June 22, 2025 • 40 mins
A British man has come forward claiming his German wife ran over Madeleine McCann. He reports his wife was drunk, hitting the girl then the couple hid, then disposed of the body. According to an new report, sister of the man submitted a tip to police in the UK in 2018 which was reportedly not investigated. This tip came at a time when German national Christian Brueckner had been named a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann,
Brueckner, 44, was convicted in Germany of raping an elderly American woman in 2005. He served 7 years. 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, Twitter/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):
A little girl goes missing from a wonderful vacation with
her parents practically right under their noses. In the last hours,
very disturbing and knew Maddie McCann claim what happened to
the little girl? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
(00:29):
Thank you for being with us. That's right. In the
last days, a very disturbing new Maddie McCann claim that
a drunken wife of a British man ran over the
little girl before the couple dumped.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Her body at sea.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
This has just emerged.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Prosecutors have been accused by the media a failing to
properly investigate a claim Madeline maddiemann was run over by
a drunk driver. Now, Portuguese officers allegedly get a tip
about a British man who was covering up a secret
about his German wife who reportedly ran over Maddie while
(01:16):
the wife is drunk, and then to cover it up
they hid the little girl's body. Okay, that's another claim
in the search for Mattie McCann, But it was decided
at that time to continue solely investigating suspect Christian Bruckner
joining me an.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
All star panel to make sense of what we know
right now. High profile lawyer joining me out of the
Atlanta jurisdiction, former prosecutor of felony crimes just like this
one now, Defense attorney Darryl Cohen. Doctor Angel Arnold, renowned psychiatrist,
joining us, also from the Atlanta jurisdiction, and you can
find her at her website. Doctor ANGELA. Arnold, MD dot com.
(01:57):
Special Deputy Sheriff Johnson County Sheriff's off as executive director
of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, Greg Smith joining us. 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
(02:19):
I just call it like it is, Charlie, the Maddie
McCann murder, This little girl just three years old when
she was abducted.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I mean, this is a case as a brit It's
something that has been a part of my life for
over a decade now, and I think 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
(02:50):
the entire world to see this three year old girl
disappear without the trace, and to see her parents year
after year begging the authority is begging the public to
help them try and find out what has happened to
that child.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
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 is this guy that
is now the suspect?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Finally he's been in their cross heres for a long time.
I don't know what has taken them so long to
name him an official suspect. Take to listen to ourka.
Three are friends at sky.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
But Madeleine McCann's parents there's still hope she's alive. But
prosecutor hands Christian Volters 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 6 (03:50):
So so many effects that she's dead, so there's no
mucleicut opportunity. Opportunity that she is still living.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
The case against the new suspect, Christian b 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 Louge. When Madeline vanished, His phone was used
outside the mccoun apartment the night she disappeared with.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
The Armistlaija from Medlan mckinn begin aboulf an.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
Hours does he taught us We don't have Madeline mcken's buddy,
but we expect that she's 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 2 (04:40):
You know, I find it really interesting out to Greg Smith,
a special Deputy Shriff joining us justin County.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
You of our.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
People know the power of the ping. Okay, the power
of a cell phoned ping.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Did I just hear Greg Smith that this guy cell
phone pain just outside Matty mccannon's apartment. It was like
an Airbnb where they were staying at this plush resort.
They didn't know that before.
Speaker 8 (05:15):
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 CDRs, are called detailed records. You
(05:37):
can go back and get the information on which towers
ay 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 long
ago did they get it. Is it something they just
recently said, hey, we can do this. I mean, you know,
(05:59):
there's a lot of questions here, but yeah, fifteen years
is a long time, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Charlie Linkston, I don't understand it. Charlie Langton joining us
before with dailymail dot com.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
She's the editor of Female Femail. I don't understand it.
If he is linked outside where our parents were staying
at the time, why has it taken them so long?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
You know, this whole case has just been filled with
error after era 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
(06:42):
get out of Portugal. As soon as the media for
all 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 have
(07:04):
had to have 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 (07:13):
And at that time, Darryl Cohen, he was already a
sex offender. He had been molesting little girls, oggling them,
just a long, long history.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
How he was moving so freely from one country to
the next.
Speaker 9 (07:33):
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 (07:41):
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 rate of a US citizen in
the area, and a sex attack on another elderly lady,
(08:01):
another young girl.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Who goes missing, not too too far away around the
age and.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Very physically similar to Maddie McCann. And he's connected to
all these things that I know. I know, Darryl Cohen,
that you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
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,
(08:37):
he's always right there, a couple of blocks away.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
That doesn't bother you.
