The Puzzle: Solving the Madeleine McCann Case | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] we have breaking news in one of the world's most infamous missing persons
Mysteries a German prisoner has been identified as a new suspect in The Disappearance of
Madeleine McCann from a holiday Resort in Portugal 13 years ago it is every parent's greatest fear
please please do not hear so please don't scare her please tell us where to find her
three-year-old Madeleine McCann taken from her bed with no clue left behind we don't know where she is we don't know
who's taking her and we don't know why a massive search a global media storm and an international investigation
days turned into months turned into years with no answers that hope is still there still hope that
we can find Madeleine it's a mystery that has been compared to a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces missing
until now the accused is a sex offender with several previous convictions who has already been convicted of sexual
abuse of children his name is Christian Bruckner he absolutely matches the profile of a
person who could potentially abduct and or kill a little girl like Madeleine McCann
was he anywhere near the resort where this crime took place he lived in a house around about one mile away from
where Madeleine was potentially abducted it's one part of the puzzle you can say
but there are some pieces missing for these puzzle to complete it his cell phone was tracked
at the crime scene or at least next to the crime scene the night Maddie disappeared
that call puts him in the area at the time the crime was committed on USB drives with pictures and videos
of child abuse it's when you put those things together you get that clearer Focus where the
jigsaw becomes much much more complete [Music] for the first time in 13 years I have to
say I actually felt here is a credible suspect [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign
[Music] Madeline is a beautiful bright funny and caring little girl she is so special
we need our Madeline and Madeline needs us please give our little girl back thank you
it's been more than a decade of waiting for Kate and Jerry McCann We Believe North Stone Unturned and the search for
her daughter Madeline years of searching since their daughter disappeared on May
3rd 2007. we have to be hopeful that's what keeps us going and keeps us focused now they finally may be closer to
finding out what happened to Madeline in June 2020 in Braunschweig Germany prosecutor Hans Christian vultures held
a press conference and made a stunning announcement German police had a suspect 43-year-old Christian Bruckner he also
had devastating news he declared that Madeleine McCann was likely dead it's been said that German
prosecutors are always very tight-lipped you must have some strong evidence that
allowed you to make that statement to the public we have strong evidence that Christian B killed Maddie McCann but you
don't have a body correct there's no body no we have we have no forensic evidence then how can
you be so certain we have other evidence just as German law does not allow vultures to use
bruckner's full name he also cannot say what that evidence is I heard the news that the Germans had a credible suspect
and my first thing was Here We Go Again Jim gamble was head of the UK's child exploitation and online protection
Center and involved in the early investigation Madeleine's case was complex over the years he has seen
countless leads end up as dead ends but this time he believes the Germans may be
on the right track everyone including myself who's touched this case is more hopeful
with the German case then then we've been in 13 years [Music] May of 2 -7 British doctors Jerry and
Kate McCann were on vacation with their family in Pria de luge a resort town in The Algarve region of Portugal
this Line's beautiful The Sun Shines beautiful Jane Hill is a BBC news anchor who covered Madeline's story it was just
a regular relaxed week in the Sun the five members of the McCann family including Madeline and her younger twin
brother and sister stayed at The Ocean Club they were joined by several other families
The Ocean Club resort was seen as a place where families went they'd gone there for Generations it was seen to be
family friendly and safe we're having a great holiday we had lots of fun especially fun for Madeleine she
might look like cat but in terms of Personality she's much more of a McCann she's very extroverted and Lively she's
very sociable but their idyllic holiday would soon come to an end on May 3rd at around 8 30 PM the McCants
left their sleeping children alone in their unlocked apartment and went to meet friends at the Resort's tapas bar
about 50 yards away that was their routine Behavior they'd been doing it all week and the friends
would take turns so every 15 minutes or so one of the adults from the group would would go back and just check on
their sleeping children and check that everything was okay at 10 pm when it was Kate's turn she found the twins sound
asleep but this bed Madeleine's bed was empty okay so to me Jane Madeleine's gone
