A fresh search effort has been launched for Madeleine McCann, a British toddler who disappeared from her family’s vacation rental in Portugal more than 18 years ago.
Police haven’t disclosed any evidence to explain why they decided to carry out a new search almost two decades later, but they were focusing Tuesday on land around a cottage previously used by the only suspect in the girl’s disappearance, a German man currently jailed in his home country for unrelated rape and sexual assault charges.
Dozens of agents from Germany’s leading domestic law enforcement agency were poring over the ground Tuesday in the Algarve, a southern Portugal region hugely popular with tourists, where Madeleine was last seen.
Search teams on Tuesday scoured undergrowth and an abandoned building, with police hoping to find evidence that could implicate the convicted German sex offender in her disappearance.
Metropolitan Police
Madeleine was just 3 years old when she vanished from an apartment on the Algarve coast where she was on holiday with her family, sparking unprecedented media coverage and a global campaign to find her.
A previous search of a lake near the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz in 2023 yielded no results, but on Tuesday, investigators were back in a part of nearby Lagos to hunt for clues.
Several police vehicles with Portuguese and German number plates as well as fire trucks were seen down a cordoned-off dirt road toward the search site, AFP journalists at the scene saw. Portuguese police said about 25 German investigators were present, with the investigation looking at an abandoned building in an overgrown wooded area.
PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty 
The new searches — carried out at the request of German authorities investigating Christian Brueckner, a convicted rapist who is suspected of having killed Madeleine — are expected to last until Friday.
According to the British tabloid The Sun, investigators are equipped with ground radar technology that can scan the ground down to a depth of 15 feet. The area includes a cottage where Brueckner was living and is dotted with wells and ditches, The Sun reported.
Christian Brueckner, the German suspect
A mobile phone registered in Brueckner’s name was traced close to the family’s accommodation on the night Madeleine went missing. He has always denied any role in her disappearance.
The 48-year-old is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence in Germany for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz. He is due to complete his sentence in September.
He was acquitted in October 2024 in Germany in a separate trial for two sexual assaults and three rapes committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
German authorities in 2020 said they were convinced Brueckner was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance, which has seen several false leads.
He has not been charged in connection with Madeleine’s case.
Michael Matthey/Pool/REUTERS 
Brueckner, who according to German media had a string of previous convictions, including for sexual offenses, assault and theft before he was convicted of rape, worked as an odd-job man during his 10 years in the Algarve. He also reportedly burgled hotel rooms and holiday apartments.
At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, he was living in a camper van.
On Tuesday, a journalist from Germany’s RTL television recounted his correspondence with Brueckner and how he had met him in prison.
Brueckner, the journalist said, complained that “half the world” considered him to be a “cruel rapist.” He said he wanted to eat steak and drink beer when he is released from prison.
A former neighbor in Portugal had told Britain’s Sky News in 2020 that Brueckner was “always a bit angry, driving fast up and down the lane, and then one day, around 2006, he just disappeared without a word.”
He returned to Germany in 2007 — the year Madeleine disappeared — settling in Hanover, but still spent time in Portugal.
On May 3, 18 years since their daughter’s disappearance, Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said they were still determined to find out what happened.
“The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to ‘leave no stone unturned’ is unwavering,” they wrote on the findmadeleine.com website. “We will do our utmost to achieve this.”
contributed to this report.