Christian Brueckner: To be or not to be

Cops are locked in a 'race against time' to establish fresh leads



“Often there are similar trends within each of the cases that officers involved in the Maddie investigation think they lean on to try and drum up new leads.



“They desperately need something fresh to go on if they are to have any hope of pinning this on Christian B.



“Many of the Portuguese detectives think it is another case of the German officers clutching at straws



"But the view among the investigating cops is what have they got to lose?”

+


Cases they’ve looked at are believed to include the disappearance of three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer.



The British toddler went missing more than 50 years ago in Australia - but last month it emerged a new witness had come forward.



Officers face a race against time in linking the convicted paedophile to Maddie’s disappearance.



“The big problem they have is that relations with Portuguese cops are at an all-time low."

They added: "Hardly any intelligence is now being shared



"Cops remain sure someone, somewhere, knows information which could be of vital importance."

what a strange collection, the case of kayla was also here in the news in may this year, but that was a typical parental abduction. 

the australian case i do remember i have seen a australian docu about, but i do not see anything that can be connected in place, manner if a abduction did take place, happened. only thing that could be said it both took place during a holiday and most people did speak english. and it stands as unsolved.

the aranza girl was also a typical parental abduction. by our news.

maybe they like to look only at solved cases with a young female victim, germany has little success in these themselves, they blew it in the peggy knoblauch case, the inga case is still unsolved, the katrice lee, also british is still unsolved. and many more. their track record is hardly existing at all. 

but it is of course from the sun, and still talks about the island called portugal. 

suggesting madeleine could be also the victim of a parental abduction, they would not think we would google these cases of course, is actually quite daring. i never have seen anything or any reason to think that the mccanns had a reason to become abductors themselves, or at least one of them to hide a living madeleine.

maybe imogen did miss out on a memo or two, about do not talk the mccanns in this case, you can never do that!!!!!!! policy, and lady google the island of portugal, because that is just stupid. using that twice does still not make that into a fact at all. 

i had some hope it could no longer go down in quality, i admit, i was wrong in that.

In the Case of Inga Gehricke, a new privately Funded search has revealed new Information about her disappearance.

Several different Search Dogs have marked Areas of interest.

Should her body ever turn up it may reveal what happened to her. Brückner has already been ruled out in Inga's case.

van der Leek - sounds like a vegetable delivery.

Alas Nick van der Leek is yet another culprit of capitalizing on the disappearance of a little 3 year old child, I know it's his line of work but sensationalizing such a tragic case is beyond the pale.  He might even make some good points on occasions, aspects worthy of note but that in my mind doesn't excuse his seizing the moment to make a few bob.  Turning a serious crime (unsolved) into profit is just not acceptable in my moral compass, taking fact and evidence and turning it into a fictional novel is so wrong on every level.

The list of profiteers has grown exponentially over the years.

Sorry but I just can't accept anyone making money or career advancement out of the almost certain death of a little girl - if they are so concerned for the victim why not offer their time and effort for nothing?

DOUBT: The Madeleine McCann Mystery (Gone Girl Book 1)



MADELEINE MCCANN: DEEPER INTO DARKNESS (Abduction Diary Book Book 2)



That's in addition to his Crime Rocket YouTube channel.

Every time I think I've seen the last of the name Christian Brueckner he creeps back in focus through the back door - why is it so important to keep him in view, when most of the news is not even relative to the case of Madeleine McCann?  Or do I already know the answer to that ....

ETA:  If I remember rightly reference to his book was removed from CMOMM by admin because he was considered to be too controversial and confrontational in attitude across social media.

I'm probably not the only person to notice that    none of these people come up with anything we on the forum haven't previously mentioned. I'm convinced they read everything  here.

Well I wish they wouldn't go off on a tangent trying to rewrite history .

We're on to them.

it is quite a common dutch surname, some believe because of the combination of van and der before it it is most likely it comes from a place or city called leek, there is one in friesland of course. but leek could also be from laak what is old dutch for a field. at least it is all the fault of that little french guy, that got the idea we needed surnames for all, so some also just used a bit of a fantastic mind in all that happening. 

and indeed this guy is known as a avid writer about what he called true crime, multi publisher even. so it is mostly also a job. 

and cakelover can certainly be right, and you never know, not all choose a nickname that can be recognized.
this one at least have used old fashioned scissors or the modern select and nick buttons on his keyboard. 
i do not like his chosen format, showing pictures of other players when call out a name , or showing titles of newspaper articles about a different bit, so i usually only listen to these. it becomes even far less confusion if i take on a sudoko or 3 during listening, if i do. the lack of news content makes it not very interesting. 

but he did not read all, because of his mismatching how hb talked cb in the case. most have been missing that, or do not want the memory they already had missed out on that story well over 5 years ago. 
there is al least no connection to netflix documentaries or writers who do better to get pensioned off. 

what all these types call research must have gotten a change in meaning of that word, most is very flimsy and the easy to get stuff. it is more about quantity than it was ever near quality. i do not even have to agrre with their opinions at all, but both sides, okay that is not a diversion by scientific standard, but let's just use anti mccann and pro mccann, do it most times just sloppy. 

the idea anyone could loose a reputation, they never ever had, in relation to the media is just ridiculous.