Speaker 9 (08:41):
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 (08:59):
Yeah. 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
Mcamn's clothes were found in an area. I don't know
if you guys have this, but in a lot of.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Areas, especially densely populated areas, there are patches of ground
where people can plant a garden, they can have a
structure there.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
That is what this guy.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Had, this Christian Bruckner, and it is there that we
believe there's a possibility that some of Maddie's clothes were buried.
Take a listen.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Do you still have the same suspect you had three
months ago?
Speaker 6 (09:45):
Yes, we have only one suspect, only Christian.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Me how much information has you been sent?
Speaker 6 (09:52):
We got hundreds of hens. Of course, there are some
hens which are only rubbish. There are some hints we
are hopeful that can make our investigation more successful.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Three months ago, you said you needed good evidence, forensic evidence.
Have you found that yet?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
We have no forensic evidence. But it's not necessary to
have forensic evidence to.
Speaker 10 (10:22):
Charge our suspect.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
But we need some more evidence, maybe a witness, maybe
a photo or a video.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
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 6 (10:40):
Someone told me that we have found the clothes of maybe.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He has the pajamas.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Yeah, but it's not true. If we found something like that,
it would.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Be great.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Crime stories with Natty Grace.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
In the Last Days, a shocking new Mattie McKinnon claim
emerges that a drunken woman married to a British man
runs over Maddie. Then to cover it up, the couple
dump Mattie's body at sea.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Oh my stars.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Now law enforcement allegedly gets this tip about the cover up,
but authorities apparently rejected a request to use an undercover
police officer to try to befriend this wife and firm
up suspicions. Now, that's according to the media. The report
claims a sister of the British husband made the tip
(11:47):
off to police that prosecutors were asked to authorize a
covert police operation with someone posing as a friend and
trying to get her to confess, but.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The court refused.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Wow, it was decided at that time to continue solely
investigating suspect Christian Bruckner. Okay, who is Christian Brickner? And
shouldn't every lead be pursued? Take a listen to our
cut twenty five Our friends at Wuthr.
Speaker 11 (12:21):
Prosecutors in Portugal now believe they may have a suspect
in the Madeline McCann case. You might remember that was
the three little, three year old little girl from Britain
who vanished while she was vacationing with her family back
in two thousand and seven at a resort. He also
has a previous conviction in a child's sexual abuse case.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Evans linking Christian Bruckner to Mattie McCann is we believe
a photo or a video of her? Now, why would
he have that? Take a listen now, our cut In
nineteen our friends at Inside.
Speaker 12 (12:56):
Edition, Peter Vancentd questioned prosecutor Hans Christian Vaulters about the investigation.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
We have strong evidence that Christian be killed Maddie mckenn.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
But you don't have a body, correct, there's nobody.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
No, we have no forensic evidence.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Then how can you be so certain?
Speaker 13 (13:15):
We have out the evidence and may I speculate that
that evidence may include photographs or video of Maddie McCann.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
H may speculate, but I'm not the laws to.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Tell you if you are right or if you are wrong.
Speaker 12 (13:31):
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 (13:45):
Let me go out to doctor Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrists
joining us, doctor Angie. It's one thing to.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Molest a child, it's another thing to video it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Because if in fact Bruckner had video or photos of
Maddie McCann, he would have to have made them himself,
because at that time Maddie was not public, there were
not pictures and video off 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
(14:23):
year old little girl.
Speaker 14 (14:24):
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, doesn't it. The
thing that just gets me is that there's later they're
asking if there's still a lot, if she's still alive.
(14:45):
Maybe if they had have done their work in the beginning.
If she was still alive, they could have found her then.
I don't know why they think that all of a
sudden she's going to be still alive. How are they
ever going to find her?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Well, I don't know that anyone has said that she
is still alive.
Speaker 14 (15:00):
And that's not and that's not his mo. Apparently he's
you know, he 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 2 (15:16):
It's horrible what happened the night that this little girl
seemingly vanishes into thin air while on vacation with her family.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Take a listen to our friends at the sky.
Speaker 15 (15:27):
A three year old British girl has gone missing in
the Algave in Portugal. 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 New Sunrise this morning.
What are the details that you've gleaned so far?
Speaker 8 (15:40):
Talia?
Speaker 13 (15:42):
All I basically know is that the child is obviously
saying a mark Corner establishment and was reported missing around
m last night. She's three years old and sister the
name of Madeline or Maddie Fair, and most of the
(16:02):
people in the area were searching through to about four
o'clock in the morning yesterday, obviously through hedges and down
the beach, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Straight out to Charlie Lengthy joining us on dailymail dot com, Charliegain,
thank you for being with us. Exactly what happened surrounding
her disappearance.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
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 away
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 mom to find that Maddie had
(16:44):
disappeared 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. Portuguese authorities did
not issue They didn't even issue a description of Maddie
(17:05):
until 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
(17:29):
of killing their daughter in some tragic accident in the
apartment and then trying to cover it up. So we
have a man being named as an official suspect for
the very first time since Maddie's own parents were accused
of killing their child.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
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. True it
was only one hundred feet away. True they had nothing
to do.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
With her disappearance, but still it was a real witch burning.
