Madeleine McCann search resumes as suspect’s prison release looms after years behind bars

Rescue expert suggests German authorities may have uncovered crucial information about prime suspect Christian Brueckner

A renewed search for Madeleine McCann, an English toddler who disappeared from a family vacation to Portugal May 3, 2007, likely came from a trusted inside tip, according to Grey Bull Rescue founder Bryan Stern.

Madeleine was abducted from the family’s ground-floor apartment in Praia da Luz, a coastal, southern Portuguese city, when she was 3 years old.

Portuguese and German police began a new search this week in Praia da Luz that concluded Thursday, and officials have not yet said whether they discovered any evidence that may be significant to the missing persons case, according to Reuters.

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“The five W’s are unanswered right now: Who did it? How did it happen? When did it happen? Where did it happen, you know?” Stern, a multiple-tour combat veteran of the U.S. Army and Navy who now rescues people for a living, told Fox News Digital.

“That’s why these situations are so frustrating … because there’s way more questions than answers. The only thing that anybody knows for sure is that there’s a little girl who used to be walking the streets; now she’s not.”

This undated file photo made available by the London Metropolitan Police shows missing British girl Madeleine McCann before she vanished from a Portuguese holiday complex May 3, 2007. (AP/London Metropolitan Police)

He added that renewed searches like this one for Madeleine show that law enforcement agencies are still actively searching for answers in an unsolved case, and they may have received a tip from someone who knew the main suspect in her disappearance or the suspect himself as part of a deal with prosecutors.

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A search was conducted June 5, 2025, at the request of the German federal police to look for evidence that could implicate Christian Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

In 2020, German authorities named Christian Brueckner, 45, the main suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. That same year, German officials declared her dead.

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Authorities search for evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. (James Manning/PA Images)

Brueckner continues to deny his involvement in the case. Brueckner spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

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The house where Christian Brueckner was reportedly staying in Monte Judeu, Portugal.  (James Manning/PA Images)

He is serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005 and is scheduled to be released in September, according to Reuters.

Brueckner was also charged in 2022 for sex crimes against children that German authorities allege he committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Police investigators arrive to continue an ongoing search operation in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann at Atalaia, Lagos, in Algarve, June 5, 2025. (Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP)

A source involved with the search in Praia da Luz this week told Reuters it included several derelict houses, wells and reservoirs covering “dozens of hectares.”

Stern noted officials also likely used radar technology that “can see into the ground.”

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portugal vacation 18 years ago. (Carabinieri Milano/handout)

“They find stuff in the dirt all the time, all the time. It’s 2025. Technology is amazing. DNA technology, specifically, is amazing. DNA doesn’t die,” Stern said. “There’s technology that can see into the ground. They use it for fossils all the time. They use it for missing people all the time.

“They use it for oil drilling. They use them for water mitigation, all kinds of things. … It’s a type of radar that pushes sound and energy down, and it comes back up with a return, and that return, in today’s world, can actually be extremely, extremely detailed.”

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Authorities look for evidence in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

Stern works “all the time” with parents who have lost children, and he said talking to them is the hardest part of his job.

“I don’t care about the bad guys. I don’t care about the Russians or Hezbollah or any of that stuff. What I care about is the mommy who’s depending on me to bring her kid back. That’s what really, really drives me and scares me. … My biggest thing that I’m afraid of is having to go to a mother saying I failed. Seven hundred and twenty-nine missions later, we’ve never failed; 7,128 people later, we’ve never failed.”

The search June 5, 2025, was conducted at the request of the German federal police as they look for evidence that could implicate Christian Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

In the McCann case, however, Stern said not knowing absolutely that she is dead, because her remains have never been found, is “painful.”

Madeleine was born in May 2003 and would be turning 22 years old this year.