CaKeLoveR wrote:We're on to them.

Lock stock and barrel

That's not a threat .... it's a youfemism .

Good grief, give it a rest will you?

This poor little child's name crops up time and time again when the gutter press want to keep the name Brueckner associated with the name Madeleine McCann and any other case of a missing child that's cropped over the past 20+ years.

Over two years ago it was reported Christian Brueckner had nothing to do with the disappearance of Inga Gehricke, any more than he is connected in any way with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - and no, there is no similarity between the two cases.  Inga Gehricke is not the German Madeleine McCann !!!

The usual pick 'n mix to add colour to an otherwise insipid and factually incorrect tabloid report..

Hope of a breakthrough in 'German Madeleine McCann' investigation as cold case sniffer dogs home in on new location eight years after Inga Gehricke, 5, vanished without a trace

   Inga Gehricke disappeared in 2015 during a family barbecue in Saxony-Anhalt
   As with Madeleine McCann, she has never been found by investigators

By Chris Jewers

Published: 16:08, 6 December 2023 | Updated: 17:43, 6 December 2023

The parents of a five-year-old girl who vanished in 2015 have been offered a glimmer of hope with the news that cold case sniffer dogs have been deployed in the search.

The case quickly drew comparisons with the 2007 disappearance of Madeline McCann, a British girl who vanished from her family's hotel room in Portugal at the age of three

Blonde, blue-eyed Inga Gehricke disappeared on May 2, 2015 during a family barbecue in a forest in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state.

The case quickly drew comparisons with the 2007 disappearance of Madeline McCann, who vanished from her family's apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, at the age of three.

Despite extensive searches, media coverage and nationwide appeals, Inga - like Madeleine - has never been found, with the mystery still hanging over Germany today.

But Inga's parents Jens-Uwe and Victoria have been offered new hope this week, with investigators deploying sniffer dogs to the region she vanished from, with teams scouring woodland near to where she vanished.

Former cop Axel Hehl, an ex-police officer who founded the 'Victim Recovery Dogs' association, said he participated in the search with his cold case sniffer dogs that specialise in searching for corpses.

Axel said: 'The trained dogs' noses sniff out smells and the smallest particles that arise when a person decomposes.'

The dogs were taken for investigation in the Uchtspringe area on Saturday, December 2, near to Wilhelmshof, Stendal where Inga vanished.

Axel told local media: 'After our advance team in the summer, we were now on the search with four dogs.'

According to reports, the dogs stopped at one spot, seemingly sniffing something.

He added: 'I'm 85 per cent sure there's something there.'

The dogs cannot have sniffed animal remains, as they are trained to distinguish human from animal bones, according to local media.

The private detectives and lawyers who participated in the investigation, said: 'We will search tirelessly for the needle in the haystack.

'There is a lead, we just have to find it.'

Previously Tamara Zieschang, the Lower Saxon Interior Minister, had revealed a new squad of investigators has been formed to crack the Inga case.

Stung by criticism that previous efforts have not turned up a single new clue, she declared a new shake-up to 'reorganise the case management.'

The Christian Democratic Union Minister said at the time: 'Police in Halle (Saale) will support Stendal police. This step is part of a reorganisation of the case management after years of investigations without any results.'

Local media reported on April 25 that the new investigators will be part of a team dedicated to 'crimes against life'.

She did not, however, say how many officers the unit will consist of.

The decision comes on the back of immense criticism of police over a string of blunders over the Inga case, which was initially dropped in 2017.

Image of Madeleine McCann
Berlin-based lawyer Steffen Tzschoppe, who represents Inga's family, told politicians in February that 1,900 pages of investigation files on the activities of a convicted paedophile had simply disappeared.

And earlier this year, it emerged that police had found a sex doll in a convicted paedophile's abandoned house that they bizarrely revealed resembled Inga.

Investigators then checked on a new lead that linked her disappearance with convicted paedophile Martin H., 41, from Berlin.

Lawyer Tzschoppe told the Bild newspaper: 'He originally comes from near Stendal, not far from Wilhelmshof [district], where Inga disappeared.'

