The Guardian reported that German media are focusing their attention on whether the federal police ignored warnings in 2013 from a local force that was on the trail of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Bruckner.
Investigators in Braunschweig who had been closely monitoring Brückner believed he should be viewed as a key suspect in the girl’s disappearance. But their alert was reportedly ignored by Germany’s Federal Criminal Office, the BKA, according to Der Spiegel, which has a team of 10 reporters working on the case.
Brückner was named as a possible key suspect following information received from several tipoffs out of the 500 calls made after the broadcast of German TV’s Crimewatch equivalent, Aktenzeichen XY, in 2013, in which Gerry and Kate McCann appeared in person to appeal to the public for information.
Brückner’s name was followed up by police in Braunschweig, where Brückner was registered as living and was well known due to his extensive criminal history. But the resulting report by the Braunschweig investigators was apparently not followed up, “much to the incomprehension of the local investigators”, according to Spiegel.
Christian Hoppe, an investigator for the BKA, told last Wednesday’s edition of XY, which made a renewed appeal to the German public based on fresh circumstantial evidence, which placed Brückner in Praia da Luz at the time of the disappearance, that there had been a lack of concrete evidence to merit a follow-up.
“The information we had then was not sufficient for an investigation, and certainly not for an arrest,” he said.
The programme did not name Brückner, whose name subsequently emerged in media reports.
The development comes as reports on Friday said authorities were looking into connections with the disappearance of a six-year-old German boy in Portugal in 1996.
Bruckner ignored and Madeleine’s parents crucified for many years and even named as suspects. Of course law enforcement made the insufficient evidence argument–insufficient for even an investigation of Bruckner. Nice work, boys. Quit the finger-pointing and do your fucking jobs.
A reader pointed out, this is a version of the same old story. Twenty-four years of Larry Nassar reports ignored (https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/25/16928994/larry-nassar-mckayla-maroney-gymnastics-me-too), 40-plus years of OCCK tips not even shared with victims’ family members, Epstein being able to plead down his charges and be “on work [rape] release even as a registered sex offender. This astute reader also said: “Child Predators–no matter how many times they are reported, their “names” are not heard.”
In the OCCK case, people are not telling the truth, not talking–and this in a child trafficking, child rape, child pornography, child murder case, involving at least four victims. Yes, the participants were/are monsters. But what about the people who covered this up, those that lied, those that never came forward, those that got paid off, those that “made this go away”? How do we describe them?
Detroit and Detroit suburbs (especially in Oakland County) were (and still could be) hubs of child exploitation. There are always reasons why crimes like this are allowed to flourish. This is a vital inquiry in the OCCK case.
Bruckner was not followed up on, “much to the incomprehension of the local investigators.” Sound familiar?
Don’t forget to pre-order Marney Rich Keenan’s book The Snow Killings, Inside the Oakland County Child Killer Investigation, due out in August/September. https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-snow-killings/
If you have any information about the abduction and murders of Mark Stebbins, Jill Robinson, Kristine Mihelich or Tim King, call the Michigan State Police tip line at 833-784-9425. Speak up. These four kids can’t.
Does everybody remember the viral media vomit regarding the McCann disappearance and her parents? The dogs detected human decomp! She was put into a cupboard for a period of time! There is decomp behind the sofa! It’s a coverup orchestrated by MI5 (or is it MI6)! BREAKING NEWS! “What the Parents Didn’t Tell !”.
Right, and all the while this creep in Germany was ten times more likely to be involved than her parents.
What absolutely astonishes me is that his name and circumstances NEVER got leaked to any media in the world.
I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the German and Portuguese authorities. As you say, Cathy, nice job guys.