November 1, 2025 • 41 mins
Christian Brückner, the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has been released from a German prison. He served a seven-year sentence for a separate and unrelated rape conviction. He is now under strict supervision, including an electronic ankle monitor, having had his passport surrendered. Although he is free from prison, German prosecutors still consider him the prime suspect in the McCann disappearance and will continue investigating the case.
German national Christian Brueckner was named a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann.
Brueckner, 44, had been is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence in Germany for raping an elderly American woman in 2005. Three-year-old Maddie went missing from a vacation rental while on a family holiday in Portugal.
A Portuguese prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, has been pursuing a case against Brueckner since June 2020.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Darryl Cohen - Former Assistant District Attorney, Fulton County, Georgia, Defense Attorney, Cohen, Cooper, Estep, & Allen, LLC, www.ccealaw.com
- Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
- Greg Smith - Special Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County Sheriff's Office (Kansas), Executive Director of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, www.kelseysarmy.com
- Charlie Lankston - FeMail Editor, DailyMail.com; X/Instagram:@charlielanks
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I cannot believe this. What is wrong with the system,
the primary, the soul, the chief suspect in the kidnapp
and I believe murder of three year old Mattie McCann
has walked free. Oh, the words just stuck in my
(00:31):
throat like a lump of coal. Walk free. I'm Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
UK police say the forty nine year old suspect remains
the primary suspect in the disappearance of little Mattie McCain,
but for reasons I don't understand, the suspect, Christian Bruckner,
has walked free. I can't believe it. This guy has
(01:10):
been the chief suspect since twenty twenty. Dear Lord in heaven,
please make this not so okay? Why do I think
Christian Bruckner murdered three year old Maddie mccannn This is why.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What happened to Maddie joining me an all star panel
to make sense of what we know?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
High profile lawyer joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction,
former prosecutor of felony crimes just like this one now.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Defense attorney Darryl Cohen.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Doctor Angel Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us, also from the
Atlanta jurisdiction, and you can find her at her website.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Doctor ANGELA. Arnold, MD dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Special Deputy Sheriff Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Executive Director of
the Kelsey Smith Foundation, Greg Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
First to Charlie Langston, Editor Dailymail dot com. Charlie, thank
you for being with us. Charlie, what a long time
we've waited for justice and then Maddie McCann disappearance, or
should I just call it like it is, Charlie, the
Maddie McCann murder, This little girl just three years old
(02:21):
when she was abducted.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I mean, the incredible interest that remains in this case
and in all of its developments just go to show
how much of a sensational crime this was. It was
devastating to the entire country, to the entire world to
see this three year old girl disappear without a trace,
and to see her parents year after year begging the authorities,
(02:48):
begging the public to help them try and find out
what has happened to their child.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You're right, Charlie, just seeing the McCanns crying and begging,
and of course under the circumstances where little baby man
he went missing, they were first suspected, which tore them
up all the more guys, who.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Is this guy that is now the suspect? Finally he's
been in their cross heres for a long time. I
don't know what.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Has taken them so long to name him an official suspect.
Taking listen to oraka three are friends at sky.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
But Madeleine McCann's parents there's still hope she's alive. But
prosecutor hands Christian Vultures says he's leading a murder investigation.
Madeline's parents still believe she could be alive. Why do
you call it a murder investigation?
Speaker 7 (03:38):
So so many effects that she's dead, so there's no
Muclicut opportunity, opportunity that she is still living.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
The case against the new suspect, Christian Bee, is circumstantial.
He's a convicted child sex abuser. He lived along Portugal's
Algarve coast for twelve years. His last home was in
prior to Loge. When Madeline vanished. His phone was used
outside the mccoun apartment the night she disappeared.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
With the AMNISTI Laija from Melon mckinn begin Abo half
an hours does he taught.
Speaker 8 (04:13):
Us We don't have Madeline mcken's buddy, but we expect that.
She said. We have some evidence that the suspect has
done the deed, but we need more information from people
places he has lived, so we can target these places
especially and search there for Madeline.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
You know, I find it really interesting out to Greg Smith,
us special deputy shriff joining us justin County. You of
all people know the power of the ping. Okay, the
power of a cell phone ping. Did I just hear
Greg Smith that this guy cell phone pin just outside
(04:51):
Maddy mccannon's apartment. The it was like an Airbnb where
they were staying at this plush resort.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
They didn't know that before.
Speaker 9 (05:03):
Now, well it depends on how they did it. I mean,
there is a way to get live location data, you know,
at the time of the crime. That type of thing,
the stuff that I work on all the time. There's
also a way to get that data though, from historical data,
from what's known as c drs, are called detailed records.
(05:25):
You can go back and get the information on which
powers a phone contacted and their software you can put
that into and it'll map that out and you can
actually see where that phone has traveled. So it would
be interesting to know when they got that information, how
how long ago did they get it? Is it something
they just recently said, Hey, we can do this. I mean,
(05:47):
you know, there's a lot of questions here a long time, you.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Know, Charlie Linkston, I don't understand that. Charlie Langston joining
us before with dailymail dot com. She's the editor of
Female f E.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
M A I L. I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
If he is linked outside where our parents were staying
at the time, why has it taken.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Them so long?
Speaker 5 (06:08):
You know, this whole case has just been filled with
error after error after error, starting right from the jump
when Maddie disappeared. The Portuguese police came under huge criticism
at the time because they failed to take any action immediately,
which we now believe allowed this suspect, this man to
(06:28):
get out of Portugal. As soon as the media fraw
began around the Maddie McCann case, this guy slipped out
of Portugal and we believe went back to Germany. None
of the borders were locked down, none of that stuff
was put into place, and that allowed him to walk
right out of the country. So to even know that
he was there at the time, we would perhaps have
(06:52):
identified him as being in Portugal. Nobody knew at the
time because he was allowed to flee before anyone could
even raise him as a suspect.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
And at that time, Darryl Cohen, he was already a
sex offender. He had been molesting little girls, boggling them,
just a long, long history. How he was moving so
freely from one country to the next.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Nancy, you have to wonder where the police were, where
their eyes were, where their head was, and their hands
weren't moving the way they should have.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, obviously I know where their heads were up their
rear ends, because this guy was allowed to wander around
right there where this child was staying. And there are
now other cases a rape of a US citizen in
the area, and a sex attack on another elderly lady,
(07:48):
another young girl.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Who goes missing not too too far.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Away around the age and very physically similar to Maddy McCann.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And he's connected to all these things that I know.
I know, Daryl Cohen that you.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Would scream bloody murder at trial if I did this,
But don't you think it's quite the coincidence that where
the elderly woman is raped, where the US citizen is raped,
where the other little girl goes missing, that looks like
Maddie McCann. Where Maddie goes missing, he's always in the area,
(08:23):
he's always right there, a couple of blocks away. That
doesn't bother you.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I absolutely admit it is not a coincidence, because I
don't believe in coincidences, But I am very concerned about
the lack of appropriate police fork and their investigation would
dead end until finally and maybe now we'll have justice,
just maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Guys, I want you to take a listen now to
our cut eighteen our friends at Sky News, and this
is about the possibility that some of Madeline baby Madda
McCann's clothes were found in an area. I don't know
if you guys have this, but in a lot of areas,
especially densely populated areas, there are patches of ground where
(09:09):
people can plant a garden, they can have.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
A structure there. That is what this.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Guy had, this Christian Bruckner, And it is there that
we believe there's a possibility that some of Maddie's clothes
were buried.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Do you still have the same suspect you had three
months ago?
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Yes, we have only one suspect, only Christian me.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
How much information has you been sent?
