One of the biggest unsolved mysteries of our time is the one that surrounds Madeleine McCann.
Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) disappeared on the evening of 3 May 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal, sparking what one newspaper called “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
A joke between friends though has Gone Viral after one girl claimed that is actually Madeleine McCann!
Harriet Brookes was messaging her friend to make the claim after she noticed she had some amazing resemblances to the child that has been missing for 14 years.
Screenshots of the chat were posted on Twitter by her friend Elizabeth and her claims they soon went Viral.
The first piece of Harriets evidence was a photo she posted of herself as a child, next to a picture of Madeleine. It must be said the girls have a striking resemblance.
The most relevant piece of evidence, or as Harriet described it “exhibit B” is something that lies in Harriets eyes.
An extract from Wikipedia that she posted, along with the picture of her as a child, shows Madeleine has a brown spot on the iris of her eye and a brown spot on her left leg. Something that Harriet has as well.
The twitter post has amassed over 30,000 retweets since it was shared but…………….. it isn’t true.
Harriet is a University student and when Madeleine disappeared in 2007 she was just 3 years old meaning she would be 14 now. The most crucial thing in all this though is that Harriet is a completely different person!
It’s been an interesting week in the case of Madeleine McCann. A few days ago a woman was identified by a criminologist as “The woman in purple”. A mystery woman who the police are said to have been searching for.
The hunt continues though as the lady in question, Luisa Todorov, has denied it has anything to do with her.
Todorov is believed to live in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, less than a mile from where Maddie disappeared.
Luisa, 58, has insisted the woman in purple is not her even though she worked at the resort where the McCanns were staying. She also says she has not been approached by Scotland Yard detectives at any point.
She told the Mirror newspaper:“I’ve no idea about any woman in purple. It wasn’t me. I spoke to the police a long time ago about the Madeleine case.
“I don’t really want to talk about it, nobody around here does, it brings back lots of bad memories.
“Nobody knows what happened to her. If the British police want to speak to me that’s fine, but I don’t know anything.”
A woman in purple was supposedly seen by two separate witnesses standing outside the apartment from where Maddie disappeared.
Luisa, who now uses her maiden name Camara on social media, was identified by Criminologist Heriberto Janosch Gonzalez as the woman in purple.
Five days after Madeleines disappearance, the restaurant worker and her husband Stefan gave a statement to Portuguese police.
Her husband Stefan worked in the kitchens at the Ocean Club resort but is believed to have returned to Bulgaria without being questioned.
They both completely deny being involved in the alleged abduction of Madeleine McCann and were only interviewed as witnesses. The parents of Maddie, Kate and Gerry McCann who live in Rothley, Leicestershire, have never given up on finding their daughter who would now be 14.
She vanished from the ground floor apartment while they were dining in a near by restaurant with friends.
A huge police investigation was launched but despite this there have been no sightings of her in more than a decade.
There’s been many theories around the disappearance a couple of them we’ll talk about below:
1. Coverup by her parents (who are not suspects in the case)
At the start of the investigation, the Polícia Judiciária (Portuguese Police) suspected her parents were involved with the disappearance of Maddie. Detectives didn’t believe her mums claims that she was abducted through the apartments bedroom window as, as they (incorrectly) said the window shutters could only be opened from the inside. Also there was no reported forensic evidence of anyone climbing through the window of the apartment.
The original lead detective on the case, Goncalo Amaral, told the BBC in 2012, “All the clues showed there weren’t signs of someone breaking into that apartment. There is no evidence that the window that Kate McCann told the police was open was indeed open. As far as the abduction is concerned, the possibility of an abduction is materially impossible.”
To assist with the search two cadaver dogs (specialist dogs who can trace bodies) were brought in to search the McCann’s apartment and hire car. Both dogs reacted to minute traces of blood, and one dog even grabbed Madeleine’s favorite stuffed animal. The McCanns have always maintained their innocence.
2. Burglary gone wrong
There had been a number of burglaries in Praia da Luz before the McCann family arrived at the resort. This led British investigators to believe Madeleine’s disappearance might have been in connection with a burglary gone wrong. According to Heriberto Janosch, three burglaries with the same actions (the opening of a side window) occurred on the block of the apartment where the McCanns were staying in the weeks leading up to her abduction.
A BBC documentary claimed that three local men came to the centre of the British police’s investigation in 2014. Going off phone records which contained texts and phone calls that aligned with the time of the night Madeleine disappeared Scotland Yard made a formal request to question the three men. They denied any involvement with the disappearance.
The former president of the Polícia Judiciária Officers Union, Carlos Anjos, told BBC, “This burglary theory is absurd. Not even a wallet disappeared, no television disappeared, nothing else disappeared. A child disappeared.”
Whatever the reason for the disappearance of Maddie, it looks like this mystery will continue for years to come.
