German prosecutors believe Madeleine McCann — the British girl who vanished from a Portuguese resort in 2007 — is dead, as the prime suspect in her disappearance has been identified, according to reports Thursday.
Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the 43-year-old German national on suspicion of murder charges, the Guardian reported.
“From this you can see that we assume that the girl is dead,” said Braunschweig state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters.
The suspect has not been identified by authorities as per privacy rules, but his name — Christian Brueckner — was outed in German newspaper Der Spiegel, the Telegraph said.
Brueckner is a sex offender and drug trafficker who is serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old American tourist, according to German media.
Wolters said Brueckner has also been convicted of sex crimes against children.
Madeleine was 3 years old when she disappeared from her bed at a resort in Praia da Luz the night of May 3, 2007, as her parents, Kate and Gerry, dined at a restaurant nearby.
Police said Brueckner had raped the American woman in the Algarve 18 months before Madeleine disappeared. He had been living in a camper van in the Praia da Luz area when Madeleine and her family were vacationing and made a phone call an hour before she was abducted.
His other vehicle, a Jaguar, was registered to someone else’s name the day after the little girl vanished.
British and German police announced a break in the case, which has garnered attention worldwide, Wednesday.
Madeleine’s parents called the development “potentially very significant,” McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told BBC News, who added that in the last 13 years he couldn’t “recall an instance when the police had been so specific about an individual.”
“Of all the thousands of leads and potential suspects that have been mentioned in the past, there has never been something as clear cut as that from not just one, but three police forces,” Mitchell said, referring to the joint investigation by British, Portuguese and German officials.
Police released photos of the suspect’s Jaguar and VW camper, as well as his phone number, +351 912 730 680, and the number which dialed him, +351 916 510 683.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell of the Metropolitan police department said the caller was a “key witness” and urged them to get in touch with officials.
Police said they gleaned significant information about Brueckner after making an appeal to the public in 2017 — the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.
She would have turned 17 on May 12.