The search for Madeleine McCann in the Algarve ended on Thursday with Portuguese and German authorities finding animal bones and adult clothing.
“We found nothing. There is nothing worth sending to Germany for testing. We are finishing today,” a Portuguese officer told The Sun.
It was reported that no evidence linked to the disappearance of the British girl was discovered.
However, a Portuguese police source stated that all items seized during the search will be handed over to German authorities subject to authorization from the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Approximately 25 German police officers collaborated with Portuguese authorities to conduct searches around Praia da Luz from Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon, according to AFP.
The officers cleared areas around ruins, wells, and cisterns to deploy georadars, mapping and identifying any underground elements warranting excavation, as part of the 18-year investigation.
The police procedures followed a European Investigation Order issued by German authorities and led by the coordinator of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Faro.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Braunschweig, Germany, oversaw the process and requested the execution of search warrants in the Lagos area.
Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, just days before her fourth birthday, from the room where she was sleeping with her twin siblings in a resort apartment in Praia da Luz.
Christian Brückner was named a suspect in the disappearance of the English girl in 2023. Authorities stated that the German lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, with phone records placing him in the Praia da Luz area on the day she vanished.
Last year, Brückner was found not guilty of three rape charges and two counts of child sexual abuse allegedly committed between 2000 and 2017 in the Algarve. His defense argued that he was being judged solely for his connection to the Madeleine case, which the Braunschweig court agreed with.
