Latest from Joana Morais - phone calls and hairs frame suspects

Phone calls and hairs frame suspects
14 July 2014 | Posted by  Joana Morais 




Investigation ∙ Three Portuguese arguidos due to phone calls made on the day of the crime
Phone calls and hairs frame 4 suspects
∙ Sergey Malinka an arguido because he had a sofa with hairs whose DNA "was similar" to Maddie's

Texts by Henrique Machado/João Mira Godinho | Photos by Luís Costa

The driver of the resort, José Carlos da Silva, transported the tourists to the Ocean Club apartments in Praia da Luz. He had the “opportunity” to select the houses to be robbed - [robberies] which “tripled” at the time. And, in the three weeks before Maddie's disappearance, on May 3 2007, “two break-ins took place in the same apartment block” - in which the entrance was made “through the windows”.

This circumstance allied to the fact that José, 38 years old, made four phone calls on May 3 that were considered as suspicious, were the reasons why he was constituted as an arguido yesterday at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters, at the request of the Scotland Yard in their letter rogatory to which the CM had access to.

One of the other arguidos is Sergey Malinka, a Russian that had already been constituted as an arguido [sic, he wasn't constituted as an arguido but was considered as a possible suspect to the PJ investigation at the time and cleared of all suspicions later on] by the PJ in 2007. [Malinka] Who had a sofa - that he tried to dispose of and which was later retrieved by the PJ and was subject to forensic analyses - where hairs whose DNA “was similar to hairs previously found in the 5A apartment (to Maddie's hairs) and to those that were retrieved from Robert Murat's bed”.(see secondary news piece)

Another suspect is Ricardo Rodrigues, a beggar, 18 years old: [sic, actually he was 16 years old in 2007 and he is now merely unemployed and is 23 years old] he received phone calls from José (see box). Finally, the other suspect is Paulo Ribeiro, addicted to heroin and a schizophrenic: he is said to have a “strange behaviour” and what connects him to Rodrigues is a suspicious phone call at 12:08 of May 2, 2007.

Box [text insert in this page, on the left]
Four phone records under suspicion
Four phone records between José Silva and Ricardo Rodrigues, made at the day of the crime, are under suspicion: the phone call made at 17:26 which coincides with the time that Maddie left the crèche; a text message at 21:25 when two members of the McCann's group went to check the children; another at 21:38, when Jane Tanner left the Tapas bar and the last at 21:51, when Kate, Madeleine's mother goes to the apartment, before alerting to the disappearance.

Photo Captions on this page
Middle top - Suspects. Ricardo Rodrigues (left) and José Carlos Silva (right) were questioned yesterday and constituted as arguidos at the PJ headquarters in Faro

Middle bottom - Two suspects were transported by police

Left bottom - Morning. Scotland Yard inspectors arrive to the Judiciary Police of Faro before 9am yesterday

Right bottom - Lunch time. The works were only interrupted around 13pm to buy the lunch which was consumed inside PJ headquarters.

End of page 4

Robert Murat was mentioned

Robert Murat who was constituted as an arguido by the PJ in 2007, is also mentioned in the rogatory letter by the English authorities, even though there is no request for him to be constituted as an arguido again. The English make reference to hairs “that were retrieved from Murat's bed” that are similar to the ones found on Malinka's sofa and also to the ones discovered at the apartment 5A - which would belong to Maddie. Besides that, the Russian “has helped Murat to set up a site on the internet”, this can be read in the rogatory letter sent by the Scotland Yard.

Finally the document highlights the fact that “Robert Murat was previously constituted as an arguido”. It should be recalled that in 2012 a South African investigator [Mr. Birch, an alleged businessman who illegally trespassed Mr. Murat's mother's home and is now, rightly so, being sued by both Mr. Murat and the Portuguese Public Ministry for the illegality of his actions] did a georadar analysis on the grounds of the Englishman's house in Praia da Luz. At the time, based on the results, three experts admitted that a human being could be buried in that spot. [It should be mentioned, since CdM hasn't, that Mr. Murat's mother's house was thoroughly investigated in 2007, inside and out, using sniffer dogs and georadars and nothing was found.]

