Here are two fairly current news reports. ==================================================== http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/04/nmaddy04.xml Media 'may have scared Madeleine kidnapper' By Richard Edwards and Fiona Govan in Praia da Luz Last Updated: 2:01am BST 05/06/2007 Police in Portugal believe that Madeleine McCann may be in the hands of a kidnapper who has not issued a ransom demand because of the intense media coverage of her disappearance. Detectives said the abductor may have "panicked" because of the worldwide response to the case of the missing child, who was taken from her bedroom in the resort of Praia da Luz a month ago. In the first hint that the coverage of Madeleine's disappearance may have inadvertently hampered the investigation, Olegario Sousa, a spokesman for the Judicial Police, said: "Who would ask for money for the girl when her image is running around the world?" Kate and Gerry McCann have said the family would pay any sum to get the four-year-old back. "If we thought it would secure her safe return, we would sell our house, we would do anything to get our daughter back," Mr McCann said. Meanwhile it was reported yesterday that the police investigation was refocusing on Morocco after a series of "significant" mobile phone conversations were picked up by the British Government's Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham. The calls - all in Arabic and made on a Spanish pay-as-you-go phone - were said to have referred to "the little blonde girl" and were made last week. They talked about Mr and Mrs McCann meeting the Pope. Intelligence officers also picked up repeated references to a German man, and discussions about Morocco, Holland and Germany. The Arab-speakers talked about ferry crossings from the Spanish port of Tarifa, three hours from Praia da Luz. There are regular crossings from Tarifa to Tangiers in Morocco. Mr and Mrs McCann had not been officially briefed on the report. A source said: "They read it with interest but they are awaiting concrete developments from police rather than following every potential lead and continued speculation." In a joint statement released yesterday, the parents said: "It is incredibly difficult not having Madeleine here. As every week becomes a month, we still believe she is out there and alive and we remain and determined that we will find her with everyone's help." Portuguese police are pinning their hopes on the results of more than 200 DNA samples collected. They have discovered the DNA profile of a "stranger" in the bedroom where Madeleine was abducted on May 3. Sources said it was not that of Robert Murat, the formal suspect in the case. Police are now cross checking it against all the friends who were holidaying with the McCanns in the Algarve and all staff at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz where they stayed. The sample is also being sent to the UK to be run through the DNA criminal database. The investigation by Portuguese police is thought to be one of the most expensive undertaken in the country. Mr Sousa said: "Human life does not have a price and we will continue until we find Madeleine." Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 931 2921 or email syndication@telegraph.co.uk ==================================================== http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...WAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/06/01/wmaddy101.xml The 15 key blunders By Richard Edwards Last Updated: 2:29am BST 02/06/2007 Four weeks after Madeleine went missing, the police investigation into her disappearance still appears to be suffering from the “basic errors†made in first few hours. 1 Police were at the scene quickly but officers played down suggestions that Madeleine had been abducted and believed she had just wandered off. The crime scene in and around the hotel was not taped off, ruining prospects of obtaining vital forensic evidence. 2 There was a lack of specialist fingertip searching in streets around the hotel meaning more opportunities to find forensic evidence were lost. A former senior British detective working for the media called the scene "the worst preserved" he had witnessed in his career. 3 Officers failed to make early house-to-house inquiries when potential witnesses were still likely to be in the resort. Only on the Saturday, more than 48 hours later, did they start searching some local apartments and a full list of guests was obtained on Sunday. Staff at Mark Warner's complex were only questioned 60 hours after Madeleine disappeared. 4 There are still people in the same apartment block as Mr and Mrs McCann who have never been questioned. Empty properties yards from where the child was taken have never been searched. 5 Police failed to inform Spanish border authorities of Madeleine's disappearance until the morning after she was taken - giving the abductor the chance to flee the country. 6 CCTV on the main road out of Praia da Luz, going towards Spain, was not checked by police. 7 Early witness descriptions created confusion. At one stage there were six different E-fit images being shown to local people. 8 On the morning of May 7, Gerry and Kate McCann issued a televised appeal direct to the abductor. Six hours later, a police chief said at a press conference: "We are not 100 per cent certain she was abducted." 9 Detectives could not issue information on the investigation due to strict Portuguese laws on "judicial secrecy". However the law includes two exceptions, both of which apply in the case of Madeleine. 10 It meant no direct appeal for help was made and police failed to give a clear description of Madeleine. There were no posters put up in the early days. It was left to Madeleine's parents to describe what she as wearing on the night she disappeared. 11 An appeal for a suspect was finally issued 22 days after Madeleine went missing, together with a description. However police made another blunder by issuing two different height descriptions - the result of a mistranslation. 12 On May 9 the search was scaled down \u2026 searches were not very visible, helicopter not used much. 13 There was a delay in calling in specialists. Two British child abduction experts were flown in a week later, mobile phone tracker technicians who helped in the Soham investigation came in last week. 14 Leaks have hampered the inquiry. On May 16, Portuguese newspapers reported that police were "on the trail" of a Russian friend of Robert Murat, the formal suspect in the case. He was only detained for questioning after he had been traced by journalists. 15 Madeleine's favourite toy could have been a crucial key in tracking her down. She took it to bed with her every night including the night she was taken. The abductor could have left some trace of DNA evidence on it, but police did not check and Mrs McCann has had the pink soft toy with her ever since. One specialist said scientists would have needed to examine it for at least several days. He said: "Now it's probably too late. It's an absolute glaring error." ==================================================== ACR
Excellent articles ACR! Wouldn't little Maddy stand out like a sore thumb? Didn't someone here say that? There has to be someone that knows something about her where abouts? What do people that kidnap children use as an excuse for a child being around them? I tell you, if either of my kids had been kidnapped at that age, they would have been scared beyond repair but they would have cried and screamed for me at the tops of their lungs. Which makes me think that little Maddy was either drugged or maybe killed early on. Makes me sick. Makes me sick that I'm afraid she's never coming home.
