Maddie McCann's Parents No Longer Suspects

Portuguese Attorney-General Halts Investigation Into Madeleine McCann Disappearance Case

(CBS/AP)  Portuguese authorities are halting their investigation into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann because detectives uncovered no evidence of a crime during their 14-month probe, the attorney-general said Monday.

The case will remain on hold unless new evidence emerges, the attorney-general's office said.

The statement said detectives found no reason to charge any of the three people named as suspects: Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry and local man Robert Murat. All strenuously denied involvement in the disappearance and won libel awards from newspapers that suggested links.

CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports the McCanns may still face charges on other related matters.

Madeleine went missing in May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, during a family vacation in Portugal's southern Algarve region.

"In an order issued today ... the investigation into the disappearance of the minor Madeleine McCann has been halted because no evidence was discovered of any crime committed by the suspects," Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro's office said.

It said the investigation could be reopened "if new evidence emerges from any serious, pertinent and authoritative" source.

Madeleine's parents said she vanished from their hotel room while they were eating dinner with friends at a resort's poolside restaurant in the sleepy vacation town of Praia da Luz, about 120 miles south of Lisbon.

Police previously said DNA evidence, though inconclusive, led them to doubt the McCann's version of events.

The McCanns returned home to central England with Madeleine's younger twin sister and brother in September, a few days after they were named as suspects. They hired a legal team and media advisers and waged an international campaign to find their daughter.

Lawyers for the McCanns, who have hired private investigators to find their daughter, may now ask a judge to grant them access to the police file. Officials have said it runs to 10 volumes. Access to the case file is permitted, at a judge's discretion, to "interested parties."

The McCanns lent their efforts unprecedented reach through the Internet and the media greatly amplified the story with a string of reported leaks and speculation. Portugal's secrecy laws covering ongoing investigations placed official information off-limits.

In March, the McCanns won front-page apologies and a large libel payout from several newspapers that had made claims about their role in their daughter's disappearance.

Murat last week won an apology and $1.2 million in libel damages from nearly a dozen British newspapers that claimed he was involved. Afterwards Murat said, "I've been through hell and back without doing anything wrong."

The case brought reported sightings of the blonde little girl from around the world.

Pope Benedict XVI blessed the McCanns, who are Catholics, along with a photo of their daughter during his weekly general audience at the Vatican a few weeks after her disappearance.

Celebrities, including "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and soccer star David Beckham, made public appeals that helped raise money for a Find Madeleine fund.

The McCanns also traveled to Brussels, Morocco and Spain in their effort to raise public awareness of their daughter's disappearance. They have also campaigned for the introduction of a Europe-wide child abduction alert similar to the Amber Alert system in the United States.

[opedanderson]

The parents got away with something here. Like the Ramseys in Colorado, they may be not guilty of the main crime but they know more than they have let on....."Stranger Danger" is very very rare.......

And in the McCann''s case in all of their pleadings for more laws and public policies, I have not once heard any utterings from them about leaving children unattended....

[timothyone-2009]

Some of you commenters are just the type that make the world suck. If I lost a child I would fall to pieces and need to be hospitalized, but that doesn''t mean that anyone who reacts differently is guilty.

[mandylou4u]

Don''t want to seem mean here, the parents are suffering enough, but you never ever ever leave your kids unattended. Even if you think you are close enough to them. This couple went out of town and left their supposedly sleeping child in a room by herself. Do you think it ever occured to them that she might wake up scared in a strange place without her parents around? I do feel for them and am sad for their loss, that''s a beautiful child, and I hope they had nothing to do with it.

[mandylou4u]

And yes, I do know the loss of a child. My son passed away 6 years ago today. I didn''t scream and cry and carry on or anything, but I was pretty emotionless for a while. These parents could be going through the same feelings.

[talkingham]

Why would you ever leave a 4-year old alone and leave to go to a restaurant. There is a lie here somewhere.

[jetlizhan]

i really don''t think maddie''s parents had anything at all do to with her abduction/disappearance - but i''ll never for the life of me understand why 2 supposedly loving parents would leave their 3 sleeping babies alone to go have dinner. that would be something that would never, ever enter my mind.

[mandylou4u]

I had forgotten she had other children, were those children there as well?

[joshemily18]

hopefully she turns up. the parents should''ve never left their children alone!

[azmka]

mandylou4u:

Yes. Her little brother was there also.

[noprejudice]

this is a travesty and a true embarrassment for the Portuguese police. closing a case they never bothered much with??? thank you! from all parents, we will remember your efforts! I can''t imagine leaving my babies for a dinner, either, but what a price this family paid. parenthood has turned my world upside down, and one of these days us parents will be hunting those who hunt our children, mind you, without restrictions we will hunt.

[noprejudice]

Yes. Her little brother was there also.

**************
maddy''s siblingS are a set of twins, boy and girl, who were both present at the time of the abduction. i''m surprised at how little the world seems to know about this case. I''m sure the hypervigilant parents know all the facts of it.

[noprejudice]

Posted by mandylou4u at 03:25 PM : Jul 21, 2008
***************
what a horrible anniversary for you today. I am so sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[cyberus-2009]

What a surprise!

After spending 14 months trying to pin it on the parents they have no evidence ... and now they have no clue where else to look because they were focused on the easy target.

[tootall10142]

May be she just got tired of the food there!

[medmom04]

this is dispicable. a child was taken, and there is no accountability. someone needs to come forward and give up this child''s whereabouts, regardless of vitality! Give the mother some closure! She does not deserve to suffer like she is, and neither did her daughter.