Speaker 7 (09:38):
We got hundreds of hints. Of course, there are some
hins which are only rubbish, but there are some hins
we are hopeful that can make our investigation more successful.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Three months ago, you said you needed good evidence for
an evidence. Have you found that yet?
Speaker 7 (10:03):
We have no forensic evidence. But it's not necessary to
have forensic evidence.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
To charge our suspect.
Speaker 7 (10:10):
But we need some more evidence, maybe a witness, maybe
a photo or a video.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
I asked the prosecutor what evidence he has that makes
him certain that Madeline is dead. He won't say, but
he is aware of rumors.
Speaker 7 (10:26):
Someone told me that we have found the clothes of Maddie.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
He has the pajamas.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
Yeah, but it's not true.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
If we found something like that, it would be.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Great crime stories. With Natty Grace, the primary suspect in
the kidnap and murder little Maddie McCann, her disappear at
sparking a world wide search, was free. What in the world,
(11:01):
why would he be allowed to walk free. As you know,
little Maddie goes missing on vacation with her family and
Priya Deluze. It sparked a frantic search across the world.
She's never been found.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Take a listen now our cut nineteen our friends at
Inside Edition.
Speaker 10 (11:21):
Peter van Sentd questioned prosecutor Hans Christian Vaulters about the investigation.
Speaker 7 (11:27):
We have strong evidence that Christian being killed Maddie mckenn.
Speaker 11 (11:31):
But you don't have a body, correct, there's nobody.
Speaker 7 (11:34):
No, we have no forensic evidence.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Then how can you be so certain we have out
the evidence.
Speaker 12 (11:41):
And may I speculate that that evidence may include photographs
or video.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Of Mattie McCann.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Hugh May's Regulated.
Speaker 10 (11:48):
Forty eight Hours reports that a search of an abandoned
warehouse that once belonged to the suspect turned up USB
drives that contain pictures and videos of child abuse. The
prosecutor wouldn't confirm if images of Madeline were on the drives.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Let me go out to doctor Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrists
joining us, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It's one thing to molest a child, it's another thing
to video it. Because if in.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Fact Bruckner had video or photos of Maddie McCann, he
would have to have made them himself, because at that
time Maddie.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Was not public.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
There were not pictures and video of her online. He
would have to have made it, which means it would
have been most likely video of him raping or torturing
this three year old little girl.
Speaker 11 (12:41):
Well, and the horrific thing is if you video something
so that you can watch it over and over again
because you get some sort of thrill out of doing
it and watching it over again, it also means that
this had some planning on his part.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 11 (12:57):
The thing that just gets me is that asking if
there's still a lot, if she's still up, maybe if
they had have done their work in the beginning, if
she was still alive, they could have found her.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Then.
Speaker 11 (13:07):
I don't know why they think that all of a sudden,
she's going to be still alive fifteen years later. How
are they ever going to find her?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Well, I don't know that anyone has said that she
is still alive.
Speaker 11 (13:19):
And that's not his mo.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Apparently he's you know, he.
Speaker 11 (13:24):
If he did it, he raped her, he abused her,
he filmed it, And because of all the bumbling around
in this in this in the police in this country.
He's gotten away with it for this long.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
It's horrible what happened the night that this little girl
seemingly vanishes into thin air while on vacation with her family.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Take a listen to our friends at the.
Speaker 13 (13:45):
Sky A three year old British girl has gone missing
in the Algave in Portugual. Of course we can speak
now to Dan Mason, who's a journalist who works in
that area. Dan, thanks for johinning us on Sky News
Sunrise this morning. What are the details that you've gleaned.
Speaker 12 (13:57):
So far, Tullia. All I basically know is that the
child was obviously saying a mark Corner establishment and was
reported missing around pm last night. She's three years old
and she's still the name of Madeline or Maddie for
her and most of the people within the area were
(14:22):
searching through to about four o'clock in the morning yesterday,
obviously through hedges and down the beach etc. To novelle
and I've just been down this morning to the club
again to see if at any more. News in the
situation is basically the same.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Straight out to Charlie Lengthy joining us on Dailymail dot com. Charliegain,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Exactly what happened surrounding her disappearance.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
So, the disappearance happened while Maddie's parents and their friends
were out at a restaurant in Portugal. They were dining
at a place about one hundred and eighty feet from
where they were staying. Throughout the night, the parents went
back checked on the children, and at ten PM, Kate
went back Maddie's mum to find that Maddie had disappeared
(15:11):
from her bed. Obviously, as any mother would, she flew
into a blind panic, alerted as many people as she
possibly could. They then spent the entire night hunting for Maddie,
but couldn't find her anywhere. Now, Portuguese authorities did not
issue They didn't even issue a description of Maddie until
(15:32):
around twenty four hours after she had disappeared. They didn't
lock down any kind of entrance or exit from the
town where the family was staying, And it really was
just a horrific comedy of errors that continued right up
until the point when Maddie's parents, Kate and Jerry, were
named as official suspects. Because Portuguese police accused them of
(15:57):
killing their daughter in some tragic accident in the and
then trying to cover it up. So years later we
have a man being named as an official suspect for
the very first time since Mattie's own parents were accused
of killing that child.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I think that there was a lot of public outrage
that the parents left her and her siblings in the
hotel room while they went to have dinner.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
True it was only one hundred feet away.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
True they had nothing to do with her disappearance, but
still it was a real witch burning.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Daryl Cohen, go after the people who were closest to
what appears to be a victim, easier than going after
the real investigation, Easier than saying, don't have a suspect.
Suspects yet, we're looking carefully, Easier than looking at trouging
(16:55):
this net and finding this guy who was a convicted
child molester. Who finding this guy who went after a
girl that looked like that. I mean, this is outrageous.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know another thing about it? To you, Greg Smith,
I agree with Daryl Cohen. The fact that they focused
so much on the parents at the get go really
delayed the search for Maddie's abductor.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And another thing, Greg Smith. Greg, the very first thing
when a woman or.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
A child goes missing, you look for sex predators in
the area and who is in the area unmonitored Christian Bruckner,
they did nothing.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
Yeah, that's standard procedure, Nancy, you immediately checked. I mean,
here in Kansas we have the sex svender registry, so
that was done. In Kelsey's case, that was one of
the first things that was done. We'll see who's in
the area, who could have been in the area, interview them,
talk to them. And while in a lot of these
(18:04):
cases it turns out that there's a family member involved there,
and there's a tendency for police to focus on that.
You've got to be aware of the big picture and
be open minded and figure out that you know, they
may not be the suspect, and you can't just hone
in with a preconceived notion that this is what you've got. So, yeah,
(18:24):
that's that's problematic.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And not only that, do you Trollie Langston.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It's my understanding that this announcement comes nearly fifteen years
to the day that Maddie goes missing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Do you find that odd at all? Fifteen years to
the day.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
It's actually not odd because Portugal has a fifteen year
statute of limitation on crimes that would call for a
ten plus year sentence. So I think the timing is
actually in no way coincidental or strange. I think the
timing is very, very purposeful because Portuguese authorities know that
(19:04):
if they don't do something right here, right now, then
it may well be too late to ever punish whoever
perpetrated this horrific crime and to ever find any kind
of justice or at least answers for Kate and Jerry McCann.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, you're right. What Charlie Langston is telling you is
absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I think that this is just the authorities trying to
save their own skin in this case.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Take a listen to Araka twenty seven. Our friend Simon.