I agree. I believe that she wandered off too. I think that she may have went looking for her parents, and somebody grabbed her. Because, I never could figure out how someone would know that she was left alone with her two siblings to start with. How would a kidnapper know that? How would the kidnapper know that she didn't have a babysitter in the room with her? It just makes more sense that she opened the door, and wandered away....and was grabbed. IMO
Is there a stupid cop school somewhere that every police force in the world sends at least one cop to? I am baffled by the blunders made in this case.
Because the kidnapper was watching-- knew their routine because they did this every night, knew they went back to the rooms to check on the kids every half hour. Maybe they overheard them talk as well about checking on the kids. It doesn't make sense that she wandered out and a kidnapper just happened to be in her path.
The DNA of the Maids at the hotel would be present in all the bedrooms, and they have a right to be there (?).
Madeleine's mother found a bedroom window open, Sabrina at 10 pm http://crimeshots.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6188&page=4
By the way, the journalist who has that blogspot that was posted earlier on this thread (link below) has updated his site with some interesting information regarding the overall investigation. http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure if his information is correct or not but one has to read all the information to determine what is correct or what is misinformation. ACR
AMES, You're welcome. Reviewing the list makes me sadder. The apartment should have been considered a crime scene and taped off asap. There's no telling whose DNA was in the apartment. That and the fact that valuable evidence may have been trampled on.
AMES, That's a thought. I've not considered her wandering off but it sure is feasible. It's certainly not unusual for a young child to wake up and wander off looking for her mommy and daddy. What terrible luck for Maddy if that happened and the one person who found her was a child molester, kidnapper, pedophile. Good point about the kidnapper. How would he/she know that Maddy had siblings and why would the kidnapper take her from between her sister and brother? That seems a stretch imo.
becca, hey! Evidently such a school exist. Moab beat me to it....the Boulder Cop School Of Blunders. (Of course Steve Thomas didn't attend THAT school.) lol
They share office space with the Boulder School of Massage Therapy, a very well-respected institution.
Thank you, BJ. I read Paulo's update. Sad incident with his fathers little Pekenese dog, Saico, being attacked by a pit bull, which held his reporting up. He seems to be at loggerheads with a few people. He did make a mistake about the time Madeleine was found missing. He has 1O:00 am instead of 10:00 pm. I let him know, so he can correct that.
Ames I also thought of Maddy wandering off by herself. They say she was a feisty little thing, and begged to go on "runs" with her parents, which they would not allow. She might have decided, with her four-year-old sense of independence, to just go outside and take a walk by herself after the other babies fell asleep. The room door was unlocked. It calls to my mind the recent case of a missing college student. He got drunk at a party on the school grounds, headed for his dorm, and disappeared. They had many fruitless searches for him. Months later, his body was found in the electrical plant of the school. No foul play. He opened the wrong door, staggered in, and was electrocuted. Given the supposed incompetence of some of the Portuguese investigators, I have to wonder how thoroughly the entire sprawling resort complex was searched. There are many places where an inquisitive child could have entered in and could have become trapped.
Received a very nice e-mail from Paulo Reis. He was very pleased that I sent him an e-mail. The fact that it was the time relating to when her mother found her missing that was wrong, I felt he would want to correct that. He seems like a very nice person.
It could have happened like this Lurker, with the door being left open (?). About the young college student. I'm still puzzled. A door to the electrical plant should have been locked, so someone was very neglectful here. Where was he lying when he was actually found? Is there a url with any more news on this?
Elle, The door to the electrical plant of the university was NOT locked. Can you believe such a mistake was made? The young man walked in, thinking it was an entrance to a building on campus and he was immediately electrocuted. His family and students of the college were devastated.
This is what I'm having trouble with. I know the young man had too much to drink, but just opening the door and walking in (?). It seems the maintenance man who looks after the electrical plant would have died too, by just opening the door and walking in (?). I need more information. :-( Was the last fellow there wearing a special outfit, and he just walked away without locking the door? What happened to the last fellow who was in this electrical plant?
