A former resort worker at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz has come forward with claims that she witnessed suspicious activity on the night of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance — and that her concerns were dismissed by police in the early days of the investigation.
The woman, who was employed as a part-time babysitter in 2007 and has requested anonymity due to safety concerns, claims she saw a man matching the description of then-unknown suspect Christian Brückner lingering near the children’s play area shortly before Madeleine was reported missing.
According to her account, which she recently submitted to German investigators, the man appeared to be watching the children “not like a parent, not like staff — just… calculating.”
She claims she made a statement to Portuguese police in the days following the disappearance but says her report was not pursued seriously. “They took notes, but I never heard anything again. It felt like they didn’t want the complication.”
German authorities confirmed they have re-opened several old witness interviews from the resort and are reviewing the credibility of this new testimony. A source familiar with the investigation said, “There are statements from early on that were either dismissed or improperly recorded. We’re looking into what might have been missed.”
The new claims, if verified, could strengthen the theory that Brückner had been watching the McCann apartment prior to the abduction and may have even scoped out the property in advance. Investigators are now trying to cross-reference her shift schedule with location data from Brückner’s mobile phone records, which placed him in the Praia da Luz area that night.
The McCann family has not commented publicly on the new whistleblower, but their representative says they are aware of the report and support investigators examining “every credible lead.”
This new testimony is one of several previously overlooked witness statements being revisited as the case intensifies ahead of Brückner’s expected release from prison next year.
