The McCanns are telling the truth. The Portuguese authorities and the police are trying to construct the ludicrous notion that they harmed their own child. The police are doing this rather than admit there is at least one predatory abductor of children at large in the Algarve.
The alternative, that the McCanns are lying and involved in a cover up would mean a course of events so bizarre as to be just not feasible.
Mame the woman who saw a child carried by a man at 9.30 approx. probably thought nothing of it at the time. She obviously didnt recognise the child as Madeleine, if it was indeed her.
Thank you, Steve... but what about all the other questions surrounding this?
Mame wrote:
So, they say they checked on her at 9:00 pm (roughly)... someone at the table said they saw a man carrying a child from the McCann's apartment - did she give the alarm at the table? It must have been after 9:00 p.m. if they checked on her at 9:00. If so, why were the police not called until 10:00 pm or later? If she didn't give the alarm, why not?
Where were the parents supposed to have stored Mad's body for 3 weeks if her DNA in the car is evidence that she was transported in it?
Again, why would they have killed their four year old and not the other two?
Who is this Matthew Oldfield and why did he enter the apartment and what did he do/where did he go after exiting it?
It IS suspicious about the window shutter and the wine consumption discrepancies...
I liked the article, but there are a lot of unanswered questions, for sure.
Her parents are doctors.
How would they not know how much medication to give their child?
Why would they give it to her, anyway? Wouldn't she have eventually gone to sleep?
If they did, and she died, how did she get to wherever she is if everyone was at the table and they found her missing at 10:00? At no time have I read that either of the parents left the table. And if they DID leave the table, they didn't have time to hide her because the police were called and where would they have put her?
And why do they suspect she was medicated?
And if she were, why are they claiming blood was in the trunk of the rental car?
Mame wrote:Thank you, Steve... but what about all the other questions surrounding this?
Mame wrote:
So, they say they checked on her at 9:00 pm (roughly)... someone at the table said they saw a man carrying a child from the McCann's apartment - did she give the alarm at the table? It must have been after 9:00 p.m. if they checked on her at 9:00. If so, why were the police not called until 10:00 pm or later? If she didn't give the alarm, why not?
Where were the parents supposed to have stored Mad's body for 3 weeks if her DNA in the car is evidence that she was transported in it?
Again, why would they have killed their four year old and not the other two?
Who is this Matthew Oldfield and why did he enter the apartment and what did he do/where did he go after exiting it?
It IS suspicious about the window shutter and the wine consumption discrepancies...
I liked the article, but there are a lot of unanswered questions, for sure.
Her parents are doctors.
How would they not know how much medication to give their child?
Why would they give it to her, anyway? Wouldn't she have eventually gone to sleep?
If they did, and she died, how did she get to wherever she is if everyone was at the table and they found her missing at 10:00? At no time have I read that either of the parents left the table. And if they DID leave the table, they didn't have time to hide her because the police were called and where would they have put her?
And why do they suspect she was medicated?
And if she were, why are they claiming blood was in the trunk of the rental car?
well I agree with you. The questions that arise from assuming the McCanns are lying make the timeline and the logistics highly improbable. I would not put it above the Portuguese police, or the British police for that matter, to fabricate evidence in order to reach a convenient conclusion.
Update From Associated Press
Quote:It's now up to the public prosecutor in Portugal to decide whether to bring charges against the parents of British toddler Madeleine McCann.
Police today handed their case file on the girl's disappearance over to the prosecutors. A police spokesman says it's more than 1,000 pages thick.
The 4-year-old girl disappeared in May from a hotel room in southern Portugal. Her parents, who were visiting from Britain, said she vanished while they were eating at a nearby restaurant.
Police last week named the parents as suspects. They've been allowed to return to Britain, pending further investigations. They say they had nothing to do with the disappearance.
Until Friday, the only formal suspect was a British man who lived near the hotel. He hasn't been charged.
Police said last week there was DNA evidence indicating that the girl's body was in the trunk of a car her parents rented five weeks after her disappearance. But Portugal's national police chief now says the tests weren't conclusive.
The Portuguese have the McCanns exactly where they want them. Out of Portugal, effectively gagged from making their case, and with a finger of suspicion pointed at them.
The last thing the police want is them back causing "trouble" by pushing for the search for Madeleine. They'll probably frighten them by threatening arrest if they go back, hoping to keep them away.
I'm willing to bet they never face charges or the threat of extradition.
However the McCanns will want to go back to continue their (increasingly private) search for their child, and to clear their name. Compared to the loss of Madeleine, the incompetent and twisted Portuguese justice system will hold no fears for them.
I'm getting a bit of a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" message from some here regarding the McCanns.
First I read "many times it seems the parents that scream the loudest end up being involved in the disappearance."
Then wondering how they can be so calm during all this. How can they function, let alone decide what earrings to wear?