Speaker 14 (19:36):
Jens Madeline went missing from a holiday apartment on the
third of May two thousand and seven while her parents
were having dinner at a nearby restaurant. In July twenty thirteen,
the met Police opened its own investigation, saying it had
new evidence and new witnesses, and it was in June
twenty twenty that German police first revealed they had a suspect.
There have been searches in Portugal, but no breakthrough. In
(20:01):
less than two weeks, a statute of limitations would take effect,
meaning under Portuguese law it would no longer be possible
to make someone a person of interest. But it's understood
this latest development is driven not by timing, but by
strong indications that a crime has taken place. There have
been many false dawns in the investigations into what happened.
(20:21):
The police in Germany had previously worn their inquiry, like
the others, could end without a charge, but Madeline's parents
have always said they need to know what happened so
they can find peace.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So bottom line is now or never, and the Portuguese
authorities are still, in my opinion, sitting on their thumb.
They botched the case at the get go, and now
the only way they may be able to prosecute this
three year old little girl's killer is if they somehow
(20:54):
produce a witness.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
They've blurted out publicly that they don't have any forensic
evidence that hurt the case. But now I'm.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Understanding Charlie Langston is joining us from dallymail dot com
that they are claiming.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They've got a witness.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Now supposedly, yes, they are saying that they have a
witness who may be able to come forward and link
Christian B. Christian Bruckner to the crime. But I should
also point out that a TV special is due to
air in which four witnesses are understood to be coming
forward to corroborate an alibi for Christian B, which would
(21:33):
once again, potentially, you know, completely ruin this whole case
before it's even really got off the ground. So it
will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when these
four people who are named, who supposedly have no connection
to Christian B whatsoever, no reason to defend him, come
(21:53):
forward and corroborate whatever alibi it is that he plans
to offer.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Well, you know what, Charlie Langston, just burn that bridge
when I get there. Because I've had a lot of
cases where the defense claims.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I've got an eyewitness to say fill.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
In the blank, and you know what I say to
that b s, I'll stand on my own witnesses, because
very often I've had witnesses come on for the defense.
I remember one, very notably Darryl Cohen, that came on
trying to tell me he saw what he saw the
(22:28):
night of a murderer. I guess the defense did not
count on me going to the scene and pointing out
that that point of view was absolutely impossible because there's
a thick hedge of bushes about six feet tall between
the eyewitness and the murder. Impossible unless he flew over
(22:50):
the hedge and looked down.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
To see the murder.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So I don't believe any eyewitness until they're tested by
cross examination.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And as a matter of fact, Darryl.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And the black and white letter of the law, eyewitnesses
can be tested as to their vision, the lighting, the
distance at which they saw what they claimed to have seen.
I mean, it's laid out in black and white how
a so called eyewitness can be cross examined.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So I'd like to get a.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Hold of those eyewitnesses myself and see what's left of
them after I finish.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I'd like to know what these eyewitnesses have to say.
I would like to be able to cross examine them.
I'm with you, but let's assume their testimony is impeccable.
It doesn't stop the police, it doesn't stop the prosecutor
the courts from trying this guy. And if the statue
of limitations is running out. I would rather have some
(23:46):
prosecutoral time incarceration than nothing at all. And if somehow
he does this again, we'll get him.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Explain what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Him and I both know. There are times we know
a person is guilty as a prosecutor, we don't have
enough evidence, and the statute of limitations is running And
in our country we wouldn't have to worry about a
murder statue limitations. It doesn't exist, but there in Portugal
it apparently does. So they can arrest him, they can
(24:15):
try him and keep him incarcerated and keep the case
running as long as possible, and if he is acquitted,
so be it. But he's spent time in jail, in prison,
and also his name, his likeness, his face is all
over the media, all over the press, and that's all
(24:36):
he has to do is breathe again, and they've got
him for something else. Sometimes you have to get even
more than getting him the way you really want to.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Let me just say, officially, I don't know what you're
talking about. Charlie Langston joining us from dailymail dot com.
This guy is a child sex predator? What is his record?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Why has he been labeled already a child.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Six predator at the time he was skulking around Maddy
McCann's airbnb.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
I mean this man is not just a child sex predator.
He I mean he was described by a woman he
used to be in a relationship with as a human pig.
He has perpetrated so many sex crimes against children, against
women ranging in ages from as you said, a seventy
two year old American citizen who he has understood to
(25:28):
have raped in Portugal in two thousand and five. Now,
he was not convicted of that crime until twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Seven year jailsen.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Hold On, hold on, you know what, Charlie, you know
the fact so well listening to us like drinking from
the fire, hydshant is too much too fast.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Lets did you hear what Charlie likeson just said.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
This guy, Christian Brickner serving a seven year sentence on
a two thousand and five rate of an elderly woman
in Portugal, same place is where Maddie was stolen. That's
a seven year sentence and it started the event happened
in two thousand and five. So you've got that, then
(26:10):
you've got him being connected to the rape of an
Irish tour represented in two thousand and four, exposing himself
to children on a playground.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
But there's another little.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Girl where he was near her at the time she
goes missing, and she looks so much like Maddie what
about that case?
Speaker 5 (26:30):
So much so that she was actually nicknamed German Maddie
in the media. This was in twenty sixteen, and this
is actually the first case that made people connect Christian
Bruckner to the Maddie McCann case, because the similarities between
the two were so astounding that it didn't seem plausible
(26:50):
that he couldn't have been connected to the Madeline McCann case.
But it's not until six years later that we're actually
hearing for the very first time that he's been named
a suspect.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Doctor Angie, Hold the thought.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Hold the thought, because I want to hear it, but
I want to analyze what you just said, Doctor Angie.
With me is renowned psychiatrist, doctor Angela Arnold. Doctor Angie,
I remember a case. You might remember it too, Darryl Cohen.
It's the case I tried this guy's serial killer. I
got him on one and his victim will forever be
(27:27):
a Jane Doe.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
She has never been identified. That's really hard to prove
that kind of case because you can't if you don't
know the victim. You don't know who they hung out with,
where they're from, who was their last boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Anyway, she's found strangled, rape out in a field. Long
story short. I got a bead on the purp, so
I started looking for people that knew the perp. I
found his girlfriend, the mother of his child, who had
kicked him out for trying to strangle her. Found another
(28:01):
woman he tried to strangle in the Fulton No, she
was in the Gwnett County jail.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Darryl.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I had a reconstructionist draw the picture of what the
dead victim would have looked like in life.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Guess who she looked like?
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Almost identically, they looked like twins his girlfriend that had
rejected him and thrown him out of the house. And
I put those two pictures, those two sketches, up in
front of the jury and argued, who would have killed
this woman other than the man who was rejected by
(28:37):
this woman?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Did you hear what.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Charlie Langston just said that German Mattie looks just like
Mattie McCann dictor Angie, what.
Speaker 11 (28:49):
About it, Dancy. The fact of the matter is, I
don't understand why all of this information is being ignored
because we have known for a very long time that, unfortunately,
sexual predators do not change their stripes, and they will
continue and continue their behavior until they are stopped, which
(29:11):
is why in the United States we have sexual predator
list that we put them on. Nancy. They are they
are incapable of being rehabilitated.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Doctor Angie.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Everything you just said is correct, but that is not
responsive to the question I asked. I asked you about
the physical similarities in victims.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Why the perpetrators do.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
That, because they're playing out their fantasy, whatever it is,
they're playing it out through another person that looks just
like that person's It's right out there, Nancy.
Speaker 12 (29:45):
It's it's simple.
Speaker 11 (29:47):
We're not looking for a zebra. They are acting it
out on someone who looks just like the other person.