Speaker 9 (18:06):
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 trouding
(18:28):
this net and finding this guy who was a convicted
child molester. Who finding this guy who went after a
girl that looked like Mattie. I mean, this is outrageous.
Speaker 15 (18:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
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. And another thing, Greg Smith, Greg
the very first saying when a woman or a child
(19:02):
goes missing, you look for sex predators in the area,
and who is in the area unmonitored Christian Bruckner, they
did nothing.
Speaker 8 (19:15):
Yeah, that's standard procedure. Nancy, you immediately checked. I mean,
here in Kansas we have the sex Vendor 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
(19:36):
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 you've got to be aware of the big picture
and be open minded and figure out that you know,
they may not be this aspect and you can't just
hone in with a preconceived notion that this is what
you've got. So, yeah, that's that's problematic.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And not only that, do you try Langston. It's my
understanding that this announcement comes nearly fifteen years to the
day that Maddie goes missing. Do you find that odd
at all? Fifteen years to the day.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
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
(20:37):
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 3 (20:54):
Well, you're right, what Charlie Langston is telling you is
absolutely correct. Thing that this is just.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
The authorities trying to save their own skin in this case.
Take a listen to Orakat twenty seven. Our friend Simon.
Speaker 16 (21:08):
Jones 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
(21:33):
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 had
been many false dawns in the investigations into what happened.
(21:54):
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 (22:06):
They've blurted out publicly that they don't have any forensic
evidence that hurt the case. But now I'm understanding Charlie
Langston's joining us from dalimail dot com that they are
claiming they've got a witness.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
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 the UK in which four witnesses are understood
to be coming forward to corroborate an alibi for Christian B,
(22:43):
which would 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 when
these four people who are named, who supposedly have no
connection to Christian be whatsoever, no reason to defend him,
come forward and cooporate whatever alibi it is that he
(23:06):
plans to offer.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Well, you know what, Charlie Langston, I'll just burn that
bridge when I get there, because I've had a lot
of cases where the defense claims I've got an eyewitness
to say fill 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
(23:29):
for the defense. I remember one, very notably Daryl Cohen.
They came on trying to tell me he saw what
he saw the 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
(23:52):
feet tall between the eyewitness and the murder.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Impossible unless he flew over the hedge and look down.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
To see the murder. So I don't believe any eyewitness
until they're tested by cross examination. And as a matter
of fact, Darryl Cohen in 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.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Laid out in black and white how a so called
eyewitness can be cross examined.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
So I'd like to get a.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Hold of those eyewitnesses myself and see what's left of
them after I finish.
Speaker 9 (24:34):
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
(24:56):
prosecutoral time incarceration than nothing at all. And if somehow
he does this again, we'll get him.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Explain what you're talking about.
Speaker 9 (25:05):
Him and I both know. There are times we know
a person is guilty as a prosecutor, but 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
(25:25):
can 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
(25:46):
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 2 (25:55):
Let me just say, officially, I don't know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Charlie Lane and joining us from dailymail dot com. This
guy is a child sex predator? What is his record?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Why has he been labeled already a child six predator
at the time he.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Was skulking around Maddy McCann's airbnb.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
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
(26:38):
have raped in Portugal in two thousand and five. Now,
he was not convicted of that crime until twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
He is currently.
Speaker 10 (26:47):
Serving a jail sentence for that crime, seven year jailsen,
hold on, hold on, you know what, Charlie, you know
the fact so well listening to us like drinking from
the fire hydront is too much too fast.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Lets did you hear what Charlie likes and just said.
This guy, Christian Brickner, is just now 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 he just
(27:19):
now has started serving it. And it started the event
happened in two thousand and five, So you've got that.
Then 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. But there's another little
(27:40):
girl where he was near her at the time.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
She goes to me saying, she looks so much like
Maddie what about that case?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
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 mccancakes, because the similarities between the
two was so astounding that it didn't seem plausible that
(28:08):
he couldn't have been connected to the Madeline mccancase. 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 3 (28:19):
Doctor Angie, hold the thought. Hold the thought, because I
want to hear it, but I want to analyze what
you just said, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
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
a Jane Doe.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
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. Anyway, she's found.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Strangled, rape out in a feel long story short, I
got a bead on the purp, so I started looking
for people that knew the purp.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I found his girlfriend, the mother of his child, who
had kicked him out for trying to strangle her.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I found another woman he tried to strangle in the
Fulton No. She was in the Gwnette.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
County jail, Daryl.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I had a reconstructionist draw the picture of what the
dead victim would have looked like in life. Guess who
she looked like, almost identically looked like twins his girlfriend
that had rejected him and thrown him out of the house.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
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 this woman? Did you hear what Charlie Langston just
said that German Maddie looks just like Maddie McCann. Doctor Angie, what.
