Overview

• Multi-day searches in early June focused on areas where Christian Brückner camped near Praia da Luz and uncovered clothing fragments, bone fragments and a sealed box.
• Initial reports suggest some of the bones may be animal remains, and all recovered materials have been sent to German labs for detailed forensic analysis.
• Brückner, serving a seven-year sentence for rape in Germany, wrote a prison letter denying any role in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and challenging investigators to produce evidence.
• Portuguese media have revisited a 2018 tip implicating a British man and his German wife, but German prosecutors have not pursued that lead further.
• Former Portuguese investigator Gonçalo Amaral has criticized the German authorities for treating Brückner as a scapegoat and questioned the focus of the ongoing inquiry.