They're acting out that that violent fantasy that they.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Have crime stories with. Nancy Grace, I'm in shock. I
am in shock.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
The Mattie McCann chief suspect Christian Bruckner celebrates his release
from prison with a burger and a cigarette. It's not
known where he was headed after he went to McDonald's,
but I would hide my children under the bed if
(30:34):
I lived in that jurisdiction. Yes, Bruckner celebrated with a
fast food breakfast of chicken nuggets and a McDonald's burger
after being smuggled out of jail near Hanover. Hidden in
the back of his lawyer's car. He somehow managed me
to avoid being filmed or even photographed by the paparazzi
(30:59):
who had been waiting for several days. But a footog
did catch him as he went into a McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Now catch this.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Many of the outlets are calling him Christian b b
as in brother as in Bruckner. There he cannot be
fully identified under German privacy laws. Really, Maddie got no privacy.
Mattie's dead. He stood outside of McDonald's, smoked cigarette before
eating his food, and dressed sportingly in a lilac shirt,
(31:35):
beige pants, and tennis shoes. He didn't seem to have
a care in the world. He left the restaurant and
police blocked the street for him to allow him to
leave without interference. He was driven off in a black
OUTI wow according to prosecutors, they claimed to have quote
(32:00):
almost enough evidence to charge him in Maddie's disappearance, but
not quite enough really, after all this time, according to
the prosecutor, evidence against Brookner in the case is circumstantial.
His cell phone nearby her apartment at the time she vanished.
(32:22):
He's a convicted child six abuser. He allegedly confessed to
a friend and had re registered his car the day after. Hmmm,
that sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
The fingerprint crime like another little girl the same age,
with strikingly similar physical attributes, stolen in the same way,
raped and murdered that way. At least in this country,
that evidence can come in. Normally, under the constitution, a
defendant cannot have past crimes or bad acts come before
(32:54):
a jury because they are to be judged on on
their reputation or they're pastor on that particular case.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
But when the cases are so similar, they are allowed explain.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
When they are similar transactions, the girls look alike, the
crime is probably similar, if not the same, then you
can in this country, at least you can enter that
into evidence and have the triers of fact, the judge,
the jury listen to it, and pay attention to it
because it is exactly the same. You just transpose one
(33:28):
person for another, but the circumstances are the same, so
that is absolutely admissible here. I cannot speak for Portugal.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I am sorry, Charlie Langston.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It has been reported that prosecutors are quote one hundred
percent sure that Christian Bruckner is the part that took Maddie.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Why now, and what do you think the evidence is?
Speaker 5 (33:52):
I mean, I think the evidence is all constantial in
times of he is just a truly horrendous man who
has perpetrated crime after crime after crime against women and children.
He has a history of perpetrating crimes exactly like that
(34:13):
one in the Maddie McCann case. Now, we said earlier
it wasn't his mo typically to you know, murder one
of his victims. However, I think it's important to remember
the media fraw around this case was so extraordinary that
there would have been no way for someone to perpetrate
(34:34):
this crime and not be charged with it. Had she
returned to her parents, had she been found, had the
police managed to you know, track her down in one
way or another. There's no way that the person who
committed this crime wouldn't have been found. So I think tragically.
While I understand how important it was to her parents
(34:57):
to call attention to this case, I think the enormous
public interest in it may well have sealed Maddie's death.
And that, to me is the most horrendous thing about this.
It took the police so long to begin properly investigating
this case that Maddy could have survived had they actually
(35:19):
pulled their thoughts up and gotten on with things in
the you know, from the get go.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I understand what you're saying if she has still been alive,
but Greg Smith joining us a special Deputy sheriff, the
reality is when children are taken at this age, typically
they are killed within the first seventy six hours.
Speaker 9 (35:37):
Yeah, absolutely, Nancy, that's uh. I mean, that's the modus
operandi for young children, you know. And and I don't
know that media attention is a bad thing. Maybe maybe
a double edged sword, but Kelsea's case had a heck
of a lot of media attention. We were on every
news outlet in the United States and even international. Uh.
(36:00):
And while Kelsey didn't come home alive, she came home.
We found her.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Take a listen to our cut twenty eight, our friend
Alison Roberts.
Speaker 15 (36:07):
Yesterday they issued a statement saying that on Wednesday an
individual had been named as an official suspect. That was
an international request from Portugal to the German authorities to
inform that person of interest that.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
They had been made an official suspect.
Speaker 15 (36:25):
As your previous interviewees said, this is always a significant
step because it means effectively that someone is being or
will soon be questioned under caution. That's the same questions
maybe that could incriminate them, which gives them the right
not to answer, of course, So it's actually a status
to protect that individual. But it is always significant as
it's a necessary prelude to charges at some point, although
(36:47):
there is no sign of that just yet, no sign.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Of official charges after he has been named a suspect.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
What does that mean, Charlie.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
He has been named an official suspect, so why won't
charges naturally follow?
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Well, what I think is the next most obvious step
is that he will be extradited from Germany to Portugal,
and that is when charges may well be brought against him.
But right now I think what is going on behind
the scenes is that Portuguese authorities in conjunction with German
authorities are scrambling to try and get as much evidence
(37:23):
as humanly possible, to try and get some witnesses who
will come forward and at least say I saw him
at this place, I saw him here. I know that
he is a sex offender, whatever it may be. And
right now I think the most important thing is that
he has been named as a suspect again, the first
(37:44):
official suspect in fifteen years, which marks at least a
step forward in a case that has been dragging on
for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Now, Charlie, were Maddy's parents ever named official suspects.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
Yes, they were named as official persons of interest way
back in two thousand and seven, and interestingly, at the
time they had a huge amount of public criticism aimed
at them. They were accused of neglect. Portuguese authorities suspected
that Madeleine had died in a tragic accident in the
apartment that her parents had then tried to cover up.
(38:21):
Now they stopped being official suspects in two thousand and eight,
when Portuguese authorities dropped the case completely because there was
a lack of evidence. Ever since then, not a single
official suspect has been named until now.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Take a listen to Araka twenty nine our friend Martin Brandt.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
It's hardly been a secret. The German drifter has been
the main suspect in the Madeline McCann case for three
years or more, but now it's official. Christian B is
suspected of abducting and killing Madeline. German prosecutors are leading
the investigation, but haven't charged him. Jish girl was three
(39:01):
when she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Portugal
in two thousand and seven, fifteen years ago. This week,
the suspect had visitors to the German prison where he's
serving a rape sentence. He was told that Portuguese prosecutors
had made him an arguido, a formal suspect. He was
(39:21):
questioned for the first time but refused to answer that it's.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Rlie Langston being named a formal suspect there in that jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
That's the first time cops could question him.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
Yes, the first time, and he remained entirely silent throughout.
He refused to answer a single question. But interestingly, a
woman that he was in a relationship with previously, she
came forward last week and she said that he told
her in twenty thirteen, I know what happened to little Maddie.
(39:56):
She also suggested that he may have been the abductor,
the abuser, and that he may have passed Maddie off
to someone else. So there are still an extraordinary number
of questions surrounding this case. However, the mere fact that
he's been named as an official suspect. I really can't
overstate what a key step forward that is in this case,
(40:19):
especially given that he's only the third person when you
look at Kate and Jerry McCann, only the third official
suspect to ever be named by Portuguese authorities.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Let me remind everyone that Bruckner has multiple convictions for
sex offenses, including against children, and a really long record
of petty crimes. He's just completed a seven year prison
sentence for raping a seventy two year old American woman
who was in Portugal. While prosecutors in the Maddie McCann
(40:52):
disappearance case claim they did not have quite enough evidence
to win at trial, many disagree this Taking the forefront.