Murat was the first suspect to be questioned by the Judiciary Police in 2007. He was interrogated and the house with a garden where he lived with his mother, in Praia da Luz, was target of searches. Robert Murat was never detained and the PJ ended up dismissing the suspicions they had about him.

“They rely on considerations made by the family private detective”
Gonçalo Amaral, the former PJ coordinator that has investigated the case, told CM, that these leads of the English police “do not present anything relevant”. And he deplores that Scotland Yard is relying their investigation on the “considerations of a private detective” hired by the McCann family. As to the DNA of the hairs found in a sofa which used to belong to Malinka, he says that the fact “that they present similarities is meaningless”.

Details
Child being carried on arms
Malinka, José, Paulo and Ricardo they all live in the same area of Praia da Luz. There, says the English police, two men were seen arguing on the night of the crime. And, at 21:50 “a man was seen carrying a child on his arms”.

Burnt out car
On the suspicions about Malinka it also weighs the fact that his car, Audi A4, was set on fire on March 20, 2008. On the side-walk, in front of of his house, the word “Fala” [Talk/Speak] was written down.

Suspicions ruled out
Investigators contacted by CM state that all of these suspicions had already been ruled out by the Judiciary Police.

Box [text inserts on red boxes at middle of page]
Woman says that she overheard conversation
A woman said that she overheard the following sentence spoken in English, between two men who were at Malinka's house door, a few days after the crime: “Why did you bring her here? We have to get rid of the body.” [see here how this hearsay statement is refuted]

“He would do anything for drugs”
The English police basis its conviction on the considerations of a detective about Paulo Ribeiro, the suspect who suffers from schizophrenia: “He would do anything for his next fix.”

Top Page [text inserts]
Cars | The English bring dogs
The English police brought to Portugal, again, sniffer dogs specialized in detecting cadavers. They want to use the animals in the arguidos' cars.

Media | Gathering in Faro
At the early start of the morning several media, from the printed press to TV channels, arrived at the PJ headquarters in Faro, where they remained gathered for the rest of the day.

Luz | Arguidos were neighbours
Connecting the four arguidos, besides the phone calls, is the fact that they all lived close to each other in Praia da Luz, near by the first site that was target of searches a month ago.

Photo Captions on this page
Top Right - First suspect. Robert Murat was the first suspect questioned by the Judiciary Police in 2007

Bottom left - Gerry and Kate McCann have an ongoing dispute with the former PJ, Gonçalo Amaral, whom they accuse of defamation.

End of page 5

in Correio da Manhã, exclusive paper edition, pages 4 and 5, July 2, 2014

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Video


Transcript by JM/Textusa

CMTV News anchor - The questionings at the Judiciary Police headquarters in Faro, requested by the Scotland Yard within the scope of the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, continue today. After the four arguidos, witnesses will give their statements as requested by the British police.

Unknown reporter [Voice Over] - Hairs found on Sergey Malinka's sofa had a very similar DNA with Madeleine McCann’s. This is the main argument that Scotland Yard has presented to the Public Ministry in order to constitute as arguido the man born in Russia but living for many years in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.

With him, there are 3 other men, now also arguidos at the request of the English police: José Carlos Silva, Ocean Club driver in March [Sic, May] 2007, when Maddie disappeared from the resort; Pedro [sic, Paulo] Ribeiro, who the English classify as a drug-addict and schizophrenic and also Ricardo Rodrigues, a young man who at the time was close to Pedro [sic, Paulo] Ribeiro.

These three men made a series of phone calls regarded as suspicious on the night of March [sic, May] 3 2007, when Maddie disappeared.

Scotland Yard believes the three planned a burglary to the apartment and when surprised by the little girl, they murdered her and took away her body.

The arguidos were all questioned on Monday [sic, on Tuesday] at the Judiciary Police headquarters in Faro. This Tuesday [sic, this Wednesday] the questionings will continue, now of the 8 witnesses [sic, 11] requested by the Scotland Yard.

