On June 4, 2020, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters in the German city of Braunschweig gathered the press for a stunning announcement. The German authorities believed they had the answer to the question that some of the world’s best investigative minds have been grappling with for 13 years: What happened to Madeleine McCann?
48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant has been dealing with the case since 2007 and takes a look at the investigation into the new suspect in “The Puzzle: Solving the Madeleine McCann Case,” aired Saturday, February 27 at 10 / 9c on CBS.
More than a decade has passed since 3-year-old Madeleine, on vacation with her parents and younger brother and sister in the seaside town of Praia da Luz, Portugal, disappeared from her bed without a trace on the evening of May 3, 2007. With slow response from local police, Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, both British doctors, turned to the international press to enlist the help of the whole world in finding their daughter. Hundreds of man hours spent searching, millions spent on international investigations, endless worldwide media coverage, thousands of false Madeleine “sightings”, even a meeting with the Pope, and more than 13 years of desperate hope have yielded no clue.
How is it that a modest prosecutor in a small town in Germany can say with absolute conviction that “… in connection with the disappearance of the 3-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann … the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office is investigating to a 43-year-old old German citizen on suspicion of murder. From this you can deduce that we assume the girl is dead “? When Van Sant asked why they were so sure of this terrible outcome, Prosecutor Wolters replied, “We have strong evidence that Madeleine McCann is dead and that she was murdered by our suspect, Christian B.”
Wolters is not allowed to use due to German law Christian Brueckner‘s full name nor comment on the evidence they have against him, but it is no secret that this professional criminal and repeat sex offender is their prime suspect in the kidnapping and possible murder of Madeleine McCann. In fact, he’s been on their radar for a while.
Shutterstock
Wolters says that in 2017, ten years after Madeleine disappeared, someone contacted German police and gave them the name of the suspect. Wolters was stunned at the details, but according to news reports, Christian Brueckner reportedly made a drunken confession to a friend that he knew what happened to Madeleine McCann.
Germany’s highest police agency conducted an investigation and what they found was that Brueckner had a long and troubling history of crime. “Christian B. is a … criminal who has committed many financially motivated crimes, such as burglary or drug trafficking,” said Germany-based crime and intelligence analyst Mark Hofmann. “But he also has a dark side”, Hofmann adds.
Brueckner has a track record of possessing child pornography and has twice been convicted of the sexual abuse of a child. Hofmann says, “He absolutely matches the profile of a person who could potentially kidnap and / or murder a little girl like Madeleine McCann.”
mirror tv
In 2016, investigators conducted multiple searches of an abandoned factory deep in the forests of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, once owned by Brueckner. 48 Hours has learned that these searches were part of a wide-ranging investigation into child pornography. Hofmann says they found USB drives with photos and videos of child abuse buried under a dead dog. But what connection could they have with the Madeleine McCann case?
“He’s definitely a psychopath. And he is definitely a full-time criminal. … But the question is … is he guilty in the Maddie McCann case? ” Hofmann asks.
Learn about Brueckner’s sordid background and evidence that could place him near or at the crime scene in Portugal in an all-new episode of “48 Hours”. “The Puzzle: Solving the Madeleine McCann Case” airs Saturday, February 27 at 10 / 9c on CBS.