Speaker 14 (30:07):
About it, Nancy. 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
(30:29):
is why in the United States we have sexual predator
list that we put them on. Nancy. They are incapable
of being rehabilitated.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Doctor Angie.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Everything you just said is correct, but that is not
responsive to the question I asked.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
I asked you about the physical similarities in victims. Why
the perpetrators do.
Speaker 14 (30:51):
That, Because they're playing out their fantasy, whatever it is,
they're playing it out through another person that looks just
like that. It's it's it's right out there, Nancy. It's
it's simple. We're not looking for a zebra. They are
acting it out on someone who looks just like.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
The other person.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
According to reports, this mystery couple were quote alcoholics. The
wife had been drinking near the Ocean Club the night
Mattie went missing from the ocean club. The report also
claims the couple's neighbor told police she heard them arguing
(31:43):
loudly the day after Mattie goes missing. She heard the
husband yelling why did you bring her? Over and over
and over this according to reports, But what do we know?
Prosecutors have stated specifically about Christian Bruckner their number one suspect.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Charlie Langston.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It has been reported that prosecutors are quote one hundred
percent sure that Christian Bruckner is the part that took Maddie.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Why now? And what do you think the evidence is?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I mean, I think the evidence is all circumstantial in
terms 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
(32:41):
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
(33:02):
this crime and not be charged with it had she
returned to her parents, had she been found, had the
police managed to 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
(33:22):
understand how important it was to her parents 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
(33:43):
case that Maddie could have survived had they actually pulled
their thocks up and gotten on with things in the
you know, from the get go.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
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 taking and at this age,
typically they are killed.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Within the first seventy six hours.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Yeah, absolutely, Nancy, that's I mean, that's the modus operandi
for young children, you know. And I don't know that
media attention is a bad thing, maybe a double edged sword,
but Kelsey's case had a heck of a lot of
media attention. We were on every news outlet in the
(34:25):
United States and even international, and while Kelsey didn't come
home alive, she came home. We found her.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Now I'm thinking about what you're saying, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Uh, for those of you just joining us, an official
suspect has finally been named in the disappearance of a
three year old little girl, Maddie McCann. Take a listen
to Hour Cut twenty eight our friend Alison Roberts.
Speaker 17 (34:49):
Yesterday they issued a statement saying that on Wednesday an
individual had been named as an official suspect and that
was an international request from Portugal to the German authorities
to inform that person of interest that they have been
made an official suspect. Your previous into interviewees said, this
(35:10):
is always a significant step because it means effectively that
someone is being or will soon be questioned under caution.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
That's the same questions maybe that.
Speaker 18 (35:17):
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 there is no sign
of that just yet.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
No sign of official charges. After he has been named
a suspect what does that mean, Charlie. He's been named
an official suspect, so why want charges naturally follow?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
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 authority is in conjunction with
German authorities, are scrambling to try and get as much
(36:04):
evidence 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
(36:25):
first official suspect, which marks at least a step forward
in a case that has been dragging on for more
than a decade now.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Charlie, were Maddy's parents ever named official suspects?
Speaker 4 (36:38):
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. Now.
(37:01):
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 3 (37:17):
Take a los to Araka twenty nine our friend Martin Bradt.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
It's hardly been a secret. The German drifter has been
the main suspect in the Madeline Macan 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. The British girl was
(37:40):
three when she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in
Portugal in two thousand and seven. 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 questioned for
(38:00):
the first time but refused to answer, So.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
It's Rerllie Langston being named a formal suspect there in
that jurisdiction. That's the first time cops could question.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
Him, 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.
(38:34):
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,
(38:58):
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 3 (39:08):
Is justice delayed?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Justice denied because now we learn this unnamed British man,
the husband has died and we don't.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Know if the wife's still alive.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
In front page reports, papers claimed police refused to cooperate
in the investigation of a clue that pointed to Mattie
McCann being run over and the possibility a couple disposed
of her body hours later in the Ocean.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Now a woman went to police to say she.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Suspected her brother was involved in the disappearance of Mattie McCann.
She said her brother was an alcoholic and since the
day Mattie vanished, he was hiding a painful secret.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Hmm, and now he's dead. Oh my stars.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Whether it's true or not, if Bruckner ever goes to trial,
this will be fodder for the defense. They can argue
he didn't do it, this couple did. The husband's not
alive anymore to defend himself or say anything otherwise. We
wait as justice un false.
