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She would be 7 years old now and maybe moved on from the little teddy
bears she loved so much. But the stuffed animals are still there in her
bedroom, just as she left them three years ago. "There are a lot of
pictures her
brother and sister have drawn for her and a million Christmas
and birthday presents, but all the things that are special to her are
still there too," says her mother,
Kate McCann, 42. "I appreciate that
she's older now, but I thought, 'It's her room, she picked the paint for
the walls, and these are the teddies she had.' Sometimes I'll go in and
sit there and try to get a sense of closeness."
This May 3 marked the
three-year anniversary of Madeleine McCann disappearing from
a ground-floor
apartment in a Portuguese resort, and her parents
Kate and
Gerry are fighting hard to not let their daughter be
forgotten. With precious few clues as to where she might be or what
happened to her, the McCanns, both British doctors, have publicly
criticized
investigators in Portugal and England for all but giving up
on the case. They have just launched a new push for help in finding
Madeleine,
whose birthday is
May 12. "There is no police force doing
anything active, and there hasn't been for a very long time," says
Gerry,
41. "The onus has fallen on us to run the search for our own daughter,
and I don't think it's right." Portuguese officials announced they were
shelving their investigation in 2008 but have said they would reopen it
if new information emerges, while Leicestershire officials won't comment
on the case because it is under the direction of Portuguese police.
The McCanns say they last saw Madeleine when they left her and her
sister and brother-2-year-old twins-alone in their rented apartment in
Praia da Luz,
while they dined with friends at a
restaurant some 50 yards away. Gerry
checked in on the kids just after 9 p.m., but when Kate went back an
hour later Madeleine was gone. In September 2007 the McCanns themselves
were named
suspects
by Portuguese police but were cleared in 2008. "Whoever took
Madeleine," insists Gerry, "is still at large."
But how long is too long to hold out hope? The McCanns were inspired by
the stories of Shawn Hornbeck, rescued in 2007 more than four years
after he vanished, and
Jaycee Dugard, who survived an 18-year
abduction ordeal. "I spoke with them after Jaycee's recovery, and I told
them there are many scenarios under which Madeleine could still be
alive," says
Ernie
Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children. Most children Madeleine's age who are abducted are
"not taken to be harmed but for another purpose," says Allen. "There's
no such thing as false hope."
For the McCanns, the challenge is keeping the search for Madeleine a
priority while giving their other two children as normal a life as
possible. Gerry, a consulting cardiologist, went back to work full-time
in 2008, but Kate, a general practitioner, has not resumed her job;
instead she cares for twins Sean and Amelie, now 5, in their home in
Leicestershire in central England, popping open her laptop to check on
the search for Madeleine when the twins are in school or asleep. Her
children "help us hugely," Kate says with a sigh. "They just lift us.
They say matter-of-factly, 'Our big sister's not with us because
somebody took her, but we're looking for her.'" Young Sean even talks
about finding "the naughty man who took Madeleine," says Gerry. "He
talks about when he finds him what he'll do. We say, 'No, we'll get him
to the police and put him in jail.'"
For the past 18 months the McCanns have been paying a
detective
to work the case full-time (they rely on donations to
Madeleine's
Fund, which has generated some $3 million). They travel to
Portugal once or twice a year to follow up on leads and are pushing
officials there to conduct a full review of the case and to look into
some of the hundreds of tips and possible sightings that come in each
year. "People have told us they tried to give information and were told
Madeleine was dead," says Gerry. "We're exasperated."
When the pressure gets to be too much, the McCanns go for runs to let
off steam; Kate also has a key to the local church, and "sometimes I
just sit there quietly or I speak to God." Their twins remember
Madeleine in their own way, borrowing teddy bears from her room but
always putting them neatly back where they got them. "Even when they
have a bag of sweets, they will say, 'I'm going to save this one for
Madeleine,'" says Kate. "They will say, 'Can I draw a picture for
Madeleine?' and they'll put it in her keep-safe box in her room."
More than anything, the McCanns hope there won't be another anniversary
without Madeleine in their home. "The fourth one would be even harder,
because then she will have spent longer away from us than with us," says
Gerry. Even worse, says Kate, will be putting more unopened birthday
presents in Madeleine's room. "There are days when I just feel like
shouting, 'Where is she?'" she says. "Madeleine should be back in our
family, where we know she'd be happy and loved."
HELP FIND MADELEINE
Donations to aid in the search can be made at findmadeleine.com.
Tips should go to investigation@findmadeleine.com.
Contributors:
Simon Perry/Leicestershire. |
|
More From This Article
A Three-Year Mystery
The McCanns don't have a strong theory as to what happened to
Madeleine; their best guess is she's still in Portugal or Spain. Besides
the McCanns there has been only one other suspect—a local named Robert
Murat—but he was cleared in 2008. Some highlights:
2007
Madeleine vanished from the McCanns' apartment in this resort in Praia
da Luz, Portugal.
2008
The McCanns won a libel suit against Express Newspapers after British
tabs pushed the theory they killed their daughter.
2009
The McCanns went on Oprah two years
after the disappearance. Of leaving their kids alone to have dinner,
Kate said, "I could persecute myself every day about that."
What Madeleine Might Look Like Now
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children produced
this age-progression photo of Madeleine, who would be 7 now. The McCanns
also issued a plea for help in searching for their daughter. "The work
to find our little Madeleine will continue," they wrote, "for as long as
it takes."
A Three-Year Mystery
The McCanns don't have a strong theory as to what happened to
Madeleine; their best guess is she's still in Portugal or Spain. Besides
the McCanns there has been only one other suspect—a local named Robert
Murat—but he was cleared in 2008. Some highlights:
2007
Madeleine vanished from the McCanns' apartment in this resort in Praia
da Luz, Portugal.
2008
The McCanns won a libel suit against Express Newspapers after British
tabs pushed the theory they killed their daughter.
2009
The McCanns went on
Oprah
two years after the
disappearance. Of leaving their kids alone to have dinner, Kate said, "I
could persecute myself every day about that."
What Madeleine Might Look Like Now
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children produced
this age-progression photo of Madeleine, who would be 7 now. The McCanns
also issued a plea for help in searching for their daughter. "The work
to find our little Madeleine will continue," they wrote, "for as long as
it takes." |
