Posted on 09/15/2007 2:40:29 PM PDT by UKrepublican
MADELEINE: 'BODY THROWN INTO THE SEA'
Police fear that the body of Madeleine McCann will never be found and only a confession by her parents can convict them of killing her.
The startling revelations came as officers told of their worries that her body was dumped far out to sea in a bag weighted down with stones. Detectives are convinced she is dead and believe her remains are now gone for ever, a vital piece of missing evidence which seriously weakens their case against Kate and Gerry McCann.
For the first time, police chiefs in Portugal are admitting that the allegedly damning DNA evidence they have gathered in the couple’s apartment and hire car may not be enough to bring charges against them. A senior source in the Policia Judiciaria, which has led the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine on May 3, 135 days ago, said only a confession could now bring a conviction.
Investigators believe the body of the youngster, who would now be four years old, was most probably thrown off a British-owned yacht out at sea after being moved from a hiding place. They are now working on the theory that Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39-year-old doctors, received help from accomplices to move the body and cover up the crime, despite intense scrutiny.
The seven friends on holiday with the McCanns at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz are expected to be questioned again by detectives investigating the accomplice theory. All the friends deny any wrongdoing.
The news came amid startling developments yesterday, including the apparent discovery of blood in an apartment next door to that used by the McCanns. Detectives believe the apartment holds the key to where Madeleine’s body could have been stored in the hours after she went missing.
The discovery was revealed after reports claimed that Madeleine died following an overdose of sedatives. Police are working on the theory that the youngster was repeatedly drugged by her parents – an allegation Kate and Gerry McCann vehemently deny.
Detectives have asked British forensic experts to look for evidence the toddler was given pills on the night she disappeared and earlier occasions.
As Kate and Gerry McCann left their £600,000 home in Rothley, Leics, for a meeting with their solicitors in London, a senior Policia Judiciaria officer told of his misgivings about the case. The officer, who declined to be named, revealed that the absence of a body meant detectives only had forensic evidence and information from interrogations to build a case.
The admission comes only two days after the McCanns went on the offensive after being named official suspects, issuing a challenge to detectives: “Find the body and prove we killed her.”
The senior officer in the Policia Judiciaria admitted that the McCanns’ stance could destroy the case because detectives have “nothing concrete”. He admitted officers were still struggling to piece together events on the afternoon and evening of May 3. In particular, detectives have so far been unable to uncover the chain of events from 2pm until 10.41pm when the police were eventually called after Kate McCann said her daughter was missing.
“There are a lot of clues, signs and indications, but without more elements it’s impossible for us to determine what happened in those vital hours,” the officer said. “Even if the blood and traces gathered in the car or the apartment were confirmed to correspond 100 per cent to the little girl’s DNA, that wouldn’t prove anything.
“Those elements could only confirm – and at the moment we don’t even have that – that the little girl was in the apartment, which is plainly obvious, and in the car. In either of the cases, nothing would prove homicide, just that the body of the little girl had been transferred in the vehicle.”
The officer admitted that a number of fundamental questions remained to be answered, confirming the views of the McCanns’ high-powered legal team that the Portuguese authorities are a long way from presenting a strong case.
The officer went on: “We don’t know if Madeleine is dead and, if she is, how it all happened. Was she strangled? Could she have been beaten? They are all questions only the parents could clarify in an eventual confession.”
Kate and Gerry McCann strenuously reject claims of being involved in Madeleine’s death and disposing of her body, and challenged detectives on Wednesday to find their daughter and prove they killed her. A close friend said: “The legitimate question to ask Portuguese police is: Where is the body? Where is the evidence that Madeleine is dead?”
The case against the McCanns detailed in a dossier now before Judge Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias appears to rest mainly on potentially damaging forensic test results. These are said to include Madeleine’s DNA in traces of bodily fluid, as well as a mass of hair, discovered in the McCanns’ hire car which was rented 25 days after she vanished.
Portugal’s attorney general has indicated the investigation still has some way to go and suggested stricter bail conditions could be imposed on the couple. On Tuesday public prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses ordered the 10 police files in the case to go before the judge.
In an effort to find a body, it is expected that fresh searches will be ordered in Praia da Luz, focusing on areas where roadworks were taking place when Madeleine disappeared. Officers are also expected to begin searching several sea-front locations, including caves and grottoes.
Police have already investigated a vessel owned by an English sailor in Lagos, 15 minutes’ drive from Praia da Luz. A source close to the case said: “One of the most credible possibilities would involve the body having been thrown in a sack of stones from a yacht.”
The yacht which came under police scrutiny was investigated after a computer owned by the only other suspect, expat Robert Murat, 33, was analysed and found to mention the sailor. Other theories suggest Madeleine’s body was disposed of at one of several waste incinerators.
The McCanns have already been advised by their British lawyers that the Portuguese would have difficulty prosecuting them if they do not find their daughter’s body. Portuguese police admit they fear no judge will allow the case to go to court without that key piece of evidence.
