Material Evidence Exists That Missing Madeleine McCann Died, German Official Says

Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine went missing during a family holiday to Portugal in 2007, attends a news conference at the launch of her book in London, UK, on May 12, 2011. Chris Helgren/Reuters

German prosecutors claimed that there is material evidence that Madeleine McCann, the missing UK girl who disappeared in 2007, is dead.

Speaking to broadcaster RTP on Tuesday, Braunschweig public prosecutor, Hans Christian Wolters, said investigators had evidence the girl who went missing in Portugal more than 13 years ago had died.

When Wolters was asked whether there is any material evidence that Madeleine died, he replied, “Yes.”

The RTP presenter then asked him: “What evidence do you have for her death? Do you have a tape?” He did not elaborate on what evidence was acquired in the case.

Wolters refused to give any more details and said, “I can’t say anything about what we have.”

Madeleine McCann in a file photo. AP Photo

Earlier this year, Wolters told media outlets that he believed the girl was dead and identified convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner as the prime suspect in the case. Brueckner is currently serving a sentence on an unrelated charge of drug trafficking.

“All I can say is this [is] like a puzzle and there are many pieces that lead us to believe Christian B is responsible,” Wolters said.

His lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, told The Sun tabloid on Monday that he has evidence Brueckner is innocent.

Wolters, meanwhile, said this week that Brueckner is being investigated for allegedly raping an Irish woman in Algarve, Portugal, in 2004.

A police mug shot of Christian Brückner (also Brueckner), a suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, in 2018 in Milan where Brueckner was arrested and extradited to Germany for the rape he is currently imprisoned for. Carabinieri Milano via Getty Images

Police broadcasted a televised appeal for information in June in the hope that members of the public might turn up evidence needed to bring charges in the McCann case. Since then, police in Britain and Germany have received “hundreds” of tips, Wolters said at the time.

“Our investigation has turned up some evidence that was reason enough for us to go to the public, but it is an open secret that our suspicions are not firm enough to issue an arrest warrant,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.