The English brought with them again to the Algarve the sniffer dogs specialised in detecting cadavers. The idea is for the animals to inspect the cars owned by the four arguidos back in 2007.

These proceedings are likely to go on until Friday.

in CMTV [Correio da Manhã TV], July 2, 2014

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Note: Firstly published on this blog on 02/07/2014 08:00 GMT, republished on 14 July 2014 at 19:00 GMT - this Correio da Manhã article is important because it quotes directly from one of the Metropolitan Police rogatory letters. Everything in square brackets is my personal addition to text either to aid the flow of the readability of the text or to explain facts.

Related
Maddie case: Four arguidos questioned by PJ on behalf of Metropolitan Police
English ask for DNA of the arguidos at all costs in the Maddie case - even in a sneaky way
Andy Redwood's Four Arguidos - one was 16 years old at the time
Arguidos answered to 250 questions and refuted involvement in Maddie's disappearance
'Did you Murder Madeleine? Did you hide her body?'
Maddie Case: Car of Malinka's family member searched by two sniffer dogs

Hairs?

Sofa and bed?

Similar?

Yes, Stephen Birch announced in May that he was being sued by Robert Murat and his mother.

He produced a letter on his Facebook page which did appear to confirm that.

But why sue? what Birch did was wrong, but surely Murat could have asked for an apology and a retraction'but no that it seems is not good enough sue,sue, sue..tut tut.

So let me get this straight.  Four men have been made arguidos because of similarities of hairs on one of the guy's sofa and 'suspicious' phone calls but no one else who were linked to cadaver scent in a car, on car keys, clothes or linked to suspicious deletion of texts, repeated calls, changing of version of events..........   hmmmmm

Petunia, it probably isn't helping that Stephen is still ranting on Facebook about Madeleine being buried under the Murat driveway!

I think it's very doubtful that he ever got into the garden in the first place.

He really should just shut up!

No Fate Worse Than De'Ath wrote:Petunia, it probably isn't helping that Stephen is still ranting on Facebook about Madeleine being buried under the Murat driveway!

I think it's very doubtful that he ever got into the garden in the first place.

He really should just shut up!

What have we had as  pointers to death?

Psychics - Krugel uses a machine ?( asked for )

A voluntary idiot who allegedly specialises in finding bodies by satellite.

On the other hand we have the dogs. The SY victim recovery dogs.

The humans come out very much the worst in all this. they really do.

A good little piece by Teddy questioning `similar DNA` and that we have similar DNA to chimpanzees and also pointing out that the timeline Redwood is using is the one written by the Tapas 9. 

http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2014/07/on-strength-of-evidence.html

On The Strength of The Evidence


 Unedited

 On the strength of the evidence. Firstly, let me make plain my own misnomer. Evidence, there isn't any.

So just what was it that took Scotland Yard's finest, this team of super-sleuths, orf to the sunny climes of Portugal to cause mayhem and consternation at the beginning of the holiday season?

The answer to that, is almost too embarrassing to say; almost, but I shall try to overcome that. After all, it's not my embarrassment we are talking about, but rather that of the metropolitan police and as such, this England. For surely, aren't Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood and his team of the Met's finest, our representatives abroad?

One would think, that after watching this danse macabre, or should that be dansa macabra, whatever? One would think, that after watching for seven long years, the visitation of the McCanns on this world, a fellow might have lost the capacity for embarrassment, even that which should be felt by others. But embarrassment in certain quarters, much like policing 101, is a tad thin on the ground, if in fact, it exists at all?

So just what was the reason that took DCI Redwood and his team to Portugal, and just what was the reason that, at the behest of Scotland Yard, the Portuguese police declared four local men arguido?*

DNA and mobile phone logs, by all accounts. Sounds reasonable you may well think? You may well think that, but at this point in the narrative, is where I normally suggest that you "sit down and strap in." Borrowing the phrase, as is my wont, from the late lamented, Bill Hicks.  But let us to the DNA.

