Maddie’s Blanket Missing from the Ocean Club

Maddie’s Blanket Missing from the Ocean Club

by Joana Morais   11 years ago 


Could it have been used in a funerary ceremony at the Luz chapel? Gonçalo Amaral doesn't dismiss that as possibility.

The issue was brought to light, in an enigmatic approach, during the interview given by the McCann couple to Oprah Winfrey. What had happened to the blanket that Maddie used to be covered with – almost as if it was a protective and comforting safeguard – and that was photographed by the PJ, in the day of her disappearance from the Ocean Club apartment, on the bed of the English girl? Gerry and Kate gulped in silence and were unable to answer in a consistent manner to the mediatic TV show host.

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to the «SP» recalls to have seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann Couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.

As a result of the investigations that have been made by own account after he was removed from the case, Gonçalo Amaral does not dismiss the possibility that the said blanket was used as a funeral blanket in a secret funerary ceremony made in the church of Luz, sustaining that illation in depositions from sources that he believes to be credible, between them, the one of Father José Manuel Pacheco from the Luz chapel [see previous post].

Still according to the former inspector, the Catholic Church knows about that secret which might be, supposedly, known to high positioned figures inside the clergy. In fact, one poorly clarified point in this strange story is the fact that the couple had access to the church keys, which were handed to them by the Anglican priest, who has justified that fact with the necessity of praying for their daughter, away of the media spotlights.

Gonçalo Amaral sustains that the key to the discovery of Maddie’s disappearance is in the Village of Luz and that, if this new clue is duly followed by the authorities, may become decisive to unravel the mystery.

Paulo Sargento: «Public Ministry Cannot Dismiss the Blanket’s Disappearance»

Paulo Sargento, the psychologist which usually comments on the TV aspects related to the Maddie case, explained to «SP» the importance that this blanket had to the British child : “The blankets, toys, and other objects acquire a special meaning for children at early stages of their lives. Dr. Winnicot, a famous paediatrician, conceived a designation of transitional objects (most times, plush toys, small blankets, diapers, etc...) which attain some special characteristics to children. Has I have been saying, this objects that the paediatrician adjectived of transitional, are invested of a particular passion by the children, even some addiction (in the sense of affective dependency), since they possess symbolic characteristics of security, comfort, care and other qualities which emanate from the maternal figure.”

For Paulo Sargento, the thesis that Gonçalo Amaral revealed at first hand to «SP» that the blanket could have been used in a funerary ceremony at the Luz chapel “is very interesting”.

And he adds: “In reality, when the McCanns went to Oprah’s Show [video excerpt here], the blanket was mentioned. At a given moment, when Oprah tells Kate that she heard her mention a blanket several times, Kate argued that a mother who misses a child always wants to know if she is comfortable, if she is warm, and added, referring to Maddie, that sometimes she asked herself if the person who had taken her would cover her up with her little blanket (but the blanket was on the bed after Maddie, supposedly, disappeared!!!).

Well, that blanket is missing. Nobody knows where it is. But, this brief dialogue between Oprah and Kate is bizarre and looks like a slip. It seems that blanket is a word that shouldn’t have emerged under that circumstance because it didn’t find a meaning that would fit into the conversation, and the justification was very confusing”.

For Paulo Sargento, this piece of data should have been investigated without any prejudice, taking into view the possibility of someone within the Church keeping a prudent silence about the matter: “The Catholic Church follows a divine saying, that is sometimes applied to[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno of Citium] Zeno of Cyprus[/url]: “If God gave us two ears and one mouth, it was because we are meant to listen twice as much as we talk.”

The Catholic Church has had the capacity to remain silent, to keep secrets and to transform them into myths”. The psychologist has no doubts: “The disappearance of one object from the frame of a crime scene cannot be dismissed this lightly. The decisions lie in the hands of the Prosecutor and the Public Ministry”.


in Semanário Privado, 1 July 2009 - Paper Edition Only

Comments on Joana's blog:
https://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2009/07/maddies-blanket-missing-from-ocean-club.html

During the afternoon of 4th May, more searches were carried out around Vila da Luz and were extended to a radius of approximately 600 metres, including the surroundings of the EN125 in the stretch closed to P da L.

At about 23.00 the extra teams that had been requested for reinforcement arrived (Officer Rosa with Oscar and Officer Martins with Fusco, both from the search and rescue unit and Officer Fernandes with Rex and Zarus from the tracking team).

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.

https://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

Verdi wrote:During the afternoon of 4th May, more searches were carried out around Vila da Luz and were extended to a radius of approximately 600 metres, including the surroundings of the EN125 in the stretch closed to P da L.