Speaker 11 (40:19):
Goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A little girl goes missing from a wonderful vacation with
her parents practically right under their noses. In the last hours,
very disturbing and knew Maddie McCann claim what happened to
the little girl? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
(00:29):
Thank you for being with us. That's right. In the
last days, a very disturbing new Maddie McCann claim that
a drunken wife of a British man ran over the
little girl before the couple dumped.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Her body at sea.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
This has just emerged.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Prosecutors have been accused by the media a failing to
properly investigate a claim Madeline maddiemann was run over by
a drunk driver. Now, Portuguese officers allegedly get a tip
about a British man who was covering up a secret
about his German wife who reportedly ran over Maddie while
(01:16):
the wife is drunk, and then to cover it up
they hid the little girl's body. Okay, that's another claim
in the search for Mattie McCann, But it was decided
at that time to continue solely investigating suspect Christian Bruckner
joining me an.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
All star panel to make sense of what we know
right now. High profile lawyer joining me out of the
Atlanta jurisdiction, former prosecutor of felony crimes just like this
one now, Defense attorney Darryl Cohen. Doctor Angel Arnold, renowned psychiatrist,
joining us, also from the Atlanta jurisdiction, and you can
find her at her website. Doctor ANGELA. Arnold, MD dot com.
(01:57):
Special Deputy Sheriff Johnson County Sheriff's off as executive director
of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, Greg Smith joining us. 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
(02:19):
I just call it like it is, Charlie, the Maddie
McCann murder, This little girl just three years old when
she was abducted.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
I mean, this is a case as a brit It's
something that has been a part of my life for
over a decade now, and I think 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
(02:50):
the entire world to see this three year old girl
disappear without the trace, and to see her parents year
after year begging the authority is begging the public to
help them try and find out what has happened to
that child.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
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 is this guy that
is now the suspect?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Finally he's been in their cross heres for a long time.
I don't know what has taken them so long to
name him an official suspect. Take to listen to ourka.
Three are friends at sky.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
But Madeleine McCann's parents there's still hope she's alive. But
prosecutor hands Christian Volters 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 6 (03:50):
So so many effects that she's dead, so there's no
mucleicut opportunity. Opportunity that she is still living.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
The case against the new suspect, Christian b 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 Louge. When Madeline vanished, His phone was used
outside the mccoun apartment the night she disappeared with.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
The Armistlaija from Medlan mckinn begin aboulf an.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
Hours does he taught us We don't have Madeline mcken's buddy,
but we expect that she's 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 2 (04:40):
You know, I find it really interesting out to Greg Smith,
a special Deputy Shriff joining us justin County.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
You of our.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
People know the power of the ping. Okay, the power
of a cell phoned ping.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Did I just hear Greg Smith that this guy cell
phone pain just outside Matty mccannon's apartment. It was like
an Airbnb where they were staying at this plush resort.
They didn't know that before.
Speaker 8 (05:15):
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 CDRs, are called detailed records. You
(05:37):
can go back and get the information on which towers
ay 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 long
ago did they get it. Is it something they just
recently said, hey, we can do this. I mean, you know,
(05:59):
there's a lot of questions here, but yeah, fifteen years
is a long time, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Charlie Linkston, I don't understand it. Charlie Langton joining us
before with dailymail dot com.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
She's the editor of Female Femail. I don't understand it.
If he is linked outside where our parents were staying
at the time, why has it taken them so long?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
You know, this whole case has just been filled with
error after era 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
(06:42):
get out of Portugal. As soon as the media for
all 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 have
(07:04):
had to have 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 (07:13):
And at that time, Darryl Cohen, he was already a
sex offender. He had been molesting little girls, oggling them,
just a long, long history.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
How he was moving so freely from one country to
the next.
Speaker 9 (07:33):
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 (07:41):
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 rate of a US citizen in
the area, and a sex attack on another elderly lady,
(08:01):
another young girl.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Who goes missing, not too too far away around the
age and.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Very physically similar to Maddie McCann. And he's connected to
all these things that I know. I know, Darryl Cohen,
that you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
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,
(08:37):
he's always right there, a couple of blocks away.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
That doesn't bother you.
Speaker 9 (08:41):
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 (08:59):
Yeah. 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
Mcamn's clothes were found in an area. I don't know
if you guys have this, but in a lot of.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Areas, especially densely populated areas, there are patches of ground
where people can plant a garden, they can have a
structure there.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
That is what this guy.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Had, this Christian Bruckner, and it is there that we
believe there's a possibility that some of Maddie's clothes were buried.
Take a listen.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Do you still have the same suspect you had three
months ago?