As Christian Bruckner walks free, he could be gone out
of the jurisdiction living in hiding for the rest of
(41:16):
his life. In no time will there ever be a
prosecution in the kidnap and murder of three year old
Mattie McCann.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Nancy Grace signing off good night friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I cannot believe this. What is wrong with the system,
the primary, the soul, the chief suspect in the kidnapp
and I believe murder of three year old Mattie McCann
has walked free. Oh, the words just stuck in my
(00:31):
throat like a lump of coal. Walk free. I'm Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
UK police say the forty nine year old suspect remains
the primary suspect in the disappearance of little Mattie McCain,
but for reasons I don't understand, the suspect, Christian Bruckner,
has walked free. I can't believe it. This guy has
(01:10):
been the chief suspect since twenty twenty. Dear Lord in heaven,
please make this not so okay? Why do I think
Christian Bruckner murdered three year old Maddie mccannn This is why.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
What happened to Maddie joining me an all star panel
to make sense of what we know?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Right now?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
High profile lawyer joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction,
former prosecutor of felony crimes just like this one now.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Defense attorney Darryl Cohen.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Doctor Angel Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining us, also from the
Atlanta jurisdiction, and you can find her at her website.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Doctor ANGELA. Arnold, MD dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Special Deputy Sheriff Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Executive Director of
the Kelsey Smith Foundation, Greg Smith.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Joining us.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
First to Charlie Langston, Editor Dailymail dot com. Charlie, thank
you for being with us. Charlie, what a long time
we've waited for justice and then Maddie McCann disappearance, or
should I just call it like it is, Charlie, the
Maddie McCann murder, This little girl just three years old
(02:21):
when she was abducted.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
I mean, the incredible interest that remains in this case
and in all of its developments just go to show
how much of a sensational crime this was. It was
devastating to the entire country, to the entire world to
see this three year old girl disappear without a trace,
and to see her parents year after year begging the authorities,
(02:48):
begging the public to help them try and find out
what has happened to their child.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You're right, Charlie, just seeing the McCanns crying and begging,
and of course under the circumstances where little baby man
he went missing, they were first suspected, which tore them
up all the more guys, who.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Is this guy that is now the suspect? Finally he's
been in their cross heres for a long time. I
don't know what.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Has taken them so long to name him an official suspect.
Taking listen to oraka three are friends at sky.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
But Madeleine McCann's parents there's still hope she's alive. But
prosecutor hands Christian Vultures says he's leading a murder investigation.
Madeline's parents still believe she could be alive. Why do
you call it a murder investigation?
Speaker 7 (03:38):
So so many effects that she's dead, so there's no
Muclicut opportunity, opportunity that she is still living.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
The case against the new suspect, Christian Bee, is circumstantial.
He's a convicted child sex abuser. He lived along Portugal's
Algarve coast for twelve years. His last home was in
prior to Loge. When Madeline vanished. His phone was used
outside the mccoun apartment the night she disappeared.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
With the AMNISTI Laija from Melon mckinn begin Abo half
an hours does he taught.
Speaker 8 (04:13):
Us We don't have Madeline mcken's buddy, but we expect that.
She said. We have some evidence that the suspect has
done the deed, but we need more information from people
places he has lived, so we can target these places
especially and search there for Madeline.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
You know, I find it really interesting out to Greg Smith,
us special deputy shriff joining us justin County. You of
all people know the power of the ping. Okay, the
power of a cell phone ping. Did I just hear
Greg Smith that this guy cell phone pin just outside
(04:51):
Maddy mccannon's apartment. The it was like an Airbnb where
they were staying at this plush resort.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
They didn't know that before.
Speaker 9 (05:03):
Now, well it depends on how they did it. I mean,
there is a way to get live location data, you know,
at the time of the crime. That type of thing,
the stuff that I work on all the time. There's
also a way to get that data though, from historical data,
from what's known as c drs, are called detailed records.
(05:25):
You can go back and get the information on which
powers a phone contacted and their software you can put
that into and it'll map that out and you can
actually see where that phone has traveled. So it would
be interesting to know when they got that information, how
how long ago did they get it? Is it something
they just recently said, Hey, we can do this. I mean,
(05:47):
you know, there's a lot of questions here a long time, you.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Know, Charlie Linkston, I don't understand that. Charlie Langston joining
us before with dailymail dot com. She's the editor of
Female f E.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
M A I L. I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
If he is linked outside where our parents were staying
at the time, why has it taken.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Them so long?
Speaker 5 (06:08):
You know, this whole case has just been filled with
error after error after error, starting right from the jump
when Maddie disappeared. The Portuguese police came under huge criticism
at the time because they failed to take any action immediately,
which we now believe allowed this suspect, this man to
(06:28):
get out of Portugal. As soon as the media fraw
began around the Maddie McCann case, this guy slipped out
of Portugal and we believe went back to Germany. None
of the borders were locked down, none of that stuff
was put into place, and that allowed him to walk
right out of the country. So to even know that
he was there at the time, we would perhaps have
(06:52):
identified him as being in Portugal. Nobody knew at the
time because he was allowed to flee before anyone could
even raise him as a suspect.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
And at that time, Darryl Cohen, he was already a
sex offender. He had been molesting little girls, boggling them,
just a long, long history. How he was moving so
freely from one country to the next.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Nancy, you have to wonder where the police were, where
their eyes were, where their head was, and their hands
weren't moving the way they should have.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Well, obviously I know where their heads were up their
rear ends, because this guy was allowed to wander around
right there where this child was staying. And there are
now other cases a rape of a US citizen in
the area, and a sex attack on another elderly lady,
(07:48):
another young girl.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Who goes missing not too too far.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Away around the age and very physically similar to Maddy McCann.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
And he's connected to all these things that I know.
I know, Daryl Cohen that you.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Would scream bloody murder at trial if I did this,
But don't you think it's quite the coincidence that where
the elderly woman is raped, where the US citizen is raped,
where the other little girl goes missing, that looks like
Maddie McCann. Where Maddie goes missing, he's always in the area,
(08:23):
he's always right there, a couple of blocks away. That
doesn't bother you.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I absolutely admit it is not a coincidence, because I
don't believe in coincidences, But I am very concerned about
the lack of appropriate police fork and their investigation would
dead end until finally and maybe now we'll have justice,
just maybe.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Guys, I want you to take a listen now to
our cut eighteen our friends at Sky News, and this
is about the possibility that some of Madeline baby Madda
McCann's clothes were found in an area. I don't know
if you guys have this, but in a lot of areas,
especially densely populated areas, there are patches of ground where
(09:09):
people can plant a garden, they can have.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
A structure there. That is what this.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Guy had, this Christian Bruckner, And it is there that
we believe there's a possibility that some of Maddie's clothes
were buried.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Do you still have the same suspect you had three
months ago?
Speaker 7 (09:32):
Yes, we have only one suspect, only Christian me.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
How much information has you been sent?
Speaker 7 (09:38):
We got hundreds of hints. Of course, there are some
hins which are only rubbish, but there are some hins
we are hopeful that can make our investigation more successful.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
Three months ago, you said you needed good evidence for
an evidence. Have you found that yet?
Speaker 7 (10:03):
We have no forensic evidence. But it's not necessary to
have forensic evidence.
Speaker 8 (10:08):
To charge our suspect.
Speaker 7 (10:10):
But we need some more evidence, maybe a witness, maybe
a photo or a video.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
I asked the prosecutor what evidence he has that makes
him certain that Madeline is dead. He won't say, but
he is aware of rumors.