The lawyer claimed authorities have a 1,900-page file on the offender, who is already serving prison for previous sexual abuses of children.

The officers were reportedly puzzled when they rushed inside the offender's ruined house in the area of Scheuder, near the town of Dessau, Saxony Anhalt, and found bricked windows, soundproof doors and countless mattresses placed inside a basement dungeon.

The dungeon could only be reached through a hatch estimated at 40 by 40 centimetres (15.7 by 15.7 inches) in size, police reported.

They additionally discovered full bondage kits and sex toys.

Later on, during their search of his Berlin flat, they found silicone sex dolls, one of which reportedly bore a striking resemblance with then-five-year-old Inga.

Tzschoppe said: 'In May 2015, shortly after Inga's disappearance, this offender used an excavator on his property.'

Martin H. had reportedly also dismantled his car on the property at the same time, claimed the lawyer.

Unwilling to reveal too many details, he added: 'The Stendal investigators dropped the trail because they believed the man's alibi.

'In my opinion, however, the alibi is very doubtful.'

Tzschoppe pointed out the mistakes in the previous investigations and revealed that detectives hadn't analysed the paedophile's extensive file yet for further possible links.

He claimed that they reportedly stopped further examinations after only 11 days of investigations in 2019.

Also, in 2019, a high-ranking police officer allegedly admitted not having any experience with homicide cases after he had been appointed the head of a new special unit assembled to solve her disappearance.

And Christian Brueckner, a suspect in the McCann case, is reportedly also among the suspects to have been involved in the disappearance of Inga.

Image of Christian Brueckner
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in the McCann case, is reportedly among those suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Inga

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12832849/Inga-Gehricke-Hope-breakthrough-German-Madeleine-McCann-investigation.html

What is the point of using dogs ?
They are notoriously unreliable,  Prof McCann and Dr Kate said so, so it must be true

But I loved this sentence
"The case quickly drew comparisons with the 2007 disappearance of Madeline McCann,"
they fail to say
"The case quickly drew comparisons with the 2007 disappearance of Madeline McCann, where dogs alerted to human cadaverine and blood in 19 places associated with the suspects, and to no other places . . ."

the overall german sentiment about these alerts is more wait and see, because it was an alert, some even say by 4 different dogs outside. so the place the alert was given is not very exclusive to this case. and these dogs could be just too good, it could also be archaeological, or war relics.

it is a search by a private initiativ related to the family, but the handlers and dogs sound good enough. the leader of the dog group is an former police officer. and the have finds enough to their name. the dogs are said very specific trained to human remains. 

there are often so-called amateur groups, that have a very good record in finding people or bodies. a lot long time ago grew out of deserving to be called amateur, they work like the best pro's can, they have often very high standards and most you can easily get a look at their results. 
it is often remarkable what they can deliver in results, with pretty low public funding and the odd sponsor. but they have and know their place and they are simply needed. 

it is just another case that needs an answer. 

there is some talk on rtl germany about finding some sticky tape too.

but the problem is these dogs are usually trained to all kinds of human remains, and we simply still have no idea how much they truly need to give an alert. and we are as humans not always able to put the same effort in looking to what they are reacting too, something that most likely happened in the jersey case. we only can guess that what we call out as a finding of human remains are indeed the stuff the dogs gave their alerts on. 
the handicap is in the human parts of the use of these dogs.

it is not working like these modern metal detection devices, you can just simply put them over it, to know you got all the metal the device reacted on. the scent of death can be there from just what is kept in the soil, or from a much deeper area, than we looked. also bone fragments or even teeth can be very small and hard to recognize for us. and because the scent of death are gasses, they can travel through and even in all kind of porous material. to a certain degree you can retest ground with the dogs in another environment, that is free of any scents of death. but it will not be very effective in an outdoor terrain. 

5a was a very different situation, it was a pretty modern building with closed floors, from the mid or early eighties, so there would also be paperwork to use , to look through its history, the pj did that and no known deaths have been known before may 2007. also there was a direct connection to the victim and 5a. 

so even these dogs cannot put a time on their findings, or reflect it to a specific body, you have much more documentation to work from. and yes a likely or possible link is well enough to investigate it. 

there is quite a lot new research on the dogs and the scent of death from after 2007, the findings in that are only news to us, the processes have been the same in all ages before 2007. 
still we can not beat the dogs. and most times there is no need to beat the dogs, working with a team effort works already great enough. 

and you only can show being stupid, if you decide to tell the world you are sure you know, the dogs must have be badly trained, they do not often have visitors, so very unlikely you was there at all ever. or they must have just sniffed traces from some wild life or animal remains, that is stupid to say too, because you never can tell what the dogs did smell, because we as humans are known and proven as not being able to be capable of doing that. 