Madeline's gone Jane Tanner was one of the friends who was dining with the mccanns it's the
least thing you'd ever think in a million years that you know a child is going to be abducted in a safe family
resort when Tanner heard that Madeleine had disappeared she says she remembered that
earlier in the evening as she walked near the ocean Club she passed a man who had caught her attention who has us
walking up the road this man was walking across the top of the road and carrying
a small child thing that I noticed the most was he was holding her and I could see the birth her bare feet and the
bottom of the pajamas Tanner told the Portuguese police what she had witnessed that night but investigators didn't
appear to take immediate action there was quite a laissez-faire attitude she's wandered off somewhere she's probably
got lost we'll find her she'll come back and that was one of the criticisms that
the police activity didn't really get going until the next day police in Portugal are investigating
claims that a three-year-old British girl has been abducted by that time Madeleine's disappearance was making
headlines across the world I'm Jane Hill live in The Algarve where there is still
no sign my editor took me off air the day after she disappeared and said get on a plane to Portugal Hill was one of
the first British journalists at the scene why did this capture people's attention so it is every parent's
nightmare isn't it in some ways Madeleine was more than a daughter to the mccanns she was their
Miracle unable to conceive the couple endured a series of grueling in vitro fertilization procedures until Kate
finally became pregnant with Madeline what was it like for Jerry and Kate when Madeline was born
and well they were walking on air quite frankly family friend John Corner spoke to 48 hours back in 2007. the bond
between Kate and Madeleine Musa is something amazing really foreign let her come home to her mommy daddy
brother and sister within days Madeleine's face fueled one of the largest International searches
for a missing child in history Madeleine's face became so familiar she became ubiquitous
oh it was heartbreaking because photographs were released that the family had taken
on that holiday it's obviously extremely difficult every day me and my team were there we just
watched The Press pack grow and grow and grow as the cameras followed the mccanns
everywhere it seemed Kate was never without Madeleine's pink stuffed animal well it's something that Madeline has of
it every night and if she's obsessed or not well then she has cuddle cats and so
it provided me with a little bit of comfort something of modeling close to me days passed and the mccanns grew
frustrated as the Portuguese police conducted their investigation and shared very little
Portuguese police are not allowed to reveal any details of an ongoing investigation not just to people like me
to the family involved [Music] and what happens when you have no information you get rumor gossip speculation
there was no proof of anything that's the trouble [Music] it's almost a week since Madeleine was
abducted from her holiday apartment the expab community in The Algarve were the first to join the search for
Madeleine and Six Days on they still feel compelled to carry on the hunt crud yesterday
crying now I'm just very upset upset about it there were rumors circulated all the
time I can't tell you what a rumor Millet was and you would think where is this coming from
a week after Madeleine's disappearance suspicion fell on a man who lived just down the street from where Madeleine had
vanished well you just saw me the one journalist tell me who is Robert Murat Robert Murat is a British expat who
lives in in prayer de Luz so he had local knowledge and he spoke Portuguese and engaged with a number of reporters
and others in proximity to the investigation and offered himself up to provide help by
way of translation or advice police quickly named Marat a suspect Witnesses say Marat showed up at the Ocean Club
after Madeleine disappeared and claimed he was acting suspiciously marat's mother said that wasn't possible they
couldn't have seen him it was almost like then the public began to turn on the mccanns for leaving their daughter alone
did it go from we feel so sorry for you too how could you have done that there were people saying that I recorded an
interview with a man from The Algarve tourist board he said I mean you keep an eye on your suitcase why would you not
keep an eye on your child it's a question Jane Hill had to raise when she became the first reporter to interview
Kate and Jerry McCann a lot of people in the last three weeks have said I can't imagine doing such a thing I wouldn't be
able to leave three children in that situation how do you deal with those sort of comments I think you know no one
will ever feel more guilty than us if you thought for a minute that someone could abduct your child of course she
would never have left them Portuguese investigators also began eyeing the mccanns
three months after Madeleine vanished specially trained sniffer dogs were flown in to scour the family's vacation
rental traces of blood were detected inside the apartment and in the trunk of the
