge.
In an effort to find a body, it is expected that fresh searches will be ordered in Praia da Luz, focusing on areas where roadworks were taking place when Madeleine disappeared. Officers are also expected to begin searching several sea-front locations, including caves and grottoes.
Police have already investigated a vessel owned by an English sailor in Lagos, 15 minutes’ drive from Praia da Luz. A source close to the case said: “One of the most credible possibilities would involve the body having been thrown in a sack of stones from a yacht.”
The yacht which came under police scrutiny was investigated after a computer owned by the only other suspect, expat Robert Murat, 33, was analysed and found to mention the sailor. Other theories suggest Madeleine’s body was disposed of at one of several waste incinerators.
The McCanns have already been advised by their British lawyers that the Portuguese would have difficulty prosecuting them if they do not find their daughter’s body. Portuguese police admit they fear no judge will allow the case to go to court without that key piece of evidence.
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If the parents killed Madeleine, why wouldn't they kill her siblings?
Suspect that they were stupid to go off to have tapas without getting a babysitter, but that they didn't murder their own child.
I was under the assumption that the dna taken from the body fluids found in the trunk of the car would divulge proof that the child was deceased when placed in the car.
Nobody knows if the child was murdered. But it was rumored [never proven] that the parents, both doctors, sedated the children to keep them quiet while they went out.
Nobody knows if the child was murdered. But it was rumored [never proven] that the parents, both doctors, sedated the children to keep them quiet while they went out.
Oh, and that Madeleine over dosed.
The theory is they may have accidently overdosed her with sleeping pills.
There was a childminding services - which they never used.
There’s plenty of reason to suspect them.
I have a feeling they had something to do with it, but I have a feeling it was an accident that they/or one of them has covered up.
I think this is weird: “The admission comes only two days after the McCanns went on the offensive after being named official suspects, issuing a challenge to detectives: ‘Find the body and prove we killed her.’”
Find the body? If it were my child and I didn’t murder him or her, I’d be so insulted that the police were narrowing the investigation and concluding that she was dead. If I didn’t kill this little girl and I had nothing else to go on, I’d be thinking Madeleine was maybe still alive. I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to tell someone, “Find the body.”
There’s a lot of speculation.
Rumour is that alot her hair was found in the boot, right in the spare tyre compartment.
“body was disposed of at one of several waste incinerators. “
Tossed in the sea? Incinerators?
wow , they really have it narrowed down.
PS - why would they wait 30 days to dispose of the body? why dont they test the other kids for the same sedative which presumably they also would have been administered.
I haven’t followed this case that closely up to now, but have the parents volunteered to take (or taken) a lie detector test?
To me, this is one of the scenarios that makes the most sense to me. I don’t think the parents killed the child on purpose - it seems logical to me that she might have accidentally died from an overdose of drugs given to her to make her sleep while they went off and had dinner. Because they are doctors, they realized that an autopsy would show this to be the cause of death & they decided to hide the body and report that she was “missing”. If friends helped them, then that would explain why the girl’s body wasn’t found during a search after the police were called.
That makes sense to me, because the parents obviously weren’t candidates for “Parents of the Year” by leaving 3 very young children alone while they went out to dinner with friends. It makes more sense than any other explanation does.
Appreciated. Your information does explain how they could have unintentionally killed their kid—and now they’re not brave enough to own up to it.
That is the disconnect that I see in the story.
By hiding the body for a month and disposing of it elevates the crime. I’m having a hard time imagining it.
That does seem strange, and doesn’t look good for the parents (challenging the detectives to find a body). Parents should hope that their child is still alive if there is a chance of that, and even if they are extremely cynical, they should want the return of their child’s body for burial or cremation (seems popular in the UK—solely from BBC readings).
I have heard on FR that they refused a polygraph. But I have not read it yet in the news.
Yeo - You’ve got to consider also - it would have to be an extraordinary coincidence that their child is snatched on the ‘apparently’ onwe night they leave them alone (oh and left the door unlocked and all the other locks in the apartment):
Either
a) A tragic coincidence that some sicko stumbles upon their unlocked apartment and home alone children
b) Some sicko has actively stalked them and taken advantage of their stupidity.
I just can’t believe that is what happened.
- Why were the doors unlocked?
Why did she clean that toy? (phycologists say most parents wouldnt’ - because they want the smell of their child nearby)
- Why did she straight away say ‘someone has taken my child’
- Also, why did it take nearly 40 mins for them to call the police?
That’s the tip of the iceberg for me.
It just doesn’t add up, and our media has been kissing ass for too long and not asking these tough questions.
It seems no other (outside of the family) DNA was found in her bed, and the only reported dna that has been found is in a hire car they used AFTER she dissapeared, reportedly in the boot.
More than likely they would lose their other children.
That’s an overwhelming motive, IMO.
They really don’t have a clue what happened, do they.
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