and not anyone who works with and around these dogs expect 100% score, they are seen, accepted and used to be a tool to find possible evidence in a way we can not do by our own human also incompetent competences. we do not throw a microscope out because there was no usable dna to find. 
we also do not burn police cars because they did not arrive on time. 

it even works pretty easy, you ask the dog to do something it was trained for, if the dog alerts, you simply have to start your own investigation, you can only prove what the dog reacted on by what you find. a complete corps is even the easy stuff. and you can check them on much less material in training, because you, okay usually your training hand does know what was put in the tube. 

if a dog trained to find the scent of death that exist from a human body after death alerts, the work for the dog is done. we are simply not even able to prove a false positive. a false negative is not possible too, but we would not ask the dogs, if we already not have known that. the answer we cab deliver, we could not found something to what the dog alerted too, and usually because we are not competent to do that. the failing is not in the dog, but in us. so degrading the dog is always showing how stupid humans too often are. 

there are no fool proof, or 100% tools in use with law enforcement. it does mean when the use of tools do give results you work with what you get. even dna and fingerprints only serve with most likely in the field. 
it is used under reasonable doubt use, not under 100% proven. 

and it would be quite stupid to get a dog in 5a, transported from the uk even, if there had been a body behind a sofa or in the trunk of a car. 

and the dogs in the inga case have even a very different environment to work in. still it is said all 4 did gave a alert. they have done what they are trained for. it is now up to humans to get that into findings, and  to tell if it are findings that could tell something and if it is most likely also part of the inga case. 
so wait and see is probably a wise option. 

the inga has even much more in common with the katrice lee case, a much older case, the uk media likes to forget about, and the germans too. both young girls, disappeared in day time, outside their own homes, with family members present and near, and both in germany. both had not to open windows or doors at all. 
so it is far more a katrice lee kind of case, than there are similarities with that of madeleine mccann.
the bitter similarity all 3 cases met, they are sadly still unsolved and not done justice. and all 3 and others that share that faith deserve that. 

at this moment the german police has no reason to implicate cb into this case. are they 100% sure, most likely not, it always will be guided by the information and knowledge the investigation has up to that moment, new information can change all and everything. investigations are not static. 
the same is going in all other cases once bound by just people or the media to cb. and even in the made;leine mccann case there are still no charges, no arrest, only talking. and that has been the same for hundreds of others that other countries their police forces looked into.

Again !?!

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Whinging Christian B hits out at Madeleine McCann search while his lawyers ‘have cruel nickname for desperate hunt’

Christian B's lawyers reportedly get 'furious' if anyone asks how he's coping

Rob Pattinson

Published: 11:13, 7 Dec 2023Updated: 11:13, 7 Dec 2023

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian B has whinged he finds it TOUGH being accused of snatching the tot.

The convicted paedophile and rapist, 46, has told pals he “struggles with the pressure” of being accused of “one of the most famous crimes in the world”.

And he finds it “unfair” investigators have refused to share any of their evidence against him with his lawyers.

A source said: “Christian B has regularly told pals he speaks to from prison how tough it is being the Madeleine suspect.

“It makes his lawyers furious if anyone ever asks how Christian B is doing.

“They reply, ‘how is he supposed to be doing?’ Like it’s a stupid question or something.



“It’s clear he is struggling with the pressure of being so firmly in the spotlight of the world - even if he is behind bars.

“He hates being suspected of one of the most famous crimes in the world. And his lawyers hate that he is constantly the subject of headlines.

“He is behind bars for crimes he has already been convicted of committing.

“But I think he forgets there is a family out there who has lost their little girl.”

It has also emerged Christian B maintains his innocence privately to his lawyers over Madeleine’s disappearance.

Discussions between the drifter and his solicitor Friedrich Fülscher are protected by the same privacy laws as legal clients in the UK.

But sources say Fülscher would not stand up in court and protect Christian B in court if he had received a cast-iron admission over the alleged crimes.

A source said: “What a client says to his lawyer is protected in Germany in the same way as in the UK.

“But Fülscher is not going to stand up in public for any client and say he's convinced of their innocence when they have told him something different.”

Christian B's team are said to have been buoyed by recent claims German cops failed to find physical evidence tying him to Madeleine during a lake-dig in Portugal earlier this year.

They are privately said to have nicknamed it the “fruitless search.”

Christian B's self-pitying has been revealed after it was this week confirmed he would stand trial for five counts of sex crimes in February.