 . . . where hairs whose DNA was similar to hairs previously found in the 5A apartment (to Maddie's hairs)

 I beg your pardon?

whose DNA “was similar

Similar, as in 98% percent similar, the same percentage of DNA that we share with chimpanzees, that kind of similar? Or fifteen out of nineteen aliases** similar? The same fifteen out of nineteen aliases of Madeleine's DNA that were found in the trunk of the McCann's hire car, that kind of similar?


Similar! Do stop.


And then we have the phone logs, and it is of these that I truly despair.

 Not for one moment am I doubting the veracity or accuracy of said logs, not in the least I'm not. But the phone logs nonetheless of four Luz residents, please note. One a smackhead, one a beggar who would have been sixteen at the time in question, one a bus/taxi driver who worked at the resort, who:

. . . . had the “opportunity” to select the houses to be robbed

No kidding Sherlock; along with the butcher the baker and the candlestick maker? And lastly, Sergey Malinka, previously cleared of involvement by the PJ.

So is it this most unlikely bunch of suspects that gives me a problem? Under normal circumstances, I might have employed the immortal words of one, John McEnroe, but the choice of suspects pales in the light of other things. So what then is giving me so much trouble?

This:

Four phone records between José Silva and Ricardo Rodrigues, made at the day of the crime, are under suspicion: the phone call made at 17:26 which coincides with the time that Maddie left the crèche; a text message at 21:25 when two members of the McCann's group went to check the children; another at 21:38, when Jane Tanner left the Tapas bar and the last at 21:51, when Kate, Madeleine's mother goes to the apartment, before alerting to the disappearance.

So what's the problem? I shall tell you.

The head of this farce investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood of Scotland Yard, is using a timeline, written by Gerry McCann and his seven little liars, to corroborate the phone pings of our four unfortunates.

 Let me repeat that. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood of Scotland Yard, is using a timeline, written by Gerry McCann to corroborate a theory that Redwood could only have pulled out of his arse.

Gerry McCann couldn't even tell the truth as to which door he used to enter the apartment that evening; and Redwood is using McCann's own timeline to endorse his theory! Will you fucking stop!


*Arguido: A person of interest when applied to McCanns. A suspect when applied to anybody else. Source UK media. 

** Fifteen out of nineteen aliases gets you arrested in the UK. Thirteen in the US.

Phone calls and hairs frame 4 suspects
Sergey Malinka an arguido because he had a sofa with hairs whose DNA "was similar" to Maddie's

The driver of the resort, José Carlos da Silva, transported the tourists to the Ocean Club apartments in Praia da Luz. He had the “opportunity” to select the houses to be robbed - [robberies] which “tripled” at the time. And, in the three weeks before Maddie's disappearance, on May 3 2007, “two break-ins took place in the same apartment block” - in which the entrance was made “through the windows”.

This circumstance allied to the fact that José, 38 years old, made four phone calls on May 3 that were considered as suspicious, were the reasons why he was constituted as an arguido yesterday at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters, at the request of the Scotland Yard in their letter rogatory to which the CM had access to.

One of the other arguidos is Sergey Malinka, a Russian that had already been constituted as an arguido [sic, he wasn't constituted as an arguido but was considered as a possible suspect to the PJ investigation at the time and cleared of all suspicions later on] by the PJ in 2007. [Malinka] Who had a sofa - that he tried to dispose of and which was later retrieved by the PJ and was subject to forensic analyses - where hairs whose DNA “was similar to hairs previously found in the 5A apartment (to Maddie's hairs) and to those that were retrieved from Robert Murat's bed”.(see secondary news piece)

Another suspect is Ricardo Rodrigues, a beggar, 18 years old: [sic, actually he was 16 years old in 2007 and he is now merely unemployed and is 23 years old] he received phone calls from José (see box). Finally, the other suspect is Paulo Ribeiro, addicted to heroin and a schizophrenic: he is said to have a “strange behaviour” and what connects him to Rodrigues is a suspicious phone call at 12:08 of May 2, 2007.


