Monday, March 5, 2012

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: On Moving and Hiding Bodies


The Rocha Negra
"Friends help friends move; Great friends help friends move bodies."

Getting stuck with a corpse is not one of those events we anticipate ever having to deal with, unless we are an experienced serial killer. For the uninitiated, panic is the primary emotion at the moment one finds themselves with a dead body and desperation and fear are panic's close companions. Fear of ending up in prison for the rest of one's life, desperation to prevent such a repercussion, and, panic, as one tries to get rid of the damning evidence in a short period of time.

The problem with unpremeditated crimes  is that one usually has little time to think, to cover up what has occurred, and get rid of evidence sufficiently. Most nonserial killers also have the added problem of the victim being connected to them in some way; a wife, a husband, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a child. The police will be showing up on one's doorstep and one has to actually report the person missing at some point and one needs an alibi. Serial killers target strangers (or mild acquaintances) and no one has a clue they are connected in any way to a crime in their community. They have ample time to dump or hide bodies and toss clothing or weapons. By the time a serial killer becomes a suspect, often he doesn't need to worry about an alibi because years have gone by.

Not the same situation for a domestic homicide. The body of the victim usually is lying in the middle of one's living room floor or dead in the bedroom. The person is going to be missed shortly - at school, at work, by friends and family. And we often quickly suspect a relative if that relative was the last to see  the victim alive, especially if he doesn't report the individual missing for days. So what the panicked perpetrator needs to do is get rid of the body immediately, try to stage some sort of abduction, and then report the person missing as soon as possible. This way, he looks as innocent and as concerned as he can and, if lucky, he can try to establish some alibi though this is often difficult (and nearly impossible without involving family or friends).

Because of the fear of what the autopsy will discover and the possibility of DNA and trace evidence linking back to the perpetrator of a domestic homicide, it is common for the offender to attempt to hide the body extremely well or destroy it entirely. Serial killers and sex predators often just dump the body like garbage a mile or so from their home, not worrying all that much that any evidence will be connected back to them unless they have their DNA in the CODIS system and a match will identify them. So when a body isn't found after someone goes missing out of a house, police tend to take a strong look at whomever was at the same location as the victim at the time the person disappeared. This does not mean there aren't some serial killers who work harder at hiding bodies; they may bury them on their property, feed them to pigs, or toss them down mine shafts. But, it is far more common, especially with child sex predators, to dump the body quickly, usually within an hour of two of the abduction, rape, and murder of the little victim. Very few children taken for sexual purposes under the age of five aren't found dead and found dead fairly quickly; those that remain missing often are cases in which abduction is not proven and the parents are person-of-interest.

On the Beach in Praia da Luz Early in the AM
So, on May 3, 2007, if Madeleine McCann did die in Apartment 5A in Praia da Luz and her father or mother or both  found themselves in that unexpected nightmare of dealing with a body, what would they do? Kate and Gerry would likely fear arrest  and imprisonment for one or both of them for murder - even if for second degree homicide as in an overdose or an overdose leading to an accident, or for manslaughter due to neglect and an accident  - if there was something the autopsy would uncover. They would have to get rid of the body, any evidence of Maddie's demise, stage an abduction, and he and Kate would  need need alibis that would cover the time that Maddie would have been "abducted."

If Maddie died in the vacation apartment, it would seem the McCanns were successful at all of the above, barring the alerting of the cadaver and blood dogs to locations and items in the apartment and hire car. And the most important aspect of the cover-up issues is the losing of the body permanently; no body, rarely an arrest. The history of missing children with parents who are suspects has proven this over and over. In just the last few years we have in the United States a number of cases that come to mind: Haleigh Cummings, Ayla Reynolds, Sky Metalwalla, Jhessye Shockley, Kyron Horman, and Lisa Irwin. No bodies, no arrests although at least one parent is a top person-of-interest in all of these cases.

So, let's say Gerry really was seen by the Smith family at 9:50 pm, dumped Maddie's body, and then hurried back to the Tapas restaurant. Why would he bother to move her body? Why not let the police find it and think an abductor took Maddie, killed her, and got rid of her? Likely because of what autopsy might determine (drugs in body, head trauma, positional asphyxiation) and what the autopsy might not determine (violent sexual assault and strangulation by a predator) and trace evidence that might link back to the McCanns and no one else. So, if the McCanns covered up the death of Madeleine, they would have to be sure her body was not found, if at all possible. Maddie's body would have to be moved to a fairly secretive location.

Some might say then that it must have been one brilliant location her body was hidden in that the police never thought of looking because it was never found. Others might say because her body wasn't found in the area, the McCanns must have nothing to do with the crime because they only had a few hours in the early morning hours to move Maddie's body to a better spot and how would they have accomplished this so well in so short a time?

