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.
That's an admission of guilt in my book.
Selfish beyond words.
Excellent point!
What a crock. The corrupt Portugese police using rumor and innuendo to deflect their own imcompetence.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=461111&in_page_id=1770
The detective leading the hunt for Madeleine McCann has sensationally been charged over his conduct in another missing child case.
Goncalo Amaral, head of the regional Judicial Police, is one of five officers accused over the beating-up of a suspect during questioning.
[dna taken from the body fluids found in the trunk of the car would divulge proof that the child was deceased ]
To my knowledge, DNA provides no indication of life/death status.
But the article says the hair was found in a car not rented until 25 days after the girl disappeared...where could they hide a body for a month? They would have had to have access to a freezer.
It is bothersome that the mother reportedly said that "they took her". Most people would probably say 'missing' or 'we can't find her', indicating some sort of search.
The rental car stuff makes no sense. Very strange indeed.
You are exactly right. Same reaction I had. They are covering something.
I don’t believe anything the police say in this case. They assume so much with questionable proof...
They don’t seem to consider that this child very well could have been snatched as part of a child dirty deeds ring..
Can we say Aruba? Smacks of the same degree of bungling.
One theory is that they used the church some how.
They were granted 24 hour access to the place - often on their own.
I’ve no idea how they did it, and a part of me still wants to believe she is still alive. But the more I learn the more I fear.
And I’ve not jumped on the media band wagon - I had little sympathy for the parents because of my anger at their complete stupidity.
Also there was an idea she was tossed in a sewer hole.
The McCanns went to the press and complained about their incompetence...and it made them furious.
IMO
The truth will come out....it always does.......whoever helped them will talk...or one of them will crack....
Sure, there are people who could find someone, no doubt about it. But I look at those two and... It's just very hard to believe.
Well, you know, strangers. They may harm the children.
HOWEVER, it's possible this challenge was made because they were reacting to the police repeatedly accusing them of murder. Between a sensationalist media and police bound and determined to pin the murder of their child on them, the quote is probably out of context.
When was the last time that someone besides the parents saw the little girl (time lapse between her being seen in public and the time the parents claim she disappeared)?
Any speculation on what the sedative might have been (if at all)? Are we talking high power stuff that might have left a paper trail in procurement? Or over the counter stuff? I don’t know about the UK but in Portugal I think there is pretty good access to strong meds over the counter. If they obtained drugs through their medical practice wouldn’t there be some record of that in the UK?
This whole police scenerio is ridiculous. First if she died of a drug overdose, where do the specks of blood come from? Do you bleed out when you o.d.? Losing your bowels and urinating I would understand, but blood? How did they hide the child that quickly and then let it sit for days? I would imagine the odor from a decomposing body would be pretty strong. I for one know I could never ever in a million years be able to function if I were covering up the death of a child, accidental or not. Family member or friend, it would not matter. I would be a complete wreck and not be able to live with it. You are not going to tell me now that there are multiply people involved in this cover-up, all parents themselves and none of them cracked already. How could a persons own DNA not be a 100% match? I read that the DNA was in the 88% range, that to me would most likely be a relative. These detective seem to me to be grasping at straws.
Well, it's been four months and they've had time to get used to the idea she's dead, so their going on to worry about their own well-being isn't too hard to understand.
And that worry may be justified: the way the Portugese authorities are mentioning both drugs and blood (neither of which follows logically from the other) makes it look like they're desperately manufacturing a case from whatever scraps come to hand.
I just don’t know what to think about all this. I do know that leaving the children alone is unforgivable.
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