Speaker 6 (09:45):
Yes, we have only one suspect, only Christian.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Me how much information has you been sent?
Speaker 6 (09:52):
We got hundreds of hens. Of course, there are some
hens which are only rubbish. There are some hints we
are hopeful that can make our investigation more successful.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Three months ago, you said you needed good evidence, forensic evidence.
Have you found that yet?
Speaker 6 (10:17):
We have no forensic evidence. But it's not necessary to
have forensic evidence to.
Speaker 10 (10:22):
Charge our suspect.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
But we need some more evidence, maybe a witness, maybe
a photo or a video.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
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 6 (10:40):
Someone told me that we have found the clothes of maybe.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He has the pajamas.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Yeah, but it's not true. If we found something like that,
it would.
Speaker 9 (10:49):
Be great.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Crime stories with Natty Grace.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
In the Last Days, a shocking new Mattie McKinnon claim
emerges that a drunken woman married to a British man
runs over Maddie. Then to cover it up, the couple
dump Mattie's body at sea.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Oh my stars.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Now law enforcement allegedly gets this tip about the cover up,
but authorities apparently rejected a request to use an undercover
police officer to try to befriend this wife and firm
up suspicions. Now, that's according to the media. The report
claims a sister of the British husband made the tip
(11:47):
off to police that prosecutors were asked to authorize a
covert police operation with someone posing as a friend and
trying to get her to confess, but.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The court refused.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Wow, it was decided at that time to continue solely
investigating suspect Christian Bruckner. Okay, who is Christian Brickner? And
shouldn't every lead be pursued? Take a listen to our
cut twenty five Our friends at Wuthr.
Speaker 11 (12:21):
Prosecutors in Portugal now believe they may have a suspect
in the Madeline McCann case. You might remember that was
the three little, three year old little girl from Britain
who vanished while she was vacationing with her family back
in two thousand and seven at a resort. He also
has a previous conviction in a child's sexual abuse case.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Evans linking Christian Bruckner to Mattie McCann is we believe
a photo or a video of her? Now, why would
he have that? Take a listen now, our cut In
nineteen our friends at Inside.
Speaker 12 (12:56):
Edition, Peter Vancentd questioned prosecutor Hans Christian Vaulters about the investigation.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
We have strong evidence that Christian be killed Maddie mckenn.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
But you don't have a body, correct, there's nobody.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
No, we have no forensic evidence.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Then how can you be so certain?
Speaker 13 (13:15):
We have out the evidence and may I speculate that
that evidence may include photographs or video of Maddie McCann.
Speaker 6 (13:23):
H may speculate, but I'm not the laws to.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Tell you if you are right or if you are wrong.
Speaker 12 (13:31):
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 (13:45):
Let me go out to doctor Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrists
joining us, doctor Angie. It's one thing to.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Molest a child, it's another thing to video it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Because if in fact Bruckner had video or photos of
Maddie McCann, he would have to have made them himself,
because at that time Maddie was not public, there were
not pictures and video off 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
(14:23):
year old little girl.
Speaker 14 (14:24):
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, doesn't it. The
thing that just gets me is that there's later they're
asking if there's still a lot, if she's still alive.
(14:45):
Maybe if they had have done their work in the beginning.
If she was still alive, they could have found her then.
I don't know why they think that all of a
sudden she's going to be still alive. How are they
ever going to find her?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Well, I don't know that anyone has said that she
is still alive.
Speaker 14 (15:00):
And that's not and that's not his mo. Apparently he's
you know, he 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 2 (15:16):
It's horrible what happened the night that this little girl
seemingly vanishes into thin air while on vacation with her family.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Take a listen to our friends at the sky.
Speaker 15 (15:27):
A three year old British girl has gone missing in
the Algave in Portugal. 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 New Sunrise this morning.
What are the details that you've gleaned so far?
Speaker 8 (15:40):
Talia?
Speaker 13 (15:42):
All I basically know is that the child is obviously
saying a mark Corner establishment and was reported missing around
m last night. She's three years old and sister the
name of Madeline or Maddie Fair, and most of the
(16:02):
people in the area were searching through to about four
o'clock in the morning yesterday, obviously through hedges and down
the beach, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Straight out to Charlie Lengthy joining us on dailymail dot com, Charliegain,
thank you for being with us. Exactly what happened surrounding
her disappearance.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
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 away
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 mom to find that Maddie had
(16:44):
disappeared 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. Portuguese authorities did
not issue They didn't even issue a description of Maddie
(17:05):
until 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
(17:29):
of killing their daughter in some tragic accident in the
apartment and then trying to cover it up. So we
have a man being named as an official suspect for
the very first time since Maddie's own parents were accused
of killing their child.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
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. True it
was only one hundred feet away. True they had nothing
to do.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
With her disappearance, but still it was a real witch burning.