At about 23.00 the extra teams that had been requested for reinforcement arrived (Officer Rosa with Oscar and Officer Martins with Fusco, both from the search and rescue unit and Officer Fernandes with Rex and Zarus from the tracking team).

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.

https://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

It says a blanket, it doesn't say a "pink" blanket, it could be any blanket perhaps one belonging to the twins.  Amaral said later that they were looking for the "pink" blanket.

I've just looked up the interview with the McCanns and Oprah Winfrey and she leads the question regarding the blanket, she says "you think about Madeleine with her blanket" and Kate says, "yes, as a Mother of course you think about those things".  She didn't even stop to say well of course the blanket went missing we have no idea where it went and Goncalo Amaral is still looking for it.

ETA: I should have added that it was on the bed photographed by the PJ after Madeleine went missing.

He must have been an abductor in training as he didn't take the girl, the pyjamas or the blanket by all accounts.

Nor cuddlecat!

Q: What are the two most important material things which matter to a small child? 
A: Their favourite toy and their blanket. The unifying feature of both = comfort. 
They are both highly significant things for both the child and the parent. If either of them lost, all hell breaks loose. 
How is it then that the blanket disappeared from the scene after it was clearly shown as having been there in photographic evidence. No other items except this went missing. No one except the parents of that child would have any interest in the removal of that blanket as no one else would have an emotionally vested interest in doing so. The significance of the blanket missing at a time of high emotion for the parents cannot be downplayed. Kate carries cuddle cat around to comfort her and I feel sure in my mind that the blanket was removed by them and used to comfort Madeleine in death. I am in agreement with GA that it was used to wrap Madeleine in and that she was shrouded in it for burial. This also signifies to me a dignified burial as much as it could be and does not suggest that she was the victim of abuse, rather an accident. She was not tossed in to a well by an abductor as she was not abducted. Evidence suggests that her dead body was transported in the hire car to a burial site and she was buried in that blanket. This is what I see.

The McCanns and their team seem cock-sure that Madeleine will never be found.

Burial is not consistent with that assurance.

An accident could be easily explained, I can see no plausible reason for such drastic action to conceal an accident.

I've heard it all before .... damage limitation (?); reputation; career preservation; security of the twins - none of which are convincing arguments to justify the course of action deemed necessary by the McCanns and their group of friends.

Their behaviour after the event does not flow with grief, innocence or even concern.

They are as bad as each other. Neither one are more or less culpable in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.

To his dying day, Ian Brady would not reveal the location of the burial site of Keith Bennett and his undiscovered  remains are still out there somewhere. The blanket features in the burial or cremation (as some believe) of this child, that I feel certain.
The scenario. You have one dead child and two living ones. You have to do everything in your power to protect the remaining two from being taken from you. And you would if you had something else to hide. From what I can see, Kate is very revelatory and I think there is a clue from here when she spoke about Madeleine crying 'the night before' but this is just a coverall meaning any old time as we know M had sleep issues. And asking "where were you when we cried." IE: They wake up. So how do you make sure they don't wake up too easily again? Dose then up with a permitted sedative so they won't. So they did. But she did wake up and was so drowsy she fell off the sofa and hit her head on the very unforgiving tiled floor. This trauma could have been enough alone to cause her death or maybe she went in to cardiac arrest, even worse. As a medic you are not very likely to want to fess up to a) your negligence in the first instance while galivanting with your doctor chums in a Tapas bar, which is bad enough and to assuage his guilt from that we hear GM saying it was like dining in your back garden etc etc and b) drugging them and causing them to die because of it, are you? You are well and truly sunk in every aspect. You remaining children would be taken away and you would be faced with the prospect of spending an awfully long time, if not forever at Her Majesty's pleasure eating prison food. So not a desirable outcome to say the least and the prospect of all of the above to be avoided at all costs seems a highly plausible set of reasons to want to extriacate oneself in my view, let alone wholly discrediting the highly respected profession for which you trained for for years and bringing the NHS into disrepute as a middle class group of doctor Brits abroad. The whole thing would be so shameful on so many levels to warrant covering it up.
As for their behaviour afterwards, well I struggle with that as much as you as it is perplexing to say the least, but human nature is very weird. How many time have you found yourself laugh at someone's misfortune. We all have. Usually it is momentary  Maybe it is an innate self protection mechanism. I think their remorse was evident later and when you look at them now, Kate does not look like a cat that got the cream by any stretch of the imagination, intact she looks desperately sad.