In 2007, British couple Kate and Gerald McCann were on vacation in Portugal with 7 friends and their 3 kids. They were probably having the best vacation of their lives, after having had to go through a challenging year for them professionally.
However, on the night of May 3rd something happened that has tormented the McCanns for the past decade and possibly will for the rest of their lives. Their daughter Madeleine disappeared all of a sudden.
Madeleine McCann was born in Leicestershire, England in 2003. Her parents, Katie and Gerald McCann were amazed at the idea of having conceived a beautiful girl, with blond hair and blue eyes. Their other two children were born in 2005 and are twins, a boy and a girl.
The McCanns are medical professionals. Katie works as an obstetrician and gynecologist, while Gerald works in a research group specialized in cardiology. For the Spring of 2007, the family decided they had enough responsibilities and they all deserved a vacation.
Their vacation began with 7 nights at Praia da Luz, a small Portuguese town, well known among British tourists. There they arrived with their 7 friends, many of whom brought their own children as well. The group stayed in some luxury apartments next to the beach. The McCanns stayed in apartment 5A.
5A is a two-bedroom apartment. The couple stayed in the back room, while the kids slept in the bedroom closer to the main door, which according to statements they made to police, they always kept locked.
While the couples were at the apartment complex, they always ate dinner at the same tapas restaurant at around 8 p.m. But on the last day, May 3rd 2007, something happened that would change their lives forever.
During breakfast that day, Madeleine said something very strange to her parents. “Why didn’t you come to see me when I cried last night? The couple usually came right away when one of their kids made a noise, and in fact, they took turns during dinner out to make sure everything was okay at home.
That afternoon, the McCanns put their 3 kids to bed at 7 p.m. as they had done for the previous 6 nights and decided to go out for a walk and to have dinner with their friends. The couples remember that, every 30 minutes, one of them would go to make sure everything was okay with the kids. Even though the McCanns had left the patio doors closed, they didn’t lock them, so they could easily come and go during their constant rounds of checking in on the kids.
When it was time for Gerald’s turn at 9:05 o.m. everything appeared fine, although he could have sworn that he left his kids’ bedroom door closed, he found it slightly open, but he didn’t pay much attention, closing it again and going back to the restaurant. That was the last time he saw his daughter.
When it was Katie’s turn at 9:30 p.m., Matthew Oldfield, one of the family friends, offered to go instead. When the man arrived at the apartment he found the children’s bedroom door open, everything else seemed fine, but when he checked closely, little Madeleine had disappeared.
By the time the McCanns returned to the apartment it was already too late. Madeleine was gone. Everyone was overcome with panic and they called the police. 2 officers appeared around 11 p.m. and began a search of the entire apartment complex. At 2 a.m. more officers arrived and a group of dogs specialized in this type of search, looked until 8 a.m. the next day, but they couldn’t find anything.
Jane Tanner, another friend of the couple, told police that when she went to check on her daughter around 9:15 p.m. she thought she saw a man of Mediterranean appearance wearing brown pants, carrying a little girl wearing pink pajamas with flowers, but couldn’t be sure it was Madeleine.
Whatever the case, the McCanns continue to look for their missing daughter today. Unfortunately, there is still no clue of her whereabouts.
