TW: Mentions of sexual abuse and crimes against children
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Madeleine McCann was abducted from the holiday apartment she was staying in, with her parents and siblings, in the Algarve in Portugal in 2007. It is one of the most famous unsolved mysteries yet. Over a decade later, the search for Madeleine is still ongoing and her parents haven’t given up hope.
According to German police, they have a prime suspect in the McCann disappearance who is currently in prison for unrelated crimes. As per reports, Christian Brueckner was in the Algarve region simultaneously with the McCann family. He was named as the prime suspect in the case in 2020, he has since been disowned by his adoptive mother.
More recently, Brueckner’s cellmate has made an explosive revelation—Brueckner allegedly confessed to abducting a girl from the Algarve. Here’s everything we know.
Christian Brueckner’s alleged confession
As reported by Daily Mail, Christian Brueckner shares a prison cell with Laurentiu Codin. According to Codin, Brueckner asked if he was also in prison for child offences back in 2020. Brueckner then allegedly asked if ‘the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground’.
Codin claimed that his cellmate confessed to abducting a girl in Portugal. He explained that Brueckner said he was stealing in the region and noticed an ‘open window’—he was looking for money.
When he entered the room, he couldn’t find money, but he did find a girl and took her, as per Codin.
He said there was somewhere with an open window, he told me this. He was looking for money.
He said he didn't find any money but found a kid and took the child. He said that two hours later, there were police and dogs all over the place, so he then went away, out of the area.
Codin goes on to reveal that Brueckner had allegedly told him he had had relations with young girls in a van near Hanover. He also adds that Brueckner never admitted to killing any of the young girls.
There was talk of a girl, I don't know if what he said was true or not. He said that he had a bus and that he had taken her with it. He said he kept some of them, but not others, but he never said that he had killed them.
Christian Brueckner on trial for unrelated crimes
As reported by Daily Mail, Christian Brueckner, 47, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for sexually abusing American pensioner Diana Menkes, 72, in the Algarve, in 2005.
The 47-year-old was on trial at Braunschweig district court for other sexual abuse crimes reportedly carried out between 2000 and 2007. The charges included sexual abuse against Irish tour rep Hazel Behan in her Praia da Rocha apartment in 2004, a teenage girl in his home in Portugal, as well as an elderly woman in her holiday apartment.
Brueckner had also been accused of indecent exposure to a German girl in Salema in April 2007 and to an 11-year-old girl in 2017.
However, he was acquitted of everything by a German judge due to insufficient evidence in October 2024 which means that Brueckner will remain in jail till September 2025.
This article was updated to include his acquittal.
Read more:
Madeleine McCann: Police raid home of man with connections to Christian B
Madeleine McCann disappeared 17 years: This is where the investigation stands
Maddie McCann: The main suspect on trial for five other cases in Europe
Source used:
Daily Mail: ‘Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner 'confessed to abducting girl from Algarve apartment' former cellmate claims’