They include three rapes, one of Irish girl, Hazel Behan, who was just 20 when she was viciously attacked during a four-hour ordeal in Portugal.

Two other rapes are understood to have been filmed at the small farmhouse he rented just outside Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann was snatched in May 2007.

He is also facing the sexual assault of a young German girl, 10, on a beach near Praia da Luz, a month before Madeleine went missing in 2007.

Christian B is currently in jail in Germany for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz.

Madeleine disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leics.

Detectives claim to have "concrete evidence" that Madeleine is dead but admit to have nothing “forensic”. They have yet to produce further material which could lead to a charge.

Mr Fülscher declined to comment when contacted by The Sun.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who named Christian B as the prime suspect in the McCann case, also declined to comment.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24974920/christian-finds-tough-being-madeleine-mccann-suspect/

Madeleine McCann suspect 'struggling' with lawyers concerned for his welfare

By Jack Walters

Published: 08/12/2023 - 13:30

The 46-year-old is currently serving a sentence for raping an American pensioner in 2005

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance case has been struggling with the pressure of being accused of being involved in the unsolved crime.

Christian Brueckner, 46, is said to have told friends about how he is feeling about the accusations made about him.

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance case has been struggling with the pressure of being accused of being involved in the unsolved crime.

Christian Brueckner, 46, is said to have told friends about how he is feeling about the accusations made about him.

McCann, aged just three at the time, went missing from her bed while on holiday with her family in Portugal in 2007.

Brueckner is also said to have found it “unfair” that investigators have not yet shared any of their evidence against him with his legal team.

WATCH NOW: Portuguese police apologise for McCann failures

He maintains his innocence to his lawyers but has been connected to the toddler’s disappearance for sometime.

"Christian B has regularly told pals he speaks to from prison how tough it is being the Madeleine suspect," a source told The Sun.

"It makes his lawyers furious if anyone ever asks how Christian B is doing.

"It’s clear he is struggling with the pressure of being so firmly in the spotlight of the world - even if he is behind bars.

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"He hates being suspected of one of the most famous crimes in the world. And his lawyers hate that he is constantly the subject of headlines.

"He is behind bars for crimes he has already been convicted of committing.

"But I think he forgets there is a family out there who has lost their little girl."

Brueckner is serving a seven year jail sentece in Oldenburg after being convicted of raping an American pensioner in Portugal in 2005.

The suspect’s lawyers have described the hunt for evidence as a “fruitless search”.

A source said: “What a client says to his lawyer is protected in Germany in the same way as in the UK.

“But [his solicitor Friedrich] Fülscher is not going to stand up in public for any client and say he's convinced of their innocence when they have told him something different.”

https://www.gbnews.com/news/madeleine-mccann-update-suspect-christian-brueckner-struggling

So no appearance before a court of law in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ever likely - is it.

Does this mean that he now has a good reason to try and sue? Nobody could blame him for having a go, as vile as he is.

I frankly don't believe a word of any of it.

GB News wrote:
But [his solicitor Friedrich] Fülscher is not going to stand up in public for any client and say he's convinced of their innocence when they have told him something different.”

Nice little titbit added there to feed the salacious appetite.

I can just imagine the websleuths who believe there is some merit in the accusations made against Christian Brueckner, chomping on this for the next decade, trying to deduce what Brueckner might have told his solicitor.

Mmmm, let me guess .... 'she didn't scream'?

they are really into recycling mode, at least one of the sentences of ff is exactly the same one as he gave in 2020.

at least the suddeutse zeitung still has it online. and they nicked it from rtl germany.

well it almost can result in;

once upon a time in a country far and far away there was a....

lets call it a prosecution officer who had to keep up the law, so they could not put pressure on a suspect of their liking, so they found a trick, and just let it be played out by the uk media, some from portugal, because only the odd german outlet would not do.

gave by saying it is better for the guy himself to put him in isolation from all others, except personal and lawyer. 

always nice to let solve others, what you can not do yourself.

Mystery of 'Germany's Madeleine': How five-year-old Inga Gehricke vanished without trace during a family picnic in woodland beauty spot with Maddie suspect Christian Brueckner investigated but never charged

Little Inga vanished without a trace in 2015, sparking a massive investigation
Officials said there was 'no recognisable motive, no traces of crime and no body'

By Chris Jewers

Published: 12:27, 9 December 2023 | Updated: 14:59, 9 December 2023

On a fine spring Saturday in early May 2015, the Gehricke family gathered for a picnic in northern Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state.

Parents Jens-Uwe and Victoria, along with children Maxim, Julius, Freya and Inga, spent the day with family friends and planned to have a barbecue in the evening.

With sunset approaching, several of the children at the picnic went out into the forest to collect firewood as the adults prepared the meal.

But during that brief window in time, disaster struck. Inga had vanished.

Her disappearance sparked an investigation that continues today, and soon drew comparisons to the case of Madeleine McCann eight years earlier.

Like Maddie, Inga was a young girl with blonde hair, blue eyes who vanished without a trace. The case drew national attention, sparked wild theories, and questions about what happened to her persist even now.

And as with the investigation into Madeleine by British and Portuguese police, the case has been closed and reopened by German authorities, dashing and raising the hopes of Inga's devastated family whose anguished wait for answers continues.

But there is another similarity between the two cases: the suspected involvement of German convicted child abuser and drug trader Christian Brueckner.

Here, MailOnline looks at what we know about Inga's disappearance, what stage the investigation is at, and why Brueckner is a person of interest...

Inga was just five years old when she vanished on May 2, 2015.

It was a Saturday, and she and her family had travelled the 40 miles from their home in Schönebeck to Wilhelmshof in Stendal, which is about 75 miles west of Berlin.

According to accounts from people who were there, the family met friends who lived and worked at a care home facility that looked after the mentally ill and disabled.

They gathered on the edge of the campus, which is made up of several buildings including homes for the residents, dormitories for the staff, as well as stables.

A large forest flanks the campus to the north, east and west, while federal highway 188 runs to the south - with more forest and a field on the other side.

The group set up in the north-east corner of the grounds where there was a barbecue area and fields to play in. Witnesses describing how Inga had happily played with other children throughout the day.

There was no reason to believe anything could go wrong.

The group had decided they wanted to do a barbecue, so as day turned to evening, the preparations began for dinner.

But as the children played happily and the adults chatted while the cooking began, Mr Gehricke saw his daughter for the last time.

Wearing a butterfly T-shirt and blue jeans, she was carrying two large bottles of water to help set the table for the barbecue which was lit in the clearing, before going off to play on the edge of the forest.

Two of the other children saw her heading back through the trees towards the friends' home at about 6.30pm, as the afternoon light was beginning to dim.

That was the last time anyone saw Inga.

As the children returned to the camp one by one, there was no sign of the girl.

Mr Gehricke said: 'It was only 100 metres to the house. But she never got there.'

The adults went out looking for the youngster, assuming she must have taken a wrong turn and would easily be found nearby.

However, as the hours went by, things became increasingly desperate.

They searched all night, and the next day some 500 locals joined in the hunt. The huge forest area around Wilhelmshof was combed for days, in vain.

Desperate to stay positive, Mrs Gehricke has since said: 'I thought: You will definitely find my child, it is just a matter of time.'

But she said the fear grew increasingly strong that Inga must have been kidnapped, adding: 'Then you mistrust everyone at that moment.'

The family called the police who initially suspected she had run into the forest that spans around 20 square miles, prompting a wider search of the immediate area, but this proved fruitless, and the hunt for Inga expanded in the following days.



On May 4, two days after her disappearance, 1,000 police officers were joined by volunteers, helpers from the fire department and a technical response agency.

Helicopters with thermal cameras and sniffer dogs were also sent into the field, but it proved difficult to find even a trace of the young girl.

There was also little in the way of sightings for police to go off, something which was largely put down to the density of the forest.

One man came forward to say that he heard screaming on the day Inga vanished.

With the vast police resources not picking anything up, it soon became clear that the youngster was not going to be found in the forest.

After four days and nights of searching, which included pumping out ponds as well as checking tripping hazards and slopes, the search of the woodland was called off, and on May 7 police officially said a crime was the most likely explanation

Reimar Klockziem, the head of the investigation, told reporters in Germany that Inga's disappearance was 'inexplicable and unbelievable'.

It was like she had been 'beamed away from the world', he said.

At the same time, media interest in the case was growing, and comparisons were soon made between the disappearance of Inga and that of Madeleine McCann in 2007, who was three when she disappeared in Portugal.

As with Inga, Madeleine had been away from home with her family when she went missing, and extensive investigations found little to no trace of her, with a kidnapping soon deemed to be the most likely cause.

Despite Inga's face being plastered all over the German press, a 25,000 euro reward being offered for information about her whereabouts, and cops receiving more than 2,000 tip offs, police found no solid leads to advance the case.

Publication Bunte said in May 2020, that 'only a few missing person cases are not cleared up in Germany for a long time. One of them is that of Inga.'

Profiler Axel Petermann told Bunte that, unusually, there was 'no recognisable motive, no crime scene, no traces of a crime, and no body.'

After two years of dead ends, the German police made the difficult decision to close the case in 2017, leading to immense disappointment among Inga's family.

That same year, her parents Jens-Uwe and Victoria divorced.

Nevertheless, they have both said they are united in their belief that Inga is still alive.

In the years since, as hope has faded over the mystery ever being solved, criticism of the police's handling has grown louder.

Earlier this year, the lawyers for Inga's parents, as well as her older brother, accused the police and judiciary of mishandling the case.

They said despite the 2,000 trips, investigations came to nothing.

At the time, Berlin-based lawyer Steffen Tzschoppe - who represents some of Inga's family - told Germany's Bild newspaper: 'There are still plenty of investigative approaches that have never been pursued.

'So far we have largely fallen on deaf ears with the investigation requests and suggestions. The files reveal that investigative approaches have also been stopped through active action,' he added.

While the investigation has yet to result in any charges, there have been two key suspects in the case: Martin H. and Christian Brueckner. Much of the criticism levelled at the police has been in relation to the handling of suspects.

Tzschoppe told politicians in February that 1,900 pages of investigation files on the activities of Martin H., a convicted paedophile, had simply disappeared.

And earlier this year, it emerged that police had found a sex doll in his abandoned house that they bizarrely revealed resembled Inga.

Investigators then checked on a new lead that linked her disappearance with the 41-year-old, who is originally from the same region where the five-year-old vanished.


Tzschoppe told the Bild: 'He originally comes from near Stendal, not far from Wilhelmshof [district], where Inga disappeared.'

The officers were reportedly puzzled and concerned when they rushed inside the offender's ruined house in the area of Scheuder, near the town of Dessau in Saxony Anhalt, and found bricked windows, soundproof doors and countless mattresses placed inside a basement dungeon.

The dungeon could only be reached through a hatch estimated at 40 by 40 centimetres (15.7 by 15.7 inches) in size, police reported.

They also discovered full bondage kits and sex toys.

Later on, during their search of his Berlin flat, they found silicone sex dolls, one of which reportedly bore a striking resemblance with then-five-year-old Inga.

Tzschoppe said: 'In May 2015, shortly after Inga's disappearance, this offender used an excavator on his property.' Martin H. had reportedly also dismantled his car on the property at the same time, claimed the lawyer.

Unwilling to reveal too many details, he added: 'The Stendal investigators dropped the trail because they believed the man's alibi.

'In my opinion, however, the alibi is very doubtful,' he added.

Tzschoppe pointed out the mistakes in the previous investigations and revealed that detectives hadn't analysed the paedophile's extensive file yet for further possible links, and he claimed that they reportedly stopped further examinations after only 11 days of investigations into Martin H. in 2019.

Meanwhile, Christian Brueckner - who according to German investigators is the chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann case - has also reportedly been among those suspected of being involved in Inga's disappearance.

At the time of her disappearance, 43-year-old Brueckner lived in a caravan at the site of an abandoned factory in Neuwegersleben around 68 miles from where Inga vanished.

And the day before Inga disappeared, a police record places him in Helmstedt, which is between the two locations.

The highway police there had recorded a minor parking incident at an A2 autobahn service station – and Brueckner was at the wheel.

It took investigators eight months for their inquiries to take them to Brueckner's dilapidated caravan in February 2016. More than 100 officers descended on the old pallet factory, at the end of a long tree-lined dirt track on wasteland on the outskirts of the hamlet of Neuwegersleben in former East Germany.

They spent a week digging holes. Nothing was found except Brueckner's USB stash of child abuse. He was prosecuted over the vile images but he was never charged with Inga's disappearance.

Brueckner has been linked to a series of other child abductions and murders in Portugal and Germany, making him among the top suspects in Inga's case.

He is currently in jail in Kiel, in the German state of Schlweswig-Holstein, for drug dealing, and is appealing against a conviction for the 2005 rape of a woman near the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine McCann went missing.

In the case of McCann, Brueckner's lawyers are said to have been given hope by recent claims that German investigators failed to find physical evidence tying him to the girl during a search in Portugal earlier this year in an area near a lake.

Last month it was reported that he might have taken photos of the missing toddler and buried them in an underground hideaway at a reservoir in the Algarve. He is alleged to have taken 'trophies' from his victims in the past.

As of yet, neither Martin H. or Brueckner have been charged over Inga's disappearance, and the mystery over what happened to her remains unsolved.

But her family were offered a glimmer of hope when Germany's 'Cold Case Forest Review Group' picked up the case in April.

Since then, investigators have been pouring over 40,000 pages of documents and chasing up on leads that were not followed up previously.

It's understood that the new team are using new digital methods of investigation, which helps visualise and link possible connections and leads.

Tzschoppe, Inga's brother's lawyer, said of the team to Bild: 'They are very committed officials who described their activities to us in a very impressive way.'

Hope were bolstered last week with the news that the team had deployed specially trained cold case sniffer dogs to the region where Inge vanished.

Former cop Axel Hehl, an ex-police officer who founded the 'Victim Recovery Dogs' association, said he participated in the search with his cold case sniffer dogs that specialise in searching for corpses.

Axel said: 'The trained dogs' noses sniff out smells and the smallest particles that arise when a person decomposes.'

The dogs were taken for investigation in the Uchtspringe area on Saturday, December 2, near to Wilhelmshof.

Axel told local media: 'After our advance team in the summer, we were now on the search with four dogs.'

According to reports, the dogs stopped at one spot, seemingly sniffing something.

He added: 'I'm 85 per cent sure there's something there.'

Whether the new cold case team will be able to give the Gehricke family answers to what happened on May 2, 2015 remains to be seen, but there is at least a sense that the investigation is back on track.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12826673/Mystery-German-Maddie-five-year-old-Inga-Gehricke-vanished-without-trace.html

it only becomes a bit problematic if the 4 dogs indeed found something of course, i think the german madeleine mccann would be loose its title probably pretty quick.

and no, there never is a message found about a conviction over the material found at this old box factory terrain at all, there was an earlier find of childporn on a camera and laptop belonging to cb. with also the daughter of one of his many girlfriends around that time. after he physically abused a girlfriend, they took a look at his home near the kiosk, and found the material. that ended with a conviction. 

there is still a bit of conflict in two convictions ending in jailtime between 2016 and 2018 , one for drugs the other for the abuse of his girlfriend and the sa of the young daughter of the same or just another.

they never have raided the old boxfactory in name of looking for child porn, they just used acces because locals made complaints about a stench. it is very likely they already had found the name of cb in one of the many raids on sa servers. there never was any relation named in the local newsoutlets at the time. most do not work any longer. also they already had his name for the case against that young girl and the findings in his home near the kiosk. 

you would not go in with so much police only for a bit of a stench. but you usually need a sound reason to being able to get access. and a bit of stench would solve getting legally access. there would be a nice bit of reporting inthe police files about, how they got in because of a complaint and found old pc's and data carriers and looked the name of the terrain owner up in the database of very dirty people and registered the explicit material, as a side finding. 

but it is very strange there never was a conviction about this. 

still it is not very respectful to use names of one victim as the better one, and there is lees in common than it is to call out in both blond, both had even very different eye colours too. 

also to call the wilhelmshof just a facility for the mental and disabled is quite short, it has a long standing tradition as rehab for alcohol addicted. but they did not want to name that as the people in praia da luz in 2007 would a bit of a problem with being called that as communal ground in both cases. so in germany it was not a kind of holiday resort for sun, sea and fun. 

also none of all the cases, the members of the media, the media, much more media and some public introduces to cb had any outcome as if he could be part of these. it isnot strange all police forces in all countries that could be within europe will of course look into old cases, more from the you never can know for sure, without looking in the case files again. cb is certainly not the first, and would not be the last of course. 

it is only some media can not understand when to stop, some members of the public have no such barrier  either. and each of all these missing children deserve their own attention, they are all different children that are still lost. 

and it is quite strange that the uk media thinks people have a need to get talked madeleine mccann in each and all cases they can print or type in online, so it always nice to see they think their own public and reader must be really stupid. 

they must have had a horrible moment when they found out some of the french potential could not be linked to cb, because he was already in jail. as if there are no other nasty people still walking free. 

it is all just very unrespectful to all and every one.

onehand wrote:it is only some media can not understand when to stop, some members of the public have no such barrier either. and each of all these missing children deserve their own attention, they are all different children that are still lost.

Exactly !

Imagine how it must be for the families of other lost children, to see time and time again their own tragedy diluted by imaginary likenesses or connections to that of Madeleine McCann.

People who propagate such nonsense have no place on this earth. Total disrespect for the victims, only self promotion and/or idleness to pathetically try and excuse their despicable behaviour.

I see they are including the little boy Rene Hasse, who was very clearly washed out to sea by a freak wave from the Atlantic facing beach in Portugal
I did a bit of work on that some time ago, with Natasha's help since she used to live quite close and knows the beach and the river which flows out at the southern end.
At certain times of tide the lads can surf DOWN the river into the sea and then at other times can surf back UP again on the tidal bore.
Like many western facing beaches on the Atlantic it is a surfers dream, and the phenmenon of what people call "freak' waves is actually very normal, but nonetheless dangerous.
I'll dig out the paper I prepared.