Speaker 9 (18:06):
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 trouding
(18:28):
this net and finding this guy who was a convicted
child molester. Who finding this guy who went after a
girl that looked like Mattie. I mean, this is outrageous.
Speaker 15 (18:40):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
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. And another thing, Greg Smith, Greg
the very first saying when a woman or a child
(19:02):
goes missing, you look for sex predators in the area,
and who is in the area unmonitored Christian Bruckner, they
did nothing.
Speaker 8 (19:15):
Yeah, that's standard procedure. Nancy, you immediately checked. I mean,
here in Kansas we have the sex Vendor 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
(19:36):
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 you've got to be aware of the big picture
and be open minded and figure out that you know,
they may not be this aspect and you can't just
hone in with a preconceived notion that this is what
you've got. So, yeah, that's that's problematic.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And not only that, do you try Langston. It's my
understanding that this announcement comes nearly fifteen years to the
day that Maddie goes missing. Do you find that odd
at all? Fifteen years to the day.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
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
(20:37):
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 3 (20:54):
Well, you're right, what Charlie Langston is telling you is
absolutely correct. Thing that this is just.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
The authorities trying to save their own skin in this case.
Take a listen to Orakat twenty seven. Our friend Simon.
Speaker 16 (21:08):
Jones 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
(21:33):
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 had
been many false dawns in the investigations into what happened.
(21:54):
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 (22:06):
They've blurted out publicly that they don't have any forensic
evidence that hurt the case. But now I'm understanding Charlie
Langston's joining us from dalimail dot com that they are
claiming they've got a witness.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
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 the UK in which four witnesses are understood
to be coming forward to corroborate an alibi for Christian B,
(22:43):
which would 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 when
these four people who are named, who supposedly have no
connection to Christian be whatsoever, no reason to defend him,
come forward and cooporate whatever alibi it is that he
(23:06):
plans to offer.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Well, you know what, Charlie Langston, I'll just burn that
bridge when I get there, because I've had a lot
of cases where the defense claims I've got an eyewitness
to say fill 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
(23:29):
for the defense. I remember one, very notably Daryl Cohen.
They came on trying to tell me he saw what
he saw the 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
(23:52):
feet tall between the eyewitness and the murder.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Impossible unless he flew over the hedge and look down.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
To see the murder. So I don't believe any eyewitness
until they're tested by cross examination. And as a matter
of fact, Darryl Cohen in 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.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Laid out in black and white how a so called
eyewitness can be cross examined.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
So I'd like to get a.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Hold of those eyewitnesses myself and see what's left of
them after I finish.
Speaker 9 (24:34):
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
(24:56):
prosecutoral time incarceration than nothing at all. And if somehow
he does this again, we'll get him.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Explain what you're talking about.
Speaker 9 (25:05):
Him and I both know. There are times we know
a person is guilty as a prosecutor, but 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
(25:25):
can 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
(25:46):
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 2 (25:55):
Let me just say, officially, I don't know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Charlie Lane and joining us from dailymail dot com. This
guy is a child sex predator? What is his record?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Why has he been labeled already a child six predator
at the time he.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Was skulking around Maddy McCann's airbnb.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
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
(26:38):
have raped in Portugal in two thousand and five. Now,
he was not convicted of that crime until twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
He is currently.
Speaker 10 (26:47):
Serving a jail sentence for that crime, seven year jailsen,
hold on, hold on, you know what, Charlie, you know
the fact so well listening to us like drinking from
the fire hydront is too much too fast.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Lets did you hear what Charlie likes and just said.
This guy, Christian Brickner, is just now 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 he just
(27:19):
now has started serving it. And it started the event
happened in two thousand and five, So you've got that.
Then 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. But there's another little
(27:40):
girl where he was near her at the time.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
She goes to me saying, she looks so much like
Maddie what about that case?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
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 mccancakes, because the similarities between the
two was so astounding that it didn't seem plausible that
(28:08):
he couldn't have been connected to the Madeline mccancase. 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 3 (28:19):
Doctor Angie, hold the thought. Hold the thought, because I
want to hear it, but I want to analyze what
you just said, Doctor Angie.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
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
a Jane Doe.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
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. Anyway, she's found.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Strangled, rape out in a feel long story short, I
got a bead on the purp, so I started looking
for people that knew the purp.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I found his girlfriend, the mother of his child, who
had kicked him out for trying to strangle her.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I found another woman he tried to strangle in the
Fulton No. She was in the Gwnette.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
County jail, Daryl.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I had a reconstructionist draw the picture of what the
dead victim would have looked like in life. Guess who
she looked like, almost identically looked like twins his girlfriend
that had rejected him and thrown him out of the house.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
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 this woman? Did you hear what Charlie Langston just
said that German Maddie looks just like Maddie McCann. Doctor Angie, what.