They have been seen out repeatedly with a large covered stroller. Many people think that’s how they moved her body.
Nobody would open a stroller that had the cover fastened, for fear of waking a sleeping child.
She could have hurt herself due to being sedated, falling off a bed and hitting her head, or getting up to go to the bathroom and hitting her head in there.
that was also my first reaction, however, how much easier would it have been, if the child had been administered a sedative, to maintain that the pills were left where she could access them? In other words, the child took them herself? And seek immediate medical attention by calling an ambulance?
But all this still does not explain the apparent presence of blood.
it certainly doesn't.
I am always reminded of the Lindy Chamberlain case in Australia, the mother went to jail for years before she was exonerated. An 'expert' provided evidence that there was blood found in their vehicle. It turned out to be rust-proofing residue.
If they gave the other children pills too, it would be a bit difficult to claim they ALL got into the pills.
And I don’t know many almost four year olds who would eat pills, anyway.
You nailed it. A person’s response is an admission or rejection. I too would respond with outrage at a false accusation, not defensive like their statement. This is like Larry Craig pleading guilty instead of being outraged over being “falsely accused” of cruising for gays. This is like OJs lack of outrage at being “falsely accused” of killing his wife.
On their statement alone, I think the McCanns are guilty. I agree with you.
I only made that suggestion as contrast to how the parents might have explained the presence of sedatives in their daughters system...in comparison to the grotesque theories current.
Speculation is not evidence. Opinion can sometimes convict innocent people. Lindy 'The Dingo got my baby' could tell you something about that. Australian public opinion was totally against her. There were theories she sacrificed her baby in some weird ritual on Ayes Rock...there was no way she could get a fair trial after the media was through with the story.
I try always to leave the door open for doubt and the possibility of innocence.
Possibly, but if she was so heavily sedated as to be fatal, would she have enough strength to move at all? I suppose it is possible that she managed to struggle to the bathroom perhaps to vomit, and fell and hurt herself. I find it doubtful that simply rolling out of bed on to a carpet or whatever would necessarily result in a bloody injury.
Again, explaining the presence of blood is the part the doesn’t seem to fit the scenario of accidental overdosing.
If this were me, I wouldn’t have the sense to say something like, “find the body and prove...” I’d be insane with worry and overwrought and sickened from depression.
These parents, going on the offensive, are making themselves suspects, legitimately, IMHO.
I read that one of the couples they had tapas with had rented the car the previous days, and the Mc Canns took over the rental after that.
Kinda like OJ.
Apparently overdosing on certain medications causes hemorrhaging. They think the blood came from that. I would assume there would also be traces of the sedative in the blood, which may be what produced this theory.
Personally, I think they probably did kill her accidentally, and being doctors, thought they could get away with it. I’m sure their friends are regretting getting dragged into this.
I think I read in some newspaper report (possibly in the Spanish press, because this has been all over the place and I was in Spain shortly after it happened) that the father had gone “diving” or had gone off saying he was going diving the day after her disappearance. Anybody else remember that?
They would still be culpable if she was lightly sedated and
struck her head hard enough to kill her, or injured herself badly in some other way, such as drowning. There didn’t have to be an overdose.
Four year olds DON’T put everything in their mouths, especially something nasty like pills. Even most three year olds don’t.
...and I read that one of the people at the dinner offered to check on the children, he came back and told the parents that all was quiet...but he didn’t open the door...
another suspect?
“hiding the body for a month and disposing of it elevates the crime”
Why would you do this and take the risk of someone finding the body? Makes no sense.
Thank you. Something that really bothers me is how the Mr. & Mrs. went and received an audience with the Pope. I wonder if in their Catholic hearts they went there for forgiveness because of the guilt which must have been eating them up.
Another thing which is bothersome is the report of the woman in an adjacent flat who heard Madeleine screaming “No, Daddy!” over and over the night before. Were they about to force something upon her which would explain her cries? Having to receive an injection would also make a child cry out in fear.
BTW...why did the McCanns return to England? Was this something planned or was it because they knew they were under the microscope?
They found hair in the trunk of a car rented 25 days after the disappearance. Find your suitcases, travel gear. What are the chances that a wheel catches some hair that was pulled off a brush and fell to the floor after her mother brushed her hair? Just a thought.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?s=b536e85e60ee47a510a89f02530b484a&t=53176&page=3
4. Contradictions between the couple’s statements and those of their friends
a) Gerry says during dinner he got up to check on his children; restaurant staff says only two people from the group left the dinner table and those were Russell O’Brien and Matthew Oldfield
b) Russell arrived late for dinner and left at some point: he said his daughter had vomited and he was waiting for someone to change the bedsheets; the hotel staff say nobody requested clean bedsheets
c) Jane, Russell’s wife, says she saw a man passing on the resort’s street, carrying a child. An Irishman, who was at the same time in the same spot, says he saw nobody pass...
Interesting?
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