With thanks to Joana Morais for translation

The discovery of new indicia could lead to the formal reopening of the process. If this occurs, proceedings can be made in order to fill up the voids in the case. One of them has to do with the analysis of the hair samples, found in the trunk of a car, rented by the McCann couple 20 days after the disappearance of their daughter. 

At that time, the hairs fibres were sent to a Laboratory in Birmingham, that admitted that they could belong to Maddie. However, since they had no roots, it was not possible to identify [and extract nuclear] the DNA. They were returned.

Today that problem seems to have been overcome. There are now laboratories in Germany and in Holland with the technical capacity to identify the DNA using rootless hairs. They may even provide information on possible drug substances that have been ingested.

It should be recalled, that at the time, information was divulged that the children were given pharmaceuticals drugs in order to help them fall asleep.

00.53.22 1485 “Did the twins wake up at all?”

Reply “They didn’t. They didn’t”.

1485 “In the aftermath?”

Reply “No, and that was the other thing, she kept going into the twins, she kept putting her hands on the twins to check they were breathing, she was very much concerned in checking that they were okay. But they were okay, I mean, they were fine, they didn’t, they were asleep, but at the time it did seem weird, I remember thinking, you know, when the Police came they turned the lights on, there was loads of noise, obviously from the moment Kate discovered that Madeleine was gone, the screaming and the shouting and there was a lot of noise and they, they didn’t, you know, so much as blink”.

“The Solution is in the Process”

Defender of the thesis of Maddie's accidental death, followed by the parental involvement in the concealment of the corpse, Gonçalo Amaral, the first coordinator of the investigation, considers as positive the transfer of the re-evaluation task to a team that is distant from the first phase of the case. Nevertheless, he insists that with the archival “the truth was not able to be ascertained”. “Now, our judicial system might be ridiculed if the British police finds the solution, where it has always been: in the process that was politically archived four years ago”.

Dogs helped the Police

In the Ocean Club apartment, two English dogs detected cadaver odour and found vestiges of blood. That led the investigators to suspect that the child's death had taken place there.

Odour in the Plush Toy

In addition to the apartment, dogs also alerted to the presence of a cadaver odour in a Maddie's plush toy and in the key of the car rented by the McCanns.

Couple refused to Answer

When constituted as ​​arguidos by the PJ, Kate and Gerry McCann used their right, to not answer various questions put to them by the police. In the following day they returned to England.

Special Unit from the Judiciary Police found Carina
A month of searches

Initially there were talks of an abduction with possible connections to former boyfriends. But there were no signs from Carina Ferreira, 21 years old. Her cell phones were inactive and her bank accounts had no activity. The dimension of the mystery, that caused a deep impression in the month of May of 2010, and the absence of answers to several clues, lead the Director of the Judiciary Police from Oporto to develop a special unit.

A month and one week later, and following various false alarms, the case was solved. The inspectors found strange that some of the vegetation of a ravine near the A24 showed signs of devastation. They were searching an area, which according to the triangulation of the last signals sent by her cell phones, was the route taken by the missing young woman.

The investigators descented the ravine and felt a putrid smell. They went down a little further and found the Peugeot 106 toppled-over, already covered by some bushes. Inside it was the body of Carina, in an advanced state of decomposition, with the seat belt on and her mobile phones discharged. If someone had wanted to hide the cadaver, probably they would not have found a place so unusual. Her death was ruled out as an accident.

Experienced in Drug Trafficking cases

The current responsible for the revision of the Maddie case, Helena Monteiro, is the only superior coordinator from the PJ in Oporto. Now at the Section for Criminal Investigation and Prevention of the PJ, has an extensive curriculum connected with drug trafficking cases and robbery. She worked as well in Madeira. Regarded as dedicated and not very talkative, she has also worked at the Public Ministry.

in Jornal de Noticias, page 3, March 10, 2012 | Online paid edition

Note: These are short articles and further details added to Jornal de Noticias 2 pages news article dedicated to the Madeleine McCann case. To be read along with «Maddie Case: PJ/Oporto has already been on the field in the Algarve» and with «Virtual reconstitution tests witnesses’ version».