New details have emerged regarding the German suspected of disappearing 3-year-old Madeleine McCann, including that he was known at the time for stealing “holiday hotels and apartments,” according to a recent report.
A recently broadcast “48-hour” segment from CBS investigates the 13-year case involving McCann, a British girl who was on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz in May 2007, when she disappeared from her hotel room. she and her brothers were sleeping.
The lengthy investigation into who took McCann, who disappeared just before his fourth birthday, has puzzled the UK – and much of the world – for years. Her parents said Madeleine disappeared after they left her and her twin brothers sleeping in their vacation complex while having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
Christian Brueckner (Getty Images); Madeleine McCann (leaflet)
At the time, the police said that the suspect, described as white, with short blond hair and a slim figure, was attached to a camping van seen in the Algarve in 2007 and would be in the resort area days before and after May 3 that year.
In June 2020, British authorities announced that a German had been identified as a suspect and was later identified by the authorities as Christian Brueckner, or “Christian B.” Brueckner is 43 years old and was in the tourist area of Praia da Luz, on the Algarve coast, when McCann disappeared, on May 3, 2007.
MADELEINE MCCANN TIPS FLOOD AFTER NEW IDENTIFIED SUSPECT; PROBE IN ANOTHER GONE DISAPPEARED
Bruecker reportedly told a friend that he was drunk that he had information about McCann, according to Saturday’s “48 Hours” segment, “The Puzzle, Solving the Madeleine McCann Case”.
An informant went to the German authorities about Brueckner in 2017, and an investigation was launched.
“Christian B. is a … criminal who has committed many financially motivated crimes, such as theft or drug trafficking,” said criminal analyst Mark Hofmann during the segment. “But he also has a darker side.”
“He changed jobs from job to job. He changed from crime to crime,” added Hofmann.
Brueckner sexually abused a child in 1994 in Germany before moving to Portugal before serving a sentence in connection with the alleged crime, according to the report. After returning to the German to face his time, Brueckner returned to Portugal.
THE UNITED KINGDOM POLICE FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE SUSPECT OF MADELEINE MCCANN IN 2012, PORTUGUESE LAW OFFICER SAYS: REPORT
“He lived in a house about a mile from the crime scene,” said Hofmann.
View of the apartment block from which the British Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007, in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve coast of Portugal, Thursday, June 4, 2020. (AP Photo / Armando Franca)
(AP Photo / Armando Franca)
Hofmann said Brueckner was “known for hotel robberies”.
He unregistered his car in the days following McCann’s disappearance and returned to Germany shortly thereafter, according to the report.
MADELEINE MCCANN SUSPECTED OF SUFFERING BROKEN REINFORCEMENTS DURING THE INCIDENT IN GERMAN COURT
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters confirmed during the segment that Brueckner’s cell phone data put him in the area of the family’s vacation spot at the time McCann disappeared – but investigators are still working to confirm that Brueckner was the person who used his phone at the time.
“The phone number put Christian in the Ocean Club, but we have to find out who uses this phone right now. It was normally used by Christian B,” Wolters told 48 Hours. “But we don’t know who used it on May 3, 2007.”
Wolters said CBS investigators still need to track down and speak to the person who contacted Brueckner’s cell phone on the night of McCann’s disappearance, emphasizing that “he may be the only person who could confirm that, in fact, Christian B. was holding your cell phone … in your hand that night. “
He added, “And that would be proof that not only was his cell phone at the scene, but that he was at the scene.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Wolters said investigators managed to connect Brueckner to a Skype chat room for pedophiles in 2013, according to the report.
“We have strong evidence that Christian B. killed Maddie McCann,” said Wolters during the interview.
He noted that investigators have not yet recovered the girl’s body, but added: “We are sure that Christian B. murdered Madeleine McCann because of the evidence we have.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.