Well, which is it?
We've all seen people sitting in courtroom being questioned about horrible things, and their hair isn't tangled in their faces and their not wearing dirty wrinkled clothes. Under stress, some people go into auto-pilot, and manage to dress, bathe, pick up the first pair of earring and put them on just fine. If some individuals say they couldn't function like that, I believe them. But, everyone is not the same. I don't remember immediate family members ever looking like hell at a loved ones funeral either. People tend to, I think, suck it up and get dressed.
The questioning of the motive for giving their child medication, (IF they gave their child medication, which they say they did not).
Well, since both the McCanns are physicians, I would be hesitant to voice the opinion that they gave their child anything that they thought would harm them.
Also, I believe, as has been said if the little girl was accidently killed, these physician parent would have called 911, or the equivalent there, and done everything they could do.
Television and movies make it all look so easy. A couple walks in and finds a dead child, then immediately come up with a devilishly clever plain the stumps the police for months. They are able to keep their stories 100% straight, and never get caught up by a little detail that went unnoticed at the time. No, they quickly recover with an appropropriate excuse.
Perhaps a sociopath would be able to "act" as if they were distressed and appropriately stick to an alibi...but I doubt these 2 people are BOTH inclined to have no moral compass, and have every detail worked out by the time the police took their missing child report seriously.
There is really not enough known to condemn the parents (as edgarblythe already said a few days ago.)
But there is also not enough known to condemn Portugese authorities.
If nothing else, there's been enough publicity that a few parents should learn that it's not a good idea to leave children alone in a hotel room anywhere.
wandeljw wrote:But there is also not enough known to condemn Portugese authorities.
A lot of people would disagree with you there wandel. The McCanns are banned from giving details, though Gerry indicated there was a great deal they want to say. Before they were gagged friends said they felt they were being framed. Also in the early days of the case, the police were the
only[/i] agency that could help them find Madeleine, and they didnt want to piss them off by calling them incompetent. Only later was it apparant they were never really interested in finding the child, just safeguarding the Portuguese reputation. The McCanns have been treated disgracefully. And if they appear reasonably calm and together with Kate wearing "nice earrings" its because they are middle class highly educated professionals who dont break down in a sobbing heap in front of the camera at every opportunity. They keep their crying for private, and I'm sure there's been a lot.
steve, I often wonder what people expect a bereaved parent to "look" like.
I think there's a broad spectrum.
Steve 41oo wrote:wandeljw wrote:But there is also not enough known to condemn Portugese authorities.
A lot of people would disagree with you there wandel. The McCanns are banned from giving details, though Gerry indicated there was a great deal they want to say. Before they were gagged friends said they felt they were being framed. Also in the early days of the case, the police were the
only[/i] agency that could help them find Madeleine, and they didnt want to piss them off by calling them incompetent. Only later was it apparant they were never really interested in finding the child, just safeguarding the Portuguese reputation. The McCanns have been treated disgracefully. And if they appear reasonably calm and together with Kate wearing "nice earrings" its because they are middle class highly educated professionals who dont break down in a sobbing heap in front of the camera at every opportunity. They keep their crying for private, and I'm sure there's been a lot.
The police are also banned from giving details. They delivered a one thousand page report to the prosecutor, so apparently there is also much that the police are prevented from saying. It is hard to believe a scenario that the police are only motivated by a desire to protect the tourist industry.
wandeljw wrote:It is hard to believe a scenario that the police are only motivated by a desire to protect the tourist industry.
Well as I've made abundantly clear recently I do think that is the primary aim of the Portuguese authorities in this case. (though I admit having had to deal with Portuguese police on more than one occasion, I'm not their greatest fan)
Steve,
All scenarios at this point are difficult to believe. It is an emotional case.
By the way I think this is another element in terms of the parents' demeanor being judged:
Steve 41oo wrote:And if they appear reasonably calm and together with Kate wearing "nice earrings" its because they are middle class highly educated professionals who dont break down in a sobbing heap in front of the camera at every opportunity. They keep their crying for private, and I'm sure there's been a lot.
The whole British stiff upper lip thing. Steve seems to think it's actually low-class and uneducated to break down in a sobbing heap in public -- that's certainly consonant with my observations when I lived in England.
In other words I think there is a cultural component as well. (I think Americans would be less reserved in similar circumstances, on average.)
wandeljw wrote:Steve,
All scenarios at this point are difficult to believe. It is an emotional case.
No I disagree. The McCann's version of events, that their daughter was abducted, is the only scenario that is entirely believable.
ehBeth wrote:Steve 41oo wrote:The McCann's version of events, that their daughter was abducted, is the only scenario that is entirely believable.
to you
c.f. the other scenarios. I think there is a difference between entirely believable and necessarily true.