Speaker 7 (10:26):
Someone told me that we have found the clothes of Maddie.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
He has the pajamas.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
Yeah, but it's not true.
Speaker 7 (10:33):
If we found something like that, it would be.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Great crime stories. With Natty Grace, the primary suspect in
the kidnap and murder little Maddie McCann, her disappear at
sparking a world wide search, was free. What in the world,
(11:01):
why would he be allowed to walk free. As you know,
little Maddie goes missing on vacation with her family and
Priya Deluze. It sparked a frantic search across the world.
She's never been found.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Take a listen now our cut nineteen our friends at
Inside Edition.
Speaker 10 (11:21):
Peter van Sentd questioned prosecutor Hans Christian Vaulters about the investigation.
Speaker 7 (11:27):
We have strong evidence that Christian being killed Maddie mckenn.
Speaker 11 (11:31):
But you don't have a body, correct, there's nobody.
Speaker 7 (11:34):
No, we have no forensic evidence.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Then how can you be so certain we have out
the evidence.
Speaker 12 (11:41):
And may I speculate that that evidence may include photographs
or video.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Of Mattie McCann.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Hugh May's Regulated.
Speaker 10 (11:48):
Forty eight Hours reports that a search of an abandoned
warehouse that once belonged to the suspect turned up USB
drives that contain pictures and videos of child abuse. The
prosecutor wouldn't confirm if images of Madeline were on the drives.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Let me go out to doctor Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrists
joining us, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
It's one thing to molest a child, it's another thing
to video it. Because if in.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Fact Bruckner had video or photos of Maddie McCann, he
would have to have made them himself, because at that
time Maddie.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Was not public.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
There were not pictures and video of her online. He
would have to have made it, which means it would
have been most likely video of him raping or torturing
this three year old little girl.
Speaker 11 (12:41):
Well, and the horrific thing is if you video something
so that you can watch it over and over again
because you get some sort of thrill out of doing
it and watching it over again, it also means that
this had some planning on his part.
Speaker 6 (12:56):
Doesn't it.
Speaker 11 (12:57):
The thing that just gets me is that asking if
there's still a lot, if she's still up, maybe if
they had have done their work in the beginning, if
she was still alive, they could have found her.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Then.
Speaker 11 (13:07):
I don't know why they think that all of a sudden,
she's going to be still alive fifteen years later. How
are they ever going to find her?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Well, I don't know that anyone has said that she
is still alive.
Speaker 11 (13:19):
And that's not his mo.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Apparently he's you know, he.
Speaker 11 (13:24):
If he did it, he raped her, he abused her,
he filmed it, And because of all the bumbling around
in this in this in the police in this country.
He's gotten away with it for this long.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
It's horrible what happened the night that this little girl
seemingly vanishes into thin air while on vacation with her family.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Take a listen to our friends at the.
Speaker 13 (13:45):
Sky A three year old British girl has gone missing
in the Algave in Portugual. Of course we can speak
now to Dan Mason, who's a journalist who works in
that area. Dan, thanks for johinning us on Sky News
Sunrise this morning. What are the details that you've gleaned.
Speaker 12 (13:57):
So far, Tullia. All I basically know is that the
child was obviously saying a mark Corner establishment and was
reported missing around pm last night. She's three years old
and she's still the name of Madeline or Maddie for
her and most of the people within the area were
(14:22):
searching through to about four o'clock in the morning yesterday,
obviously through hedges and down the beach etc. To novelle
and I've just been down this morning to the club
again to see if at any more. News in the
situation is basically the same.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Straight out to Charlie Lengthy joining us on Dailymail dot com. Charliegain,
thank you for being with us.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Exactly what happened surrounding her disappearance.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
So, the disappearance happened while Maddie's parents and their friends
were out at a restaurant in Portugal. They were dining
at a place about one hundred and eighty feet from
where they were staying. Throughout the night, the parents went
back checked on the children, and at ten PM, Kate
went back Maddie's mum to find that Maddie had disappeared
(15:11):
from her bed. Obviously, as any mother would, she flew
into a blind panic, alerted as many people as she
possibly could. They then spent the entire night hunting for Maddie,
but couldn't find her anywhere. Now, Portuguese authorities did not
issue They didn't even issue a description of Maddie until
(15:32):
around twenty four hours after she had disappeared. They didn't
lock down any kind of entrance or exit from the
town where the family was staying, And it really was
just a horrific comedy of errors that continued right up
until the point when Maddie's parents, Kate and Jerry, were
named as official suspects. Because Portuguese police accused them of
(15:57):
killing their daughter in some tragic accident in the and
then trying to cover it up. So years later we
have a man being named as an official suspect for
the very first time since Mattie's own parents were accused
of killing that child.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I think that there was a lot of public outrage
that the parents left her and her siblings in the
hotel room while they went to have dinner.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
True it was only one hundred feet away.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
True they had nothing to do with her disappearance, but
still it was a real witch burning.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Daryl Cohen, go after the people who were closest to
what appears to be a victim, easier than going after
the real investigation, Easier than saying, don't have a suspect.
Suspects yet, we're looking carefully, Easier than looking at trouging
(16:55):
this net and finding this guy who was a convicted
child molester. Who finding this guy who went after a
girl that looked like that. I mean, this is outrageous.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know another thing about it? To you, Greg Smith,
I agree with Daryl Cohen. The fact that they focused
so much on the parents at the get go really
delayed the search for Maddie's abductor.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
And another thing, Greg Smith. Greg, the very first thing
when a woman or.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
A child goes missing, you look for sex predators in
the area and who is in the area unmonitored Christian Bruckner,
they did nothing.
Speaker 9 (17:42):
Yeah, that's standard procedure, Nancy, you immediately checked. I mean,
here in Kansas we have the sex svender registry, so
that was done. In Kelsey's case, that was one of
the first things that was done. We'll see who's in
the area, who could have been in the area, interview them,
talk to them. And while in a lot of these
(18:04):
cases it turns out that there's a family member involved there,
and there's a tendency for police to focus on that.
You've got to be aware of the big picture and
be open minded and figure out that you know, they
may not be the suspect, and you can't just hone
in with a preconceived notion that this is what you've got. So, yeah,
(18:24):
that's that's problematic.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And not only that, do you Trollie Langston.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It's my understanding that this announcement comes nearly fifteen years
to the day that Maddie goes missing.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Do you find that odd at all? Fifteen years to
the day.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
It's actually not odd because Portugal has a fifteen year
statute of limitation on crimes that would call for a
ten plus year sentence. So I think the timing is
actually in no way coincidental or strange. I think the
timing is very, very purposeful because Portuguese authorities know that
(19:04):
if they don't do something right here, right now, then
it may well be too late to ever punish whoever
perpetrated this horrific crime and to ever find any kind
of justice or at least answers for Kate and Jerry McCann.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Well, you're right. What Charlie Langston is telling you is
absolutely correct.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
I think that this is just the authorities trying to
save their own skin in this case.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Take a listen to Araka twenty seven. Our friend Simon.
Speaker 14 (19:36):
Jens Madeline went missing from a holiday apartment on the
third of May two thousand and seven while her parents
were having dinner at a nearby restaurant. In July twenty thirteen,
the met Police opened its own investigation, saying it had
new evidence and new witnesses, and it was in June
twenty twenty that German police first revealed they had a suspect.
There have been searches in Portugal, but no breakthrough. In
(20:01):
less than two weeks, a statute of limitations would take effect,
meaning under Portuguese law it would no longer be possible
to make someone a person of interest. But it's understood
this latest development is driven not by timing, but by
strong indications that a crime has taken place. There have
been many false dawns in the investigations into what happened.
