Apart from the brutal rape, bludgeoning and strangulation of child model JonBenét Ramsey, no case has quite captured the public's attention and concern than that of long-missing toddler Madeleine McCann.
The blonde 4-year-old is believed to have been abducted from her Portugal hotel room in 2007, but just who those kidnappers might have been and their actual motive remains an unsolved mystery.
Now authorities have reinvigorated the worldwide search for 'Maddy' and some theorize that her abduction may have been related to a string of robberies in the resort neighborhood where the McCann family was vacationing.
It's possible that young Madeleine McCann could have unwittingly seen or even interrupted a burglary in progress, detectives working the case anew are actively speculating.
If so, the girl would have been especially vulnerable to the consequences of such a discovery because she and her two infant siblings were left alone that evening while Mr. and Mrs. McCann were dining at a nearby restaurant.
The McCanns -- frequently the target of suspicion and scorn themselves -- welcome the new theories and interest in the case, having never given up hunting for their daughter and for the criminals who took her away from them.
Investigators have also released new sketches of the potential perp/s involved in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, whilst revising the timeline closer to the precise hour Mrs. McCann found her daughter gone without a trace.
They're refocusing their inquiry mainly on a Caucasian male between 20 and 40 years of age.
They're refocusing their inquiry mainly on a Caucasian male between 20 and 40 years of age.
The unidentified individual was observed in the area by another tourist from Ireland who said he and his family members noticed a man carrying a blonde-haired child around 10 PM, the same time Maddy's mother was about to return to the hotel to check on her small children.
According to that eyewitness, Martin Smith, 64, the girl he saw being carried from the premises was wearing pajamas and did not appear distressed.
The above information, however, is not all that *new* in reality, having been in the hands of the Portuguese police for almost the entire time Maddy McCann was declared missing.
Smith further claims that the Portuguese police deliberately disregarded his reports because they were fixating instead on a different suspect who later proved to be the wrong man.
With an investigation into the baffling abduction of Madeleine McCann revitalized this week, over 1000 fresh tips have already been phoned in or e-mailed, with two separate people providing the exact same name of the thus far unknown male sought for questioning.
Could a break in this cold case finally be only days away now?
Could a break in this cold case finally be only days away now?