McCann's rental car partial samples of the blood were recovered and sent to a British lab for
DNA testing but the results indicated that the blood found in the apartment did not belong to Madeleine
and the results from the DNA in the rental car were inconclusive well I've seen the letter from the
forensic science lab the forensic test didn't say this DNA is modeling McCann's because actually the full analysis of
that says that up to half the forensic scientists in the lab would have had similar DNA characteristics it was not a
complete DNA sample what's more the car wasn't actually retained by the mccanns until weeks after Madeleine had gone
missing and if you were to believe that Madeleine was in the boot of the car they must have either killed her and or
hidden her sometime earlier recovered her body whilst the media were surveilling them hidden it in the car
then moved it to a place where they could dispose of it where no one could see that happen and then bring the car
back it just doesn't add up the forensics don't add up and yet four months after Madeleine
vanished today Kate McCann has returned to portamau to be questioned by the Portuguese police Portuguese police
declared the mccanns are guidos suspects in their own daughter's disappearance enormous media coverage in this do you
believe in some ways that pressured Portuguese authorities to say we have our real suspects it is Kate and it is
Jerry well I can't speak to that but you'd have to talk to the senior investigating officer from the
Portuguese police but in my opinion do I think that that type of pressure would focus the attention of a senior
investigating officer of course 48 Hours reached out to the Portuguese police for
comment but they did not reply the mccanns should have been suspects day one minute one R1
and I don't believe for one second the McCann's committed this crime but what I'm saying is your attention should be
first of all to look at the parents and actually to rule them in a rural amount not to wait until your months down the
line where you have exhausted all of your other ideas and to then say well actually it must be the parents
because that's not fair on anyone surprisingly almost immediately after being declared suspects the mccanns were
allowed to fly to the UK returning home for the first time without their daughter
we have played no part and The Disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeline Kate McCann told her family that
Portuguese investigators had pressured her to sign a confession in which she was to admit that Madeleine had died
accidentally and that Madeleine's disappearance had been staged Kate refused 48 Hours spoke to Kate's mother in 2007.
okay so what what would I sign that confession you know if an accident had happened Madeleine had fallen
Kate and Jerry wouldn't have hidden that [Music] [Applause] when the McCants were named as suspects
in Portugal were they seen as suspects in the UK as well I'm sure they were people in the UK who did think that they
had had some involvement and that was reflected particularly in the British tabloid press
some British newspapers began running unsubstantiated Sensational storylines and what happened is the war of the
tabloids began to take place the onslaught of wild accusations continued for months effectively
portraying the mccanns as killers and then you get the armchair detectives with social media you've got the Geeks
Freaks and morons but when you've got this world of bile at being created online then people continually feed it
it wasn't until the following summer in July 2008 that Portuguese investigators cleared the mccanns by then Jerry and
Kate had spent nearly a year under a cloud of Suspicion it's hard to describe how utterly
despairing it was to be named arguido and subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's
abduction [Music] the police also cleared Robert moratt but what had happened to little
Madeleine the mccanns remained singularly focused on finding out I think there's a really good chance she's
still alive um I guess I feel that she's out there [Music] laughs foreign [Music]
two years had passed since Madeleine McCann's mysterious disappearance and Portuguese investigators were no closer
to knowing what happened to her as head of the UK's child exploitation and online protection Center Jim gamble knew
he had to take action Madeleine disappeared on the 3rd of May 2007 while on holiday with her family in Portugal
we produced a viral video called a minute for Madeleine McCann if you know who is involved and you're keeping the
secret the video that said it's never too late to do the right thing and if you know something go to your local
police I understand that the video was in seven different languages is that right yes it was in Chinese in Arabic in
Spanish I mean it was downloaded in every part of the world and and as the views ticked
up so too did the number of potential leads give me a sense of the number of sightings that we're pouring in from all
over the world during these years there's been a number of sightings of Madeleine McCann you know Australia in
parts of Africa across Spain Portugal and beyond all turned out to be nothing the trail went cold
