Authorities Say Email Account Links Suspect to Madeleine McCann’s Disappearance and Presumed Murder
Madeleine McCann, 3, went missing while on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007
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Madeleine McCannGerman authorities say they’ve discovered an email account that is “related to the killing” of missing 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann.
Titus Stampa, a detective with Germany’s Federal Crime Police, told a court that the Hotmail account belonged to Christian Brueckner, per the Times of London.
Stampa said he wasn't allowed to talk about the account, according to the Times.
Brueckner, who is considered to be the prime suspect in Madeleine’s presumed murder and disappearance, is on trial in an unrelated rape and child sexual abuse case, the Telegraph reported. He has denied having anything to do with Madeleine’s disappearance, per the Evening Standard.
Stampa alleged that authorities found a second email account he used to share photos and videos of child abuse, and that emails from that account were deleted in early 2007 when Madeleine disappeared, per the Telegraph.
Julian Stratenschulte/Pool/AFP/Getty
Christian Brueckner“I can remember that things were massively deleted in the inbox. There was nothing in there from January 2007,” he testified, according to the Telegraph.
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Kate and Gerry McCann pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of nine on May 2, 2012.Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Madeleine went missing while on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. Her parents left her and her 2-year-old twin siblings in an unlocked rental while they ate at a restaurant 130 feet away. When Madeleine's mother Kate went to check on the children, Madeleine was missing. Initially her parents were suspects in her disappearance, but they were cleared by authorities the following year.
Related: Prosecutor Thinks Madeleine McCann Was Killed Shortly After Abduction
On the night of Madeleine's disappearance, police said Brueckner was in the Praia de Luz area and received a nearly 30-minute phone call.
In mid-2020, German authorities identified him as the main suspect in the girl’s disappearance. He has never been charged.
In 2019, he was sentenced for raping a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in Portugal.
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