Speaker 14 (30:07):
About it, Nancy. 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
(30:29):
is why in the United States we have sexual predator
list that we put them on. Nancy. They are incapable
of being rehabilitated.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Doctor Angie.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Everything you just said is correct, but that is not
responsive to the question I asked.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
I asked you about the physical similarities in victims. Why
the perpetrators do.
Speaker 14 (30:51):
That, Because they're playing out their fantasy, whatever it is,
they're playing it out through another person that looks just
like that. It's it's it's right out there, Nancy. It's
it's simple. We're not looking for a zebra. They are
acting it out on someone who looks just like.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
The other person.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
According to reports, this mystery couple were quote alcoholics. The
wife had been drinking near the Ocean Club the night
Mattie went missing from the ocean club. The report also
claims the couple's neighbor told police she heard them arguing
(31:43):
loudly the day after Mattie goes missing. She heard the
husband yelling why did you bring her? Over and over
and over this according to reports, But what do we know?
Prosecutors have stated specifically about Christian Bruckner their number one suspect.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Charlie Langston.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
It has been reported that prosecutors are quote one hundred
percent sure that Christian Bruckner is the part that took Maddie.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Why now? And what do you think the evidence is?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I mean, I think the evidence is all circumstantial in
terms 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
(32:41):
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
(33:02):
this crime and not be charged with it had she
returned to her parents, had she been found, had the
police managed to 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
(33:22):
understand how important it was to her parents 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
(33:43):
case that Maddie could have survived had they actually pulled
their thocks up and gotten on with things in the
you know, from the get go.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
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 taking and at this age,
typically they are killed.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Within the first seventy six hours.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
Yeah, absolutely, Nancy, that's I mean, that's the modus operandi
for young children, you know. And I don't know that
media attention is a bad thing, maybe a double edged sword,
but Kelsey's case had a heck of a lot of
media attention. We were on every news outlet in the
(34:25):
United States and even international, and while Kelsey didn't come
home alive, she came home. We found her.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Now I'm thinking about what you're saying, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Uh, for those of you just joining us, an official
suspect has finally been named in the disappearance of a
three year old little girl, Maddie McCann. Take a listen
to Hour Cut twenty eight our friend Alison Roberts.
Speaker 17 (34:49):
Yesterday they issued a statement saying that on Wednesday an
individual had been named as an official suspect and that
was an international request from Portugal to the German authorities
to inform that person of interest that they have been
made an official suspect. Your previous into interviewees said, this
(35:10):
is always a significant step because it means effectively that
someone is being or will soon be questioned under caution.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
That's the same questions maybe that.
Speaker 18 (35:17):
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 there is no sign
of that just yet.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
No sign of official charges. After he has been named
a suspect what does that mean, Charlie. He's been named
an official suspect, so why want charges naturally follow?
Speaker 4 (35:42):
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 authority is in conjunction with
German authorities, are scrambling to try and get as much
(36:04):
evidence 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
(36:25):
first official suspect, which marks at least a step forward
in a case that has been dragging on for more
than a decade now.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Charlie, were Maddy's parents ever named official suspects?
Speaker 4 (36:38):
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. Now.
(37:01):
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 3 (37:17):
Take a los to Araka twenty nine our friend Martin Bradt.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
It's hardly been a secret. The German drifter has been
the main suspect in the Madeline Macan 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. The British girl was
(37:40):
three when she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in
Portugal in two thousand and seven. 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 questioned for
(38:00):
the first time but refused to answer, So.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
It's Rerllie Langston being named a formal suspect there in
that jurisdiction. That's the first time cops could question.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
Him, 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.
(38:34):
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,
(38:58):
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 3 (39:08):
Is justice delayed?
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Justice denied because now we learn this unnamed British man,
the husband has died and we don't.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Know if the wife's still alive.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
In front page reports, papers claimed police refused to cooperate
in the investigation of a clue that pointed to Mattie
McCann being run over and the possibility a couple disposed
of her body hours later in the Ocean.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Now a woman went to police to say she.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Suspected her brother was involved in the disappearance of Mattie McCann.
She said her brother was an alcoholic and since the
day Mattie vanished, he was hiding a painful secret.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Hmm, and now he's dead. Oh my stars.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Whether it's true or not, if Bruckner ever goes to trial,
this will be fodder for the defense. They can argue
he didn't do it, this couple did. The husband's not
alive anymore to defend himself or say anything otherwise. We
wait as justice un false.
Speaker 11 (40:19):
Goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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