but things were about to heat up in 2010 gamble was asked by the British government to officially review the case
when Portuguese police began this investigation you believe they made some fundamental errors I do think they made
some critical errors gamble says Portuguese investigators failed to take a close look at everyone staying near
the ocean Club at the time and it was clear that you know the searches were ad hoc the fact is that
all of the details of all of the people who'd stayed in that apartment block or had been in proximity at the time hadn't
been captured gamble also found that cell phone data Around The Ocean Club the day Madeleine went missing hadn't
been properly analyzed the telephone companies captured all of that information in
2007. yet there was absolutely no evidence that any of that cell size data had been investigated
in June 2010 gamble finished his case review and submitted recommendations to the British government
but for almost a year nothing happened until Jerry McCann wrote an open letter on the front page of a popular tabloid
to the Prime Minister and in a day operation Grange was commissioned operation Grange became one of the
largest and most expensive investigations in British history the full weight of Scotland Yard was now
brought in to assist the Portuguese investigation there was a sense in the UK that this was almost a fresh start
let's regroup let's see what wasn't looked at let's go through witness statements let's see whether we can make
fresh appeals for information and really Revitalize this that meant taking another look at every
possible scenario of what might have happened that night could this be that the child simply walked away could it be
an abduction could it be a burglary that's gone wrong could someone have broken into the room and might they have
been disturbed by Madeleine and could they have responded you know out of fear out of anger and nervousness and taking
her away there was one dark scenario that weighed most heavily the possibility that
Madeleine had been kidnapped by a sex offender obviously that was our biggest fear but just the thought of someone so
lovely and beautiful our child being subjected to something like that was I was enough to destroy us
operation Grange solved one early mystery the identity of the man seen in this police sketch whom that family
friend had reported scene Scotland Yard determined it was just a man on vacation with his child
age progression technology was also used at the time to further the investigation
I have on many occasions looked at images of children who have been fond and the likeness sometimes is remarkable
by 2016 the number of alleged Madeleine sightings had grown to more than 8 600 spanning more than 100 countries
Scotland Yard investigated every credible lead but none LED anywhere how could it be that years later there was
still no trace of this little girl how was that possible nothing what we're waiting for over these years
is all these bits start to fall into place the sell site data information about suspects other sex offenders in
the area we're waiting for that last piece to fall into place then in June 2020 from a small German
City some startling news German police revealing that a convicted sex offender currently serving a jail sentence is now
the prime suspect after years of dead ends finally a promising suspect this 43 year old
German man a look into his past would reveal a monster [Music] foreign [Music] in 2017 Jerry and Kate McCann marked a
grim anniversary it had been 10 years since their daughter disappeared whatever it takes for as long as it
takes but there's still hope that we can find Madeleine so I've sent that from my
point of view you know somebody knows what's happened did the McCants know more than 500 miles
away in Braunschweig Germany police had received a game-changing new tip German prosecutor Hans Christian vultures in
2017 a person contacted the German police and gave us the name of Christian B according to news reports Bruckner who
German authorities refer to as Christian B allegedly made a drunken confession to
a friend that he knew what had happened to Madeline Germany's highest police agency
conducted an investigation and what they uncovered was that Bruckner had a long and disturbing background of crime
spanning three decades who is Christian B Christian B is a criminal who committed a lot of financially motivated
crimes like burglary or drug trafficking Mark Hoffman is a crime and intelligence
analyst based in Germany who has studied Christian Bruckner he also has a DACA site
authorities say he had a history of targeting little girls he is a very likely psychopath with no
empathy no deep feelings who is interested in feeling some sense of power of a defenseless victims
especially young children so he absolutely matches the profile of a person who could potentially abduct
and or kill a little girl like Madeleine McCann official documents obtained by 48 Hours
show that bruckner's life of crime began when he was arrested for theft at the age of 15. two years later in 1994 he
