Missing Madeleine: parents of UK girl who vanished 10 years ago in Portugal still hopeful she's 'out there'
The case has sparked global interest partly because of the McCanns’ campaign to publicise their case in an attempt to find Madeleine
The parents of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old British girl who vanished during a family vacation to Portugal in 2007, say they are still hopeful they will one day be reunited with their daughter as they mark the 10th anniversary of her disappearance.
In an interview with the British press released Sunday, the McCanns said they felt encouraged by the “real progress” that British police have made in the case in the past five years. Scotland Yard said last week that, a decade later, detectives are still pursuing “critical” leads to trace Madeleine, who disappeared from a vacation home in Portugal’s Algarve region on the night of May 3, 2007. Her parents had gone out to a tapas bar nearby after putting her and her twin siblings to bed.
Despite an investigation costing more than 11 million pounds ($14 million) so far, police said there was no “definitive evidence” on whether Madeleine — who would be almost 14 now — is alive or dead. The toddler was abducted from the apartment, they said, but how and why it happened is still largely a mystery.
One theory that police say has not been ruled out is a “burglary gone wrong.”
Gerry McCann, 48, acknowledged it was “devastating” not to have found her, but added: “No parent is going to give up on their child, unless they know for certain their child is dead. And we just don’t have any evidence.”
His wife, Kate, agreed.