Well, mostly by luck. Luck plays an interesting role in a lot of crimes. One would think bodies of children that families try to dispose of in a hurry should be very easy to find but they are not, often because they are quite tiny and easy to stuff into a variety of places or they get lost in a large expanse of land. That the cadaver dogs didn't hit months later out in the open of Praia da Luz does not mean an abductor trundled Maddie out of town; it doesn't mean that her body wasn't hidden somewhere in the area for a period of time. Although false positives are extremely rare for cadaver dogs, false negatives are more common and it is hard to prove the dogs missed a spot when, well, they missed it. With changing weather conditions and numerous other factors, where a body may have been hidden temporarily may be overlooked by dogs,  the smell having wafted off, well contained, or somehow not being noticeable enough.

False positives and negatives work like perfume; suppose a husband is having an affair with his secretary. She spritzes herself with perfume and the two go to a bar, take a walk in the park, and then come back to the bedroom he shares with his wife and has sex with her there. That afternoon after work, the wife hears a rumor that her husband was seen at the bar and the park with this woman. She goes to both locations, and she doesn't smell the woman's perfume; the bar is too contaminated with massive numbers of odors and the park is too large to figure out where the couple may have been and even the bench the couple sat on and hugged and kissed has been rained on and wind has blown through the spot. But, when the woman gets home, the fragrance of the woman's perfume hits her at the front door, is stronger in the bedroom, and when she picks up her husband's shirt off out of the laundry basket, she is nearly knocked out by the odor. There is no way she could be mistaken about the perfume in her house but just because she missed it at the bar and in the park doesn't mean the couple wasn't there as well.

This is an oversimplification of cadaver dogs and their abilities, but I just want you to get an understanding of why outdoor searches are so difficult, even for the best of dogs. Of course, if they alert on a spot in the middle of the landscape, this certainly is significant, but, not hitting anywhere does not hold the same importance as  making a alert.

So, was Maddie hidden somewhere around Praia da Luz in a public area? Very possibly, in spite of the fact the dogs did not discover that place. She also could have been hidden in a private location but that would be far less likely considering the very few hours the McCanns, if they were involved, had to hide her body. They would have to find a place quickly, nearby, within walking distance, someplace they had a clue existed. The most likely possibilities would be where the McCanns had spent time, walked around or jogged past; it is night and one cannot spend hours scouring unknown rugged areas. That might come later, but it would be unlikely to occur on May 4th before the sun rose.

On the Right Side of Beach Access
Beach Access near Smith Sighting
Sometime after the locals and police had pretty much called it a night for searching, there would be an opportunity for Gerry or Gerry with Kate or Gerry with David Payne to find a good location to put Maddie's body. If I were in Gerry shoes (if he was involved in Maddie's demise and/or disappearance) and had a wife or friend to help me or if I had to do it alone, here are the places I would have considered and rejected. One is anything to the west of the area of the overturned boats (where the road accesses the beach and has good temporary hiding places; see my previous blog post).



Not a great spot to walk or hide a body

I walked further down that direction and it is very difficult to traverse it at night. Lots of craggy, uneven rocks, and no place I could find that would be a good place to stash a body. If one went back up on the road and walked down past the houses, there is a bit of an area that one could bury a body, but that burial site would be hard to disguise.


Trash Bins to East of Beach Access
There are some trash bins which could be a possibility but that would negate the later cadaver dog evidence in the hire car unless some object transferred cadaver odor to that location like a bag or clothing. However, the trash bins  were searched and nothing found unless something was missed.

From the overturned boat area, there is a bit of a beach to the east, full of rocks, which then ends at a stone structure that juts into the water before the church. There were a few places to stuff a body, but I doubt a body could have stayed hidden.

There is the drain, but, again, not a good hiding place except for an hour or two.

From Center of Praia da Luz to West Beach
From the location of the church over to the rocks of the Rocha Negra, there is just beach and no real hiding places. Some have mentioned the Roman Ruins which can be accessed from the boardwalk. It is a very small enclosed location and while I did find one spot one could hide a small body, for the long run, one would think a maintenance person who worked there would find the corpse.

Paraiso Restaurant on Left
So, that leaves the Rocha Negra itself, the obsession of Kate McCann as she mentions it again and again in her book and even called the police to say she had a dream Maddie was on a slab up on the rocks. This is an area both the McCanns were familiar with. One can sit on the deck having lunch at the Paraiso Restaurant and the Rocha Negra  is right in front of you. The McCanns also jogged near and on the Rocha Negra as well.

Foot of Rocha Negra on Beach
There are three possible areas one could try to hide a body on the Rocha Negra. Retired British police officer, PM, and I toured the various areas to see if there was a place we felt was more likely than others that one could move a body to in the wee hours of the morning. We located three possibilities: at the foot of the rocks on the beach or in the water, in the gullies on the slopes, and on the land on the top of the cliffs. At the foot, it first appears this is not a bad choice (above right) and, if it were low tide one could hide a body under rocks and