sexually abused a child in Germany Bruckner fled to Portugal to escape serving his sentence he moved from job
to job he moved from crime to Crime until 1999 when he was extradited to Germany to serve his sentence
but he would soon return to Portugal where Bruckner lived out of a VW Camper van before eventually moving to this
house he lived in a house around about one mile away from the crime scene where Madeleine was abducted
while living in Pria Deluge investigators say Bruckner had returned to a life of crime often stealing from
hotels and holiday Apartments he was known for burglary in hotel resorts and Maddie disappeared from a hotel
resort so it's possible that this crime may be started as a hotel burglary and it ended
as the potential kidnapping and or killing of Maddie McCann Jim gamble says that theory is certainly
possible the hypothesis that it was a burglar who responded in an opportunistic way is one that that I've
always thought is credible [Music] in fact just one year before Madeleine disappeared Bruckner was arrested in
Portugal for that but it is unknown what the Portuguese police knew about his past sexual offense in Germany 48 Hours
reached out to them to find out but they did not respond but it is clear that Bruckner should
have been looked at more closely by the Portuguese authorities from the beginning German investigators now
believe they have discovered a key piece of evidence on May 3rd 2007 a call was made to bruckner's cell phone
approximately one hour before Madeleine disappeared the cell phone information that you received do you believe that
placed him around the resort area at the time that Maddie McCann disappeared the
phone number placed Christian B to The Ocean Club but we have to find out which person uses this phone at this time
normally it was used by Christian B but we don't know which person used it on the 3rd of May in 2007.
gamble says this lead could have been pursued at the time if Portuguese police had only analyzed the cell phone data I
believe the information that not ties the present suspect's phone to the area would have been available at that time
if someone had looked for it and German investigators also learned that immediately after Madeleine went missing
Bruckner did something suspicious he put his car in someone else's name he deregistered his car one day after the
disappearance shortly after that he quietly slipped out of Portugal and returned to Germany
once again Bruckner eventually settled in Braunschweig and briefly ran a small General Store by a school and kept a low
profile pretty often this child molesters this is like that dirty little secret they
don't talk about it to anyone but they talk about the crimes and Fantasies quite openly to other child
molesters as it turns out vultures and his team learned Bruckner was still operating in
the darkest Shadows of society in 2013 he posted in a pedophile chat room on Skype
this was a Skype chat where he openly discussed his fantasies of torturing little children and using them and
raping them for a couple of days although bruckner's posts made no mention of Madeleine McCann the search
of an abandoned Factory once owned by Bruckner would uncover photos and videos that would raise more questions
[Music] do you think Christian Bruckner is responsible for The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
see what makes Bruckner a compelling suspect at 48hours.com [Music] [Music] as vultures and his team continued their
investigation into Christian bruckner's past they learned that not long before that alleged drunken confession in a bar
his name had been linked to Madeleine mccanns in 2013 German police had received their first tip that Christian
Bruckner could be involved in her disappearance there was a first hint to our suspect in
2013 but the police contacted Christian B and there was nothing found to investigate any longer
while it didn't pan out just one year later he was back on police radar according to documents obtained by 48
hours in 2014 391 photo files and 68 video files of child pornography were confiscated from
bruckner's home while he was living in Braunschweig during this time he was also charged with sexually abusing a
five-year-old he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for committing both offenses but before serving his sentence
he fled once again to Portugal If I look at his life and criminal record it seems
a little bit like he was always fleeing and trying to escape law enforcement so whenever he committed a crime whenever
he was investigated in connection with some crimes he left the country Bruckner would later be extradited to Germany
once again to serve his sentence [Music] and then if there was a house of horrors
in this tragic mystery it may be this one a deserted Factory deep in the woods of Saxony on halt Germany that Christian
Bruckner once owned in 2016 investigators conducted multiple searches of this property 48 Hours has
learned these searches were part of a broader investigation into child pornography and what they found was
troubling foreign confirmed that they found at least three girls swimsuits in his camper van so of
course you need to ask the question who do these swimsuits belong to investigators have not revealed if they