(20:21):
The police in Germany had previously worn their inquiry, like
the others, could end without a charge, but Madeline's parents
have always said they need to know what happened so
they can find peace.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So bottom line is now or never, and the Portuguese
authorities are still, in my opinion, sitting on their thumb.
They botched the case at the get go, and now
the only way they may be able to prosecute this
three year old little girl's killer is if they somehow
(20:54):
produce a witness.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
They've blurted out publicly that they don't have any forensic
evidence that hurt the case. But now I'm.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Understanding Charlie Langston is joining us from dallymail dot com
that they are claiming.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They've got a witness.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Now supposedly, yes, they are saying that they have a
witness who may be able to come forward and link
Christian B. Christian Bruckner to the crime. But I should
also point out that a TV special is due to
air in which four witnesses are understood to be coming
forward to corroborate an alibi for Christian B, which would
(21:33):
once again, potentially, you know, completely ruin this whole case
before it's even really got off the ground. So it
will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow when these
four people who are named, who supposedly have no connection
to Christian B whatsoever, no reason to defend him, come
(21:53):
forward and corroborate whatever alibi it is that he plans
to offer.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Well, you know what, Charlie Langston, just burn that bridge
when I get there. Because I've had a lot of
cases where the defense claims.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I've got an eyewitness to say fill.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
In the blank, and you know what I say to
that b s, I'll stand on my own witnesses, because
very often I've had witnesses come on for the defense.
I remember one, very notably Darryl Cohen, that came on
trying to tell me he saw what he saw the
(22:28):
night of a murderer. I guess the defense did not
count on me going to the scene and pointing out
that that point of view was absolutely impossible because there's
a thick hedge of bushes about six feet tall between
the eyewitness and the murder. Impossible unless he flew over
(22:50):
the hedge and looked down.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
To see the murder.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So I don't believe any eyewitness until they're tested by
cross examination.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And as a matter of fact, Darryl.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
And the black and white letter of the law, eyewitnesses
can be tested as to their vision, the lighting, the
distance at which they saw what they claimed to have seen.
I mean, it's laid out in black and white how
a so called eyewitness can be cross examined.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So I'd like to get a.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Hold of those eyewitnesses myself and see what's left of
them after I finish.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I'd like to know what these eyewitnesses have to say.
I would like to be able to cross examine them.
I'm with you, but let's assume their testimony is impeccable.
It doesn't stop the police, it doesn't stop the prosecutor
the courts from trying this guy. And if the statue
of limitations is running out. I would rather have some
(23:46):
prosecutoral time incarceration than nothing at all. And if somehow
he does this again, we'll get him.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Explain what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Him and I both know. There are times we know
a person is guilty as a prosecutor, we don't have
enough evidence, and the statute of limitations is running And
in our country we wouldn't have to worry about a
murder statue limitations. It doesn't exist, but there in Portugal
it apparently does. So they can arrest him, they can
(24:15):
try him and keep him incarcerated and keep the case
running as long as possible, and if he is acquitted,
so be it. But he's spent time in jail, in prison,
and also his name, his likeness, his face is all
over the media, all over the press, and that's all
(24:36):
he has to do is breathe again, and they've got
him for something else. Sometimes you have to get even
more than getting him the way you really want to.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Let me just say, officially, I don't know what you're
talking about. Charlie Langston joining us from dailymail dot com.
This guy is a child sex predator? What is his record?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Why has he been labeled already a child.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
Six predator at the time he was skulking around Maddy
McCann's airbnb.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
I mean this man is not just a child sex predator.
He I mean he was described by a woman he
used to be in a relationship with as a human pig.
He has perpetrated so many sex crimes against children, against
women ranging in ages from as you said, a seventy
two year old American citizen who he has understood to
(25:28):
have raped in Portugal in two thousand and five. Now,
he was not convicted of that crime until twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Seven year jailsen.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Hold On, hold on, you know what, Charlie, you know
the fact so well listening to us like drinking from
the fire, hydshant is too much too fast.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Lets did you hear what Charlie likeson just said.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
This guy, Christian Brickner serving a seven year sentence on
a two thousand and five rate of an elderly woman
in Portugal, same place is where Maddie was stolen. That's
a seven year sentence and it started the event happened
in two thousand and five. So you've got that, then
(26:10):
you've got him being connected to the rape of an
Irish tour represented in two thousand and four, exposing himself
to children on a playground.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
But there's another little.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Girl where he was near her at the time she
goes missing, and she looks so much like Maddie what
about that case?
Speaker 5 (26:30):
So much so that she was actually nicknamed German Maddie
in the media. This was in twenty sixteen, and this
is actually the first case that made people connect Christian
Bruckner to the Maddie McCann case, because the similarities between
the two were so astounding that it didn't seem plausible
(26:50):
that he couldn't have been connected to the Madeline McCann case.
But it's not until six years later that we're actually
hearing for the very first time that he's been named
a suspect.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Doctor Angie, Hold the thought.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Hold the thought, because I want to hear it, but
I want to analyze what you just said, Doctor Angie.
With me is renowned psychiatrist, doctor Angela Arnold. Doctor Angie,
I remember a case. You might remember it too, Darryl Cohen.
It's the case I tried this guy's serial killer. I
got him on one and his victim will forever be
(27:27):
a Jane Doe.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
She has never been identified. That's really hard to prove
that kind of case because you can't if you don't
know the victim. You don't know who they hung out with,
where they're from, who was their last boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Anyway, she's found strangled, rape out in a field. Long
story short. I got a bead on the purp, so
I started looking for people that knew the perp. I
found his girlfriend, the mother of his child, who had
kicked him out for trying to strangle her. Found another
(28:01):
woman he tried to strangle in the Fulton No, she
was in the Gwnett County jail.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Darryl.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I had a reconstructionist draw the picture of what the
dead victim would have looked like in life.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Guess who she looked like?
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Almost identically, they looked like twins his girlfriend that had
rejected him and thrown him out of the house. And
I put those two pictures, those two sketches, up in
front of the jury and argued, who would have killed
this woman other than the man who was rejected by
(28:37):
this woman?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Did you hear what.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Charlie Langston just said that German Mattie looks just like
Mattie McCann dictor Angie, what.
Speaker 11 (28:49):
About it, Dancy. The fact of the matter is, I
don't understand why all of this information is being ignored
because we have known for a very long time that, unfortunately,
sexual predators do not change their stripes, and they will
continue and continue their behavior until they are stopped, which
(29:11):
is why in the United States we have sexual predator
list that we put them on. Nancy. They are they
are incapable of being rehabilitated.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Doctor Angie.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Everything you just said is correct, but that is not
responsive to the question I asked. I asked you about
the physical similarities in victims.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Why the perpetrators do.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
That, because they're playing out their fantasy, whatever it is,
they're playing it out through another person that looks just
like that person's It's right out there, Nancy.
Speaker 12 (29:45):
It's it's simple.
Speaker 11 (29:47):
We're not looking for a zebra. They are acting it
out on someone who looks just like the other person.
