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Fri 7 Sep, 2007 06:20 am
Is anyone surprised by this? Sadly, I'm not.
Sep 7, 2007 8:12 am US/Eastern
Cops Suspect Parents In Missing British Girl Case
(CBS News)
PORTIMAO, Portugal
The parents of a British girl who disappeared four months ago will be formally named as suspects by Portuguese police, a family friend said Friday, a shocking twist to a case that has drawn international attention.
Kate and Gerry McCann are both due to be questioned Friday over the disappearance of their 4-year-old daughter, Madeleine.
Family friend and former spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple had been told they would both be named as arguido, or suspects. The McCanns "continue to deny absolutely they had anything to do" with their daughter's disappearance, Mitchell said.
Under Portuguese law, the legal move grants certain protections to suspects, but allows police more latitude in questioning. Police also have to show suspects whatever evidence they might have against them.
Kate McCann was questioned for 11 hours Thursday at a police station in Portimao, a town in Portugal's Algarve region, and returned for more questioning Friday morning. Gerry McCann was due to be questioned Friday afternoon, Mitchell said.
"It's very intense but she's remaining strong and determined to prove that they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance and they are innocent victims of the crime," he told The Associated Press.
Mitchell said both McCanns had been told earlier this week that they would be named as suspects. Family spokesman David Hughes also told the AP that Kate McCann had been told she would be named as a suspect Friday.
He said police had told her they wanted to ask 22 questions, but had not said what they were.
Police may be looking more for a way to break the case, rather than pursuing a belief the parents are criminally involved, CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reported.
Police, who are barred by law from discussing ongoing investigations, made no comment.
Kate and Gerry McCann, both doctors from central England, have spearheaded an intense media campaign since 4-year-old Madeleine went missing from a holiday apartment in the Algarve where she was sleeping with her 2-year-old twin siblings.
The parents were having dinner in the hotel's pool-side restaurant with friends and said they checked on their children at regular intervals.
The McCanns toured Europe with photos and stuffed animals of Madeleine, even meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Celebrities such as J.K. Rowling and David Beckham made public appeals that helped the family raise more than $2 million.
The publicity has helped lead to numerous reported sightings of the girl, from as far away as northern Europe and Morocco.
Just after Kate McCann entered the police station Thursday, another family representative read out a statement from her appealing to what she called Madeleine's abductors to "do the right thing."
"It is not too late. Please let her go or call the police," she said.
In recent months, the McCanns have attended meetings with the police together. Officials described those meetings as informal, saying they wanted to keep the parents informed of developments in the case.
Re: Cops Suspect Parents In Missing British Girl Case
happycat wrote:Is anyone surprised by this? Sadly, I'm not.
Well I'm in no position to have an informed opinion about the possible guilt or innocence of this little girl's parents. My sole source of information about this case is from media reports.
Why are you not surprised?
It has always seemed a little strange to me. Why would you not find a sitter ? Even if you could see the doorway...what could you really do if something happened when you were so far away? You couldn't hear, you had no clue if someone was choking or crying because they woke up without Mom and Dad there...it just seems to me that at best they were neglectful and that leads me to wonder if there was something else going on. But I hope not...I just can't imagine how I would beat myself up over making such an assinine mistake.
The sitter thing, I think, is largely cultural. Yes, it seems strange, but so does the idea that two parents killed their 4-year-old while on vacation but nobody has been able to find the body.
I agree with FreeDuck.
There have been other situations where the parents have seemed suspicious but this doesn't seem like one of them, to me. My immediate reaction is how awful for them to lose their daughter and then have to defend themselves from accusations...
I suppose, the shock about this for us "readers" is even gretaer than it usually would be, with this story on the fronntpages nearly every day (especially in the UK, but across Europe, too).
Quote:Ms McGuinness [the family's spokeperson] said: "They [the police] believe they have evidence to show that in some way she's involved in the death of her daughter, which of course is completely ludicrous.
"They have suggested that blood has been found in a hire car that they hired 25 days after Madeleine was taken."
Re: Cops Suspect Parents In Missing British Girl Case
msolga wrote:happycat wrote:Is anyone surprised by this? Sadly, I'm not.
Well I'm in no position to have an informed opinion about the possible guilt or innocence of this little girl's parents. My sole source of information about this case is from media reports.
