Little Madeleine McCann was only three years old when she disappeared without a trace while she was on vacation with her parents and siblings in Praia Da Luz (Portugal). More than a decade later, the search efforts were reactivated, this time with a name, that of Christian Brueckner, a German criminal known to the justice system for drug trafficking crimes and having raped a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve where Madeleine disappeared.
Police work has since focused on finding definitive evidence that would allow Brueckner to be blamed for the little girl's disappearance once and for all. The case seemed to be tied up and you could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the testimony of Helge Busching, a former friend of Brueckner who claimed to have heard the alleged culprit talking about the little girl in an argument. However, there are now fears that Busching is about to withdraw the evidence from him.
Busching was the one who gave Brueckner's name to British police in 2017, when he said he had heard his then friend say about Madeleine that "she didn't scream" while they were arguing about a drug deal. He would also have provided a document in which Brueckner would also have revealed details of the case to him.
However, according to The Sun newspaper, all this work could go to waste, as Busching's statement could be "wobbled" after having received a large sum of money to give his testimony in a German newspaper. After being financially compensated, he would no longer have much interest and would be "disconnected" with police sources.
"This is just a sample of the type of people we deal with, and their credibility as witnesses," a German source assures the aforementioned British newspaper.
This threat by Busching not to testify comes after it was discovered that Brueckner himself would be writing to other of his friends to support him in the event that this whole matter went to trial. In addition, he could be charged with other crimes of child abuse, unrelated to the Madeleine McCann case.
In the event that Busching retracted his testimony, the entire case was built around the figure of Brueckner, who is currently serving a prison sentence in a German prison for the rape he committed in Praia da Luz in 2005; it could collapse.
The sum of all the places in which the little girl has already been searched, especially in Portugal, makes up the most important device in history in relation to cases of missing persons.
