A German woman who was investigated as part of a Portuguese and British police "hit-and-run" theory about the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann says she was not aware she had been treated as a suspect.
The woman told reporters she was working at a restaurant near the Praia da Luz beach in the Algarve on the night Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, and returned home at about 10:30 p.m., after the time the girl’s parents discovered she was missing. She said Portuguese police searched her apartment in the days after the disappearance and that she was later contacted by German police, who asked whether she knew or had seen Christian B, a German national who has since become the prime suspect in the case.
Authorities in Portugal and the United Kingdom at one stage pursued a line of inquiry that considered whether Madeleine — who vanished while asleep in a ground-floor holiday apartment in Praia da Luz — might have woken, left the apartment and been struck by a vehicle. The woman said she had no car at the time and denied any involvement in such an incident.
Sky News reported it had located and interviewed the woman after Portuguese media published details suggesting investigators had at one point sought to probe her movements. The Portuguese report said the inquiry stalled when German authorities declined to deploy an undercover officer to follow up. The woman told Sky News she had not known she was named in those reports and questioned why friends and others in the area had not informed her.
The Metropolitan Police — which launched Operation Grange in 2011 to review the original inquiry — said it continued to support Madeleine’s family and work with colleagues in Germany and Portugal. "This includes working with our colleagues in Germany and Portugal. Our thoughts remain with the family and it would be inappropriate to comment further while enquiries continue," a Met spokesperson said.
German and Portuguese prosecutors have focused in recent years on Christian B, a German national previously convicted of sexual offences, who was serving a prison sentence in Germany for an unrelated rape. German authorities have said they consider him the only suspect in the case and have described him as dangerous. Hans Christian Wolters, a German prosecutor working on the investigation, has said a psychiatric assessment concluded Christian B posed a risk of reoffending and that investigators believe he was responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance and death; the suspect denies involvement.
Local residents and former neighbours, some of whom were interviewed by media outlets, have expressed concern about Christian B’s impending release from custody and German authorities have sought court restrictions to limit his movements after release, including measures such as an electronic tag, curfew or travel ban.
The McCanns and their friends were dining at a tapas restaurant on the evening Madeleine disappeared, leaving the three children in the ground-floor apartment about 55 metres away. The parents made periodic checks until the girl was noticed missing at around 10 p.m. One version of the hit-and-run theory posits that Madeleine may have left the flat to search for her parents and could have been struck by a vehicle on a nearby road. Kate McCann has long disputed that scenario, saying in her 2011 book Madeleine that it would be implausible for a three-year-old to have opened curtains, unlocked a patio door, negotiated multiple gates and closed them behind her.
The German woman said she was questioned on several occasions over more than a year, and at one point asked to provide the SIM card from a phone she had used while in Portugal. She recounted losing patience during a second police search of her home when an officer asked her to empty her freezer, asking, "Do you think I've cut her up in little pieces and I'm going to have her for dinner?" The woman said relatives of her late partner, who worked at the restaurant and served the McCann party on the night, had also been approached by investigators.
Police activity in Praia da Luz in 2007 involved numerous searches and inquiries among local residents. Investigators have revisited several lines of enquiry over the years as new information and developments emerged. Madeleine McCann’s disappearance remains one of the highest-profile missing-person cases in recent European history, with British and Portuguese authorities continuing to coordinate with German counterparts as they pursue outstanding leads.