know the answer but that's not all they found on this property they found USB drives containing pictures and videos
including videos and pictures of child abuse and also videos which he produced himself
and these USB drives were in a plastic bag buried under his dead dog in the ground it seems that Bruckner had a long
fascination with recording his crimes in 2018 a witness came forward saying they
had seen a videotape from 2005 of Bruckner raping a 72 year old American woman at her home in Portugal up until
then the attacker's identity had not been known this was not just rape this was the most brutal form of rape I ever
heard of that assault had taken place close to the Ocean Club and two years before
Madeleine McCann disappeared Bruckner was charged and convicted for these crimes in 2019. his DNA matched
DNA found at the scene he is definitely a bad guy he's definitely a psychopath and he is definitely a full-time
criminal but the question is is he really guilty in the medical case vultures will not reveal details about
his current investigation into Christian Bruckner but he is adamant about one thing we're sure that Christian being
murdered Madeleine McCann because of the evidence we have and may I speculate that that evidence may
include photographs or video of Maddie McCann you may speculate but I'm not allowed to
tell you if you are right or if you are wrong but despite the evidence he says he has
vultures admits he needs more of it in order to charge Bruckner and in Germany we charge someone only if we are sure
that he will be sentenced by the court if there are doubts we don't charge him Walter says one piece of evidence they
need is to find the person who made that call to bruckner's cell phone approximately one hour before Madeline
disappeared on May 3rd 2007. this might be the only person who could confirm that indeed Christian B
was holding his cell phone in his hand that night and this would be a proof that not just his cell phone was at the
crime scene but that he was at the crime scene although investigators made an appeal to
the public they have been unable to identify identify the mystery caller the phone which was used for the call to
Christian B was a prepaid phone so we are not able to to find this person in an easy way
[Music] the mccanns have not commented on Christian Bruckner but they posted this
on their website we will never give up hope of finding Madeline alive but whatever the outcome may be we need to
know as we need to find peace meanwhile Bruckner has remained silent behind Prison Walls where he is serving
a seven year sentence for raping that 72 year old American woman right bruckner's
lawyer spoke to nine news Australia he is innocent until proven guilty Walters admits that without a body or
forensic evidence this case will be hard to solve but he is not backing down and
you believe there are people out there whether it be in Portugal or in Germany who have information about this case
that is important we think that there are people who can help us and we hope that these people will contact us or the
police [Music] I have spent many years hoping that there will be a resolution BBC news anchor Jane Hill
who covered Madeline's story from the start hopes this new investigation will finally provide answers as painful as
they may be for the McCants I hope that there can be closure in some way for a family that has spent 13 and a
half years not knowing what happened to their little girl not knowing what they can say to her
younger brother and sister about where she's gone [Music] Madeline is a beautiful bright
funny and caring little girl [Music] she is so special we beg you to let Madeline come home
[Music] I'm Nora O'Donnell in our nation's capital we're here at the White House
with the president of the United States thanks for having me our exclusive access to the presidential
platform we will witness yet another moment in history CBS Evening News with Noah O'Donnell
from Washington D.C

Thirteen years after a child is abducted, investigators have a credible suspect. Is the puzzle of what happened to her complete? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

New suspect Christian Bruckner emerges in the Madeleine McCann case, raising hopes for answers after 13 years of mystery.

Key points

New Suspect in Madeleine McCann Case. A German prisoner, Christian Bruckner, has been identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, raising hopes for answers after 13 years.
The McCanns Under Suspicion. After being named suspects, Kate and Jerry McCann faced intense media scrutiny and public backlash.
A Startling Revelation. In June 2020, German police named a convicted sex offender as the prime suspect in the McCann case.
The Disturbing Background. Christian Bruckner's criminal history spans three decades, including targeting young girls.
Key Evidence Uncovered. A call to Bruckner's cell phone was made just before Madeleine's disappearance, placing him at the scene.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's every parent's greatest fear.

0:29WatchJan 31, 2023

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