 Four phone records under suspicion
Four phone records between José Silva and Ricardo Rodrigues, made at the day of the crime, are under suspicion: the phone call made at 17:26 which coincides with the time that Maddie left the crèche; a text message at 21:25 when two members of the McCann's group went to check the children; another at 21:38, when Jane Tanner left the Tapas bar and the last at 21:51, when Kate, Madeleine's mother goes to the apartment, before alerting to the disappearance.

Full article and translation by courtesy of the indefatigable Joana Morais

melisande wrote:So let me get this straight.  Four men have been made arguidos because of similarities of hairs on one of the guy's sofa and 'suspicious' phone calls but no one else who were linked to cadaver scent in a car, on car keys, clothes or linked to suspicious deletion of texts, repeated calls, changing of version of events..........   hmmmmm

What does "similarity" mean here? The UK authorities were quick to ignore similarities in genetic analysis of material found in the McCann's hire car weren't they? but now similarity is good enough to rouse suspicion.

Okeydokey wrote:

melisande wrote:So let me get this straight.  Four men have been made arguidos because of similarities of hairs on one of the guy's sofa and 'suspicious' phone calls but no one else who were linked to cadaver scent in a car, on car keys, clothes or linked to suspicious deletion of texts, repeated calls, changing of version of events..........   hmmmmm

What does "similarity" mean here? The UK authorities were quick to ignore similarities in genetic analysis of material found in the McCann's hire car weren't they? but now similarity is good enough to rouse suspicion.

Perhaps if "similarity" can be shown in this case, which may be less of a match to genetic material than the "similarity" in the hire car, the genetic material in the hire car will be taken more seriously than before.

And yet despite all this, haven't we also been told by the same media outlets that nothing of interest was uncovered as a result of this questioning? In order to destroy the McCanns in court, you have to destroy their version of events. Redwood has to use the timeline given to him by the McCanns for this. Once all and every suspicious persons that were in the area have been cleared, TM have nowhere else to turn. They can't claim these suspicious people acted at some other time, because by their own 'truthful' account Maddie was only left alone during those periods. As to the similar DNA, I have no idea what that's about. Either it is provably the same or it isn't.  I still think the p word was involved in this crime, hence TM's insistence on it from day one. If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

nglfi wrote:And yet despite all this, haven't we also been told by the same media outlets that nothing of interest was uncovered as a result of this questioning? In order to destroy the McCanns in court, you have to destroy their version of events. Redwood has to use the timeline given to him by the McCanns for this. Once all and every suspicious persons that were in the area have been cleared, TM have nowhere else to turn. They can't claim these suspicious people acted at some other time, because by their own 'truthful' account Maddie was only left alone during those periods. As to the similar DNA, I have no idea what that's about. Either it is provably the same or it isn't.  I still think the p word was involved in this crime, hence TM's insistence on it from day one. If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

Yes with the P word IMO. Prearranged hence "We are not here to enjoy ourselves".  "They have taken her"

Woofer,

Great post!

What the hell do they mean by "similar"?

What a load of nonsense.

Well, between all those four phone records, which OG are fitting into the wrong time line- never heard of that time line, OG can now be able to explain who went into the apartment (through the window too) and murdered maddie, cleaned up, left valuables were they were, magically left cadaver odour everywhere it was found and walked the streets with her in his arms. Can't wait to hear how they done this. Unless ofcourse, they were watching out for the two real culprits. IMO    
If only that patience level bar could show mine at this moment!    

The hope we may have over hair samples ,mr amaral may still have hair samples ,not sent to England .what proof have we ever had that even her dna was found  without going back to England and having pillow case for dna are hairs not measured in dne but called by another name ?  trouble being ,has any samples ever been taken from younger sisters hair . The only one that could be counted I believe would be the sample stick one done at birth in all british hospials at birth ,we are not certain what arrived to pj  or whoever  is kosher never explained well ,just that it arrived . joyce1938If any changes needed please delete.

