On what would have been Madeleine McCann’s 20th birthday, her parents released a heartbreaking statement.
When Maddie was three years old, on May 3, 2007, she vanished while on vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
While their parents had dinner at the outdoor tapas restaurant of the Ocean Club, which was about 50 meters away, Maddie and her sister had been left dozing in an apartment on the ground floor.
At various points throughout the night, they checked on the kids, and at 10 p.m., Maddie was found missing.
The toddler’s disappearance has never given rise to any criminal charges.
Kate and Gerry, her parents, posted the following message on Facebook to wish Madeleine a happy birthday. We are expecting you and we love you. Never will we give up, we promise.
She is still missing and is still missed, and we will never stop looking for her, they continued.
After German prosecutors announced they would not press charges against Christian Brueckner, the case’s primary suspect, because they lacked jurisdiction, Maddie’s parents have had a difficult year.
Brueckner, 45, a convicted sex offender who raped a pensioner in Praia da Luz, is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany.
He was rumored to have been camping in Praia da Luz when Maddie vanished.
Around the time Maddie vanished, Brueckner was accused of three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of sexually abusing children in Portugal; the charges have since been dropped.
He has never been charged in connection with Maddie.
Another setback for the McCanns came when a woman attracted media attention by claiming to be Maddie.
Later, a DNA test revealed Julia Wandelt was of Polish descent.
Before becoming the subject of a police investigation over claims that she had indecent images on her phone, Wandelt had apologized to the McCanns.
Kate and Gerry issued a statement after the DNA tests proved Wendelt wasn’t Maddie, stating: “There isn’t anything to report at this time. If and when there is, it will come from The Metropolitan Police.”