Madeleine McCann Case: Police Investigate Theory Girl Disappeared Trying to Find Parents

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the then-3-year-old U.K. girl who went missing in 2007 in Portugal, are looking into a theory that she left her parents’ vacation apartment to find them.

The theory revolves around the girl waking up and wandering out of the vacation home in Praia da Luz, Portugal, according to The Sun. Detectives working with the Metropolitan Police discussed the matter with Portuguese police, the report said.

Previously, detectives looked at whether the girl wandered off while searching for her parents, who were at a nearby bar. Madeleine may have been hit by a drunken driver, who then took her body and buried it, they speculated, according to the publication.

A photo of British girl Madeleine McCann aka "Maddie" is displayed on a TV screen at an apartment in Berlin, on Oct. 16, 2013. Johannes Eilese/AFP/Getty Images

“A meeting took place recently at the HQ of the General Attorney’s Office, which was attended by the prosecutor from Portimao who is in charge of the Portuguese inquiry,” said a source to Daily Mail and Sun. “One of the lines of investigation that continues to be pursued is that Maddie could have walked out of the holiday flat herself.”

Detectives involved in the case have not commented on the Sun’s report.

It comes about two weeks after UK Metropolitan Police announced they secured another $192,000 from the Home Office to continue an investigation into the girl’s disappearance. “We have confirmed that Special Grant funding of £150,000 will be provided to the Metropolitan Police Service for the six-month period to 31 March 2019,” said a representative to Sky News.

So far, about $15 million has been spent on the investigation.

Gerry and Kate McCann, her parents, have been vocal about finding the girl, who would be a teenager today.

“Life is full and busy which helps but Madeleine is still missing and she is still dearly missed,” they wrote in May 2018 on the anniversary of the girl’s disappearance. “Information continues to come in (incredible as it may seem after so long, although we are grateful for that) and work goes on. Perseverance and hope remain.”

Last week, a report from the Daily Mail said they had two “active“ and ”specific“ leads in the case.

Parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann, Kate and Gerry McCann pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of 9 ahead of a press conference in central London on May 2, 2012, five years after Madeleine's disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal. AFP/Getty Images

“Metropolitan Police officers had a sit-down meeting with Madeleine’s parents to tell them exactly where they were with their inquiries,” a Whitehall source told the Daily Mail.

“They informed them they had two specific and active leads that still needed to be chased and that although the investigation was taking longer than they initially thought, officers said they were confident and hopeful they could get a result,” a source continued.

A former detective, David Edgar, speculated that the girl may be alive yet hidden.

“There is every possibility that Madeleine is still alive and could be hidden somewhere and having no idea that she is at the center of a worldwide hunt for her,” former detective David Edgar told The Sun in October. Edgar was employed by the McCanns for three years before Metropolitan Police detectives took over. “She could literally be anywhere in the world but my hunch is that she is in Portugal,” he said.