Why are you not surprised?
Unfortunately, the tragedy of a parent being responsible for the death of their own child happens nearly everyday. Not all cases are highly publicized.
I'm not surprised because many times it seems the parents that scream the loudest end up being involved in the disappearance.
I'll admit to confusion. I read in one link that in Portugal, the police have to name people as suspects before getting to another phase of questioning as well as to set in place certain rights to the 'suspect'. But most of the reports I've scanned say that the police may name the wife and perhaps husband as suspects, but haven't officially yet - at the same time they seem to be doing vigorous questioning.
Don't you guys know a dingo ate her baby?
Update from United Press International
Quote:PORTIMAO, Portugal, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The mother of Madeline McCann, the 4-year-old girl who went missing earlier this year in Portugal, is now the key suspect in the child's disappearance.
One of Kate McCann's family members told Sky News on Friday that police have offered her a deal if she confesses to accidentally killing her daughter and staging the child's disappearance in May.
While police are reportedly not approaching the case as a potential homicide, there have been reports that Madeline's mother could soon be the target of official charges.
Police said some of the young girl's blood was found in a vehicle that had been hired by the McCanns several weeks after their daughter disappeared.
With his wife facing possible charges in relation to his daughter's disappearance, Gerry McCann wrote on his blog this week that such accusations are completely without merit.
"Anyone who knows anything about May 3 knows that Kate is completely innocent," he wrote. "We will fight this all the way and we will not stop looking for Madeleine."
Why exactly are they suspects?
What evidence to they have?
I've heard before they were suspects, but I've never heard it explained why.
Anyone?
Well, my experiences with police work are limited to just working together with the state "FBI" and a didtricts's for a year or so - and actually doing there something totally different.
But I guess, the Portuguese police does it like any other police force: suspects are generally all those who had contact with the victim before her/his death.
And both parents of Madeleine McCann are only formal suspects (given "arguido" status) in her disappearance.
It seems that Portuguese officers believe Kate McCann accidentally killed her daughter.
Reasons for such aren't usually published in many European countries: under Portuguese law, police are not allowed to publicly give details of ongoing investigations.
There seems to be some evidence re a rental car and the apartment; I think that info was from an apparent loudmouth sister in law. Perhaps I mix up where I read what, but I'm off wondering how there is evidence in the apartment and in a car rented twenty five days later. I don't know about the couple's time re leaving the apartment.
Who knows? Any blood drops need excellent identification.
I can goof around with guesses from here, but lives and reputations are at stake in all this, and that is getting more layered by the day. For the child, I wish well, but doubt it.
Re this thread, I'm interested because I like crime procedurals, but - preferably in fiction.
There's a lot missing from public knowledge, obviously. These people are mediaphilic, but I can't extrapolate from that. I'll pay attention to any solutions, but it's all sad.
osso - If they found her DNA in a car the parents rented 20some days after they reported her missing, it means she (or her body) was still around.
The list of screw-ups by the Portugese police is astounding. So many things they didn't do right in order to preserve evidence, plus they didn't even take her disappeared seriously for 15 hours!
There have been reporters and TV crews all over the town, and the McCanns, ever since the little girl went missing.
Are the police saying that somehow Mrs McCann hired a car 25 days later, moved a body (where was it hidden? No search revealed it, despite intensive and numerous searches by hundreds of people) and disposed of it (by burial? At sea? by magic, without trace?) with all these reporters and police with sniffer dogs around her? And nobody noticed anything?
She has been at the heart of a media scrum since Day 1.
To me, it doesn't make sense.
McTag, I'm only guessing....they aren't giving out much info as to how the rental car comes into play.
One thing interesting about the parents being named suspects is that under Portugese law, someone that is only named a suspect is then privy to all the evidence and information gathered. So, anything the police weren't telling the parents before has to be shared with them now.
Being termed a "suspect" there is much different than here.
What I read was they found blood. (Who knows the legitimacy of what I read.). You don't bleed while dead.
Clearly I don't know anything. I'm interested as if it was a book, but it's not a book.
I'll belatedly post that I agree with your early post of not-surprise, Happycat - along the lines of the near glamorous search, and those who cry loudest, I'm not completely surprised. But I don't know they did it, either.
On the other hand, complications may vary.
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