They're acting out that that violent fantasy that they.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Have crime stories with. Nancy Grace, I'm in shock. I
am in shock.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
The Mattie McCann chief suspect Christian Bruckner celebrates his release
from prison with a burger and a cigarette. It's not
known where he was headed after he went to McDonald's,
but I would hide my children under the bed if
(30:34):
I lived in that jurisdiction. Yes, Bruckner celebrated with a
fast food breakfast of chicken nuggets and a McDonald's burger
after being smuggled out of jail near Hanover. Hidden in
the back of his lawyer's car. He somehow managed me
to avoid being filmed or even photographed by the paparazzi
(30:59):
who had been waiting for several days. But a footog
did catch him as he went into a McDonald's.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Now catch this.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Many of the outlets are calling him Christian b b
as in brother as in Bruckner. There he cannot be
fully identified under German privacy laws. Really, Maddie got no privacy.
Mattie's dead. He stood outside of McDonald's, smoked cigarette before
eating his food, and dressed sportingly in a lilac shirt,
(31:35):
beige pants, and tennis shoes. He didn't seem to have
a care in the world. He left the restaurant and
police blocked the street for him to allow him to
leave without interference. He was driven off in a black
OUTI wow according to prosecutors, they claimed to have quote
(32:00):
almost enough evidence to charge him in Maddie's disappearance, but
not quite enough really, after all this time, according to
the prosecutor, evidence against Brookner in the case is circumstantial.
His cell phone nearby her apartment at the time she vanished.
(32:22):
He's a convicted child six abuser. He allegedly confessed to
a friend and had re registered his car the day after. Hmmm,
that sounds pretty good to me.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
The fingerprint crime like another little girl the same age,
with strikingly similar physical attributes, stolen in the same way,
raped and murdered that way. At least in this country,
that evidence can come in. Normally, under the constitution, a
defendant cannot have past crimes or bad acts come before
(32:54):
a jury because they are to be judged on on
their reputation or they're pastor on that particular case.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
But when the cases are so similar, they are allowed explain.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
When they are similar transactions, the girls look alike, the
crime is probably similar, if not the same, then you
can in this country, at least you can enter that
into evidence and have the triers of fact, the judge,
the jury listen to it, and pay attention to it
because it is exactly the same. You just transpose one
(33:28):
person for another, but the circumstances are the same, so
that is absolutely admissible here. I cannot speak for Portugal.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I am sorry, Charlie Langston.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
It has been reported that prosecutors are quote one hundred
percent sure that Christian Bruckner is the part that took Maddie.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Why now, and what do you think the evidence is?
Speaker 5 (33:52):
I mean, I think the evidence is all constantial in
times of he is just a truly horrendous man who
has perpetrated crime after crime after crime against women and children.
He has a history of perpetrating crimes exactly like that
(34:13):
one in the Maddie McCann case. Now, we said earlier
it wasn't his mo typically to you know, murder one
of his victims. However, I think it's important to remember
the media fraw around this case was so extraordinary that
there would have been no way for someone to perpetrate
(34:34):
this crime and not be charged with it. Had she
returned to her parents, had she been found, had the
police managed to you know, track her down in one
way or another. There's no way that the person who
committed this crime wouldn't have been found. So I think tragically.
While I understand how important it was to her parents
(34:57):
to call attention to this case, I think the enormous
public interest in it may well have sealed Maddie's death.
And that, to me is the most horrendous thing about this.
It took the police so long to begin properly investigating
this case that Maddy could have survived had they actually
(35:19):
pulled their thoughts up and gotten on with things in
the you know, from the get go.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I understand what you're saying if she has still been alive,
but Greg Smith joining us a special Deputy sheriff, the
reality is when children are taken at this age, typically
they are killed within the first seventy six hours.
Speaker 9 (35:37):
Yeah, absolutely, Nancy, that's uh. I mean, that's the modus
operandi for young children, you know. And and I don't
know that media attention is a bad thing. Maybe maybe
a double edged sword, but Kelsea's case had a heck
of a lot of media attention. We were on every
news outlet in the United States and even international. Uh.
(36:00):
And while Kelsey didn't come home alive, she came home.
We found her.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Take a listen to our cut twenty eight, our friend
Alison Roberts.
Speaker 15 (36:07):
Yesterday they issued a statement saying that on Wednesday an
individual had been named as an official suspect. That was
an international request from Portugal to the German authorities to
inform that person of interest that.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
They had been made an official suspect.
Speaker 15 (36:25):
As your previous interviewees said, this is always a significant
step because it means effectively that someone is being or
will soon be questioned under caution. That's the same questions
maybe that could incriminate them, which gives them the right
not to answer, of course, So it's actually a status
to protect that individual. But it is always significant as
it's a necessary prelude to charges at some point, although
(36:47):
there is no sign of that just yet, no sign.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Of official charges after he has been named a suspect.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
What does that mean, Charlie.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
He has been named an official suspect, so why won't
charges naturally follow?
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Well, what I think is the next most obvious step
is that he will be extradited from Germany to Portugal,
and that is when charges may well be brought against him.
But right now I think what is going on behind
the scenes is that Portuguese authorities in conjunction with German
authorities are scrambling to try and get as much evidence
(37:23):
as humanly possible, to try and get some witnesses who
will come forward and at least say I saw him
at this place, I saw him here. I know that
he is a sex offender, whatever it may be. And
right now I think the most important thing is that
he has been named as a suspect again, the first
(37:44):
official suspect in fifteen years, which marks at least a
step forward in a case that has been dragging on
for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Now, Charlie, were Maddy's parents ever named official suspects.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
Yes, they were named as official persons of interest way
back in two thousand and seven, and interestingly, at the
time they had a huge amount of public criticism aimed
at them. They were accused of neglect. Portuguese authorities suspected
that Madeleine had died in a tragic accident in the
apartment that her parents had then tried to cover up.
(38:21):
Now they stopped being official suspects in two thousand and eight,
when Portuguese authorities dropped the case completely because there was
a lack of evidence. Ever since then, not a single
official suspect has been named until now.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Take a listen to Araka twenty nine our friend Martin Brandt.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
It's hardly been a secret. The German drifter has been
the main suspect in the Madeline McCann case for three
years or more, but now it's official. Christian B is
suspected of abducting and killing Madeline. German prosecutors are leading
the investigation, but haven't charged him. Jish girl was three
(39:01):
when she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Portugal
in two thousand and seven, fifteen years ago. This week,
the suspect had visitors to the German prison where he's
serving a rape sentence. He was told that Portuguese prosecutors
had made him an arguido, a formal suspect. He was
(39:21):
questioned for the first time but refused to answer that it's.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Rlie Langston being named a formal suspect there in that jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
That's the first time cops could question him.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
Yes, the first time, and he remained entirely silent throughout.
He refused to answer a single question. But interestingly, a
woman that he was in a relationship with previously, she
came forward last week and she said that he told
her in twenty thirteen, I know what happened to little Maddie.
(39:56):
She also suggested that he may have been the abductor,
the abuser, and that he may have passed Maddie off
to someone else. So there are still an extraordinary number
of questions surrounding this case. However, the mere fact that
he's been named as an official suspect. I really can't
overstate what a key step forward that is in this case,
(40:19):
especially given that he's only the third person when you
look at Kate and Jerry McCann, only the third official
suspect to ever be named by Portuguese authorities.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Let me remind everyone that Bruckner has multiple convictions for
sex offenses, including against children, and a really long record
of petty crimes. He's just completed a seven year prison
sentence for raping a seventy two year old American woman
who was in Portugal. While prosecutors in the Maddie McCann
(40:52):
disappearance case claim they did not have quite enough evidence
to win at trial, many disagree this Taking the forefront.
As Christian Bruckner walks free, he could be gone out
of the jurisdiction living in hiding for the rest of
(41:16):
his life. In no time will there ever be a
prosecution in the kidnap and murder of three year old
Mattie McCann.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Nancy Grace signing off good night friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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