By Clyde Hughes
(UPI) -- Authorities said Friday a new suspect in the mysterious 2007 disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann is now being investigated for a similar case in Germany.
It was believed that Inga, known "the German Maddie" in the German press, wandered off into the forest while looking for firewood. Officials said Bruckner had owned property within 60 miles of where Inga disappeared and was in Portugal when McCann vanished.
The Sun, UK
MADELEINE McCann cops have linked her suspected snatcher to the disappearance of a blonde schoolboy - 11 years earlier.
German detectives investigating Christian B, 43, have contacted the family of René Hasee to say they were looking into his 1996 abduction again.
The youngster, from Elsdorf, Germany, vanished on June 21, 1996 while on holiday with his family in Aljezur - just 25 miles from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.
He ran ahead during a family walk on the beach to go in the sea. After losing sight of him they never saw him again and were left with just his clothes lying on the beach.
Detectives believe the suspect was regularly living in the Algarve from 1995. He was already convicted of sex offences against children and would have been 19 at the time René disappeared.
René’s dad Andreas Hasee said he heard from police for the first time in 20 years when an investigator from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) contacted him today.
The dad admitted: "There could be a connection."
Mr Hasee, who had accepted his son had drowned, added: "René went to Portugal with my ex-wife and her new partner. He was actually also a very careful child, he would not have easily climbed into the Atlantic alone."
"Of course you start thinking, yes. I don't imagine that René is still alive," he added.
An expert at the found tide and current conditions in the sea at the time of the disappearance made a swimming accident unlikely.
BKA cops in Germany have maintained other victims could be linked to the Maddie investigation. The force declined to comment on René Hasee.
MADDIE SUSPECT
Christian B was first thrust into the frame in connection with Madeleine's disappearance in 2017 after allegedly confessing to abducting the girl while in a bar with a pal in Germany.
He was reportedly chatting to the friend when a TV report came on about the tenth anniversary of the girl's disappearance and he suggested he knew what had happened to her.
German sources claim he boasted he had "snatched her" but didn’t say he had killed her.
Prosecutors in Germany are investigating Christian B "on suspicion of murder" and believe Madeleine is dead and know how she was killed - despite no body being found.
We are now able to show his picture in full in the UK after it was published in a major German newspaper - as cops in both countries appeal for anyone who knows him to come forward.
The convicted paedo, who is currently behind bars, has spent his life in and out of prison since his first crime aged 17.
He was known to have been carrying out burglaries on holiday villas and apartments at the time and had been living at a run-down shack nearby.
Police fear he may have targeted the McCann's apartment when he saw Madeleine and snatched her.
He had expressed a fantasy to "capture something small and use it for days" in a chatroom exchange in 2013, according to reports.
Christian B is currently in prison and was last year sentenced to seven years for the rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz in August 2005, and has a number of previous convictions including one for sexually abusing a child.
He was living in a campervan in Praia da Luz in Portugal around the time the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.
The suspect had previously been in a relationship with an unnamed British woman while living in Praia da Luz in 2004.
As well as the campervan, the drug dealer and burglar also been linked to a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 with a German number plate seen in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007.
(UPI) -- Authorities said Friday a new suspect in the mysterious 2007 disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann is now being investigated for a similar case in Germany.
Investigators said this week a German man identified as Christian Bruckner has emerged as a suspect in the McCann case. The British girl disappeared while on a family vacation in Portugal.
Authorities said Bruckner, 43, has a list of criminal convictions that include child sexual abuse, theft and drug dealing, and was convicted in December for the 2005 rape of a U.S. tourist. He was sentenced to seven years and remains in a German prison.
German authorities said Friday Bruckner is now being looked at for possible involvement in the disappearance of 5-year-old Inga Gehrike, who vanished from a family barbecue in 2015.
It was believed that Inga, known "the German Maddie" in the German press, wandered off into the forest while looking for firewood. Officials said Bruckner had owned property within 60 miles of where Inga disappeared and was in Portugal when McCann vanished.
Officials said Bruckner has been known to law enforcement for years, but detectives now believe they have enough evidence to advance the McCann investigation. Police have asked the public for help in contributing evidence.
British, German and Portuguese investigators believe it's likely that McCann is dead, and they're treating the case as a homicide investigation.
I don't think they should close the door to the possibility that Bruckner kidnapped her for a client.
The McCann family said the Bruckner investigation is "potentially very significant," saying it's the first time since Madeleine disappeared that police have narrowed the case to a single suspect.
"We are talking about a sexual predator who has already been convicted of crimes against little girls and he's already serving a long sentence," prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said.
McCann's parents were initially considered suspects when she disappeared in 2007, and cleared by Portuguese police the following year.
Madeleine McCann cops link chief suspect to disappearance of schoolboy, 6, who vanished from beach in Algarve
Rob PattinsonThe Sun, UK
MADELEINE McCann cops have linked her suspected snatcher to the disappearance of a blonde schoolboy - 11 years earlier.
German detectives investigating Christian B, 43, have contacted the family of René Hasee to say they were looking into his 1996 abduction again.The youngster, from Elsdorf, Germany, vanished on June 21, 1996 while on holiday with his family in Aljezur - just 25 miles from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.
He ran ahead during a family walk on the beach to go in the sea. After losing sight of him they never saw him again and were left with just his clothes lying on the beach.
Detectives believe the suspect was regularly living in the Algarve from 1995. He was already convicted of sex offences against children and would have been 19 at the time René disappeared.
René’s dad Andreas Hasee said he heard from police for the first time in 20 years when an investigator from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) contacted him today.
The dad admitted: "There could be a connection."
Mr Hasee, who had accepted his son had drowned, added: "René went to Portugal with my ex-wife and her new partner. He was actually also a very careful child, he would not have easily climbed into the Atlantic alone."
"Of course you start thinking, yes. I don't imagine that René is still alive," he added.
An expert at the found tide and current conditions in the sea at the time of the disappearance made a swimming accident unlikely.
BKA cops in Germany have maintained other victims could be linked to the Maddie investigation. The force declined to comment on René Hasee.
MADDIE SUSPECT
Christian B was first thrust into the frame in connection with Madeleine's disappearance in 2017 after allegedly confessing to abducting the girl while in a bar with a pal in Germany.
He was reportedly chatting to the friend when a TV report came on about the tenth anniversary of the girl's disappearance and he suggested he knew what had happened to her.
German sources claim he boasted he had "snatched her" but didn’t say he had killed her.
Prosecutors in Germany are investigating Christian B "on suspicion of murder" and believe Madeleine is dead and know how she was killed - despite no body being found.
We are now able to show his picture in full in the UK after it was published in a major German newspaper - as cops in both countries appeal for anyone who knows him to come forward.
The convicted paedo, who is currently behind bars, has spent his life in and out of prison since his first crime aged 17.
The suspect spent time in a ramshackle farmhouse close to the apartment Credit: EPA
He was known to have been carrying out burglaries on holiday villas and apartments at the time and had been living at a run-down shack nearby.
Police fear he may have targeted the McCann's apartment when he saw Madeleine and snatched her.
He had expressed a fantasy to "capture something small and use it for days" in a chatroom exchange in 2013, according to reports.
Christian B is currently in prison and was last year sentenced to seven years for the rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz in August 2005, and has a number of previous convictions including one for sexually abusing a child.
He was living in a campervan in Praia da Luz in Portugal around the time the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.
The suspect had previously been in a relationship with an unnamed British woman while living in Praia da Luz in 2004.
As well as the campervan, the drug dealer and burglar also been linked to a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 with a German number plate seen in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007.
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