Okeydokey wrote:

melisande wrote:So let me get this straight.  Four men have been made arguidos because of similarities of hairs on one of the guy's sofa and 'suspicious' phone calls but no one else who were linked to cadaver scent in a car, on car keys, clothes or linked to suspicious deletion of texts, repeated calls, changing of version of events..........   hmmmmm

What does "similarity" mean here? The UK authorities were quick to ignore similarities in genetic analysis of material found in the McCann's hire car weren't they? but now similarity is good enough to rouse suspicion.

I agree.  If it had been the other way round, the four suspects would be in prison by now.

This is old news, the story came out in Correio da Manhã when SY began their questioning of the suspects.

nglfi wrote: .....If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

I agree, there could be a connection. Were these people being questioned paid or fooled into disposing of or hiding something? An article of clothing could explain the hairs or DNA. It doesn't necessarily have to be a body or that these people knew exactly what they were caught up in.

ChippyM wrote:

nglfi wrote: .....If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

I agree, there could be a connection. Were these people being questioned paid or fooled into disposing of or hiding something? An article of clothing could explain the hairs or DNA. It doesn't necessarily have to be a body or that these people knew exactly what they were caught up in.

If this scenario were true then money has exchanged hands or everyone knew each other very well. They wouldn't do massive favours for a complete stranger.

SixMillionQuid wrote:

ChippyM wrote:

nglfi wrote: .....If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

I agree, there could be a connection. Were these people being questioned paid or fooled into disposing of or hiding something? An article of clothing could explain the hairs or DNA. It doesn't necessarily have to be a body or that these people knew exactly what they were caught up in.

If this scenario were true then money has exchanged hands or everyone knew each other very well. They wouldn't do massive favours for a complete stranger.

Exactly,  and now perhaps the money has run out, prompting people to talk. I know if I'd been drawn into something like this I'd be demanding regular payments.

nglfi wrote:And yet despite all this, haven't we also been told by the same media outlets that nothing of interest was uncovered as a result of this questioning? In order to destroy the McCanns in court, you have to destroy their version of events. Redwood has to use the timeline given to him by the McCanns for this. Once all and every suspicious persons that were in the area have been cleared, TM have nowhere else to turn. They can't claim these suspicious people acted at some other time, because by their own 'truthful' account Maddie was only left alone during those periods. As to the similar DNA, I have no idea what that's about. Either it is provably the same or it isn't.  I still think the p word was involved in this crime, hence TM's insistence on it from day one. If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

but it doesn't exclude the parents.......

Not your ordinary throwaway line is it?

Has anything, that anyone involved in the official investigation(s) has uncovered, actually excluded the parents?

Why do they say "Sofa that he TRIED to dispose of"?

If he really did get rid of it, it's out of his hands anybody could have put those hairs on the sofa. And how did they know they he was going to get rid of the sofa, were they ready watching?

It's like they're waiting for him to get rid of it first, so they could check it. Otherwise they could have gone to his house and check it.

nglfi wrote:

SixMillionQuid wrote:

ChippyM wrote:

nglfi wrote: .....If Malinka's sofa and Murat's apartment have Maddies DNA, then that's interesting but it doesn't exclude the parents.

I agree, there could be a connection. Were these people being questioned paid or fooled into disposing of or hiding something? An article of clothing could explain the hairs or DNA. It doesn't necessarily have to be a body or that these people knew exactly what they were caught up in.

If this scenario were true then money has exchanged hands or everyone knew each other very well. They wouldn't do massive favours for a complete stranger.

Exactly,  and now perhaps the money has run out, prompting people to talk. I know if I'd been drawn into something like this I'd be demanding regular payments.

 I wasn't really thinking of an on-going blackmail situation, more along the lines of......   say you were a bit of a wheeler dealer, open to a bit of petty crime, disposing of stolen goods for money etc. and someone paid you to do something or dispose of something.  The wheeler dealer wouldn't be told exactly what they were doing and don't ask questions.

 Later of course they realise they had disposed of something that could implicate them in a possible murder of a child....they are reluctant to go to police because they have no way to prove they didn't know at the time, a catch 22 situation for them.

  This kind of scenario IMO fits with Malinka being urged to 'talk'.    Just one possible theory!