On May 12, Madeleine McCann should have been celebrating her 22nd birthday with her family. Instead, her devastated parents are still searching for answers following their then-3-year-old daughter’s abduction from their rented vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. “The years appear to be passing even more quickly,” her mother and father, U.K. doctors Kate and Gerry, said in a statement on May 3, the 18th anniversary of her disappearance. “Whilst we have no significant news to share,” the McCanns added, “our determination to ‘leave no stone unturned’ is unwavering.”

So is public interest in the case now that bombshell new evidence has been revealed. On May 6, following a year-long investigation into new evidence gathered in the case, Britain’s The Sun published its findings, which shed light on why authorities in 2020 named German national  Christian Brueckner, 48, the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. The next day, the U.K.’s  Channel 4 aired the documentary, Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence. Both projects reveal the cache of items found at a property owned by Brueckner — a convicted rapist and pedophile who lived in Portugal from 1995 to 2007. Other chilling discoveries made by authorities were also unveiled, including a hard drive described by police as “deeply concerning,” according to the Times of London. The hard drive is believed to hold the mysterious evidence that led German investigators to now conclude Madeleine was killed shortly after she went missing.

Inside the Findings Following Madeleine McCann Disappearance

Much of the newly revealed evidence was obtained in 2016 at what The Sun describes as a disused factory in Neuwegersleben, Germany. Brueckner purchased the compound for about $26,500 in 2008 — the year after Madeleine disappeared. There, authorities discovered his deceased dog; underneath the animal’s body was a wallet containing six USB sticks and two memory cards with “highly disturbing material,” The Sun reported. Toys, bikes, more than 75 children’s swimsuits, unlicensed guns and ammunition, and a suitcase filled with photographs of young girls were also found, the newspaper added.

According to The Sun, amid authorities’ probe into Brueckner — who’s denied any involvement in Madeleine’s case — they also obtained photos of him, some in which he’s nude, taken at Portugal’s Arade Dam, which was searched in 2023.

The projects also detail Skype chats between Brueckner and other alleged pedophiles as well as stories allegedly written by Brueckner in which he fantasizes about kidnapping women and kids. “He talks about small children aged 3 or 4, [with] blonde hair. He talks about using drugs to knock them out so they don’t make any sound, and piling them into a car,” The Sun’s Rob Pattinson told Talk TV on May 7, calling it “deeply disturbing.” Though there’s “no direct link to Madeleine,” the senior reporter added, “what this does show is what this man was thinking internally.”

Attorneys Say the ‘Clock is Ticking’ for Madeleine McCann’s Case

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told CNN in 2020 that authorities “have findings that suggest that Brueckner is Madeleine McCann’s murderer.” However, he lamented, “at the moment, there is insufficient evidence to convict.” It appears little has changed: Brueckner still hasn’t been formally charged in Madeleine’s disappearance, and though he’s currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany in an unrelated rape case, he’s due to be released this September.

“The only way to stop him leaving the country or going to a non extradition country is to get an arrest warrant,” prosecutor Wolters told The Sun last year. “The clock is ticking.”