New Lead In The Madeleine McCann Case Could Provide Clues To Her Whereabouts

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New Lead In The Madeleine McCann Case Could Provide Clues To Her Whereabouts

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her family's holiday apartment on a Portuguese resort.

Recently, there have been many new theories, leads and clues coming to light, including some that suggest that the little girl has died and it was caused by "accident due to neglect and possible medication."

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Back in April, Maddie's nanny finally broke her silence to dispel the rumors, and her version of the events paints a very different picture from the "cover up" theory that blames the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, for killing their daughter.

She insisted that there is "no way they did it," and gave many different reasons why that would not have been possible.

The Sun

The former nanny, who chose to remain anonymous, also revealed that the resort where the McCann's were staying was notorious for being unsafe. Employees and nannies were given rape whistles and advised to not go out alone. Just a year before Maddie went missing, a 10-year-old girl was assaulted on the resort. As a result, the nanny is convinced that Maddie was taken by a stranger.

She blames the Portuguese authorities for not arriving to the scene in time to prevent tampering with evidence. She claimed that they took 90 minutes to arrive to the scene and by that point the potential crime scene was contaminated by people going in and out of the apartment.

Now, a new report has surfaced and aligns closely with the the nanny's account.

According to two other witnesses, there was a woman standing outside the Ocean Club apartment where Maddie was supposedly abducted from just 90 minutes before the child was reported missing.

Apartments on the resort where Madeleine went missing

It took a little over a decade, but police have finally identified the woman, and she may hold some of the answers to the mysterious case.

According to a new report, a Bulgarian woman by the name of Luisa Todorov was on the resort shortly before Maddie disappeared. The 58-year-old waitress, who worked at the restaurant where Kate and Gerry dined, was also spotted about half an hour later in the vicinity. Her behavior was described as "acting bizarrely" and "watching intently."

The Portuguese police have been trying to identify the "woman in purple" for a long time, but they did not realize that it was Luisa, who already gave a statement to the cops as an employee of the nearby restaurant.

"I have been combing through all the police files trying to identify who the woman in purple could be," said Spanish criminalogist Heriberto Janosch Gonzalez. "It has been widely reported that Yard officers are in Bulgaria. Examining all the known statements it seems highly likely the police are seeking the Todorovs as they are the only known people with a clear link to Bulgaria."

This isn't the first time that Bulgaria has come up during the investigation. According to Gonzalez, in 2007, they received a tip from a British woman who claimed to have seen a child that resembled Maddie at Varna airport in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, their search was to no avail.

"I have been unable to trace them in Portugal and believe they could have moved away," Gonzalez continued. "It is widely known that many workers at the Ocean Club were made redundant so it is possible they went to Bulgaria seeking work."

The Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police have been given a combined total of about $16 million to extend their investigation and locate Luisa. So far, she has not been found.

As for Kate and Gerry, they're holding out hope that their daughter is still alive and maybe this witness will have the answers they want to hear.

Blair isn't a bestselling author, but she has a knack for beautiful prose. When she isn't writing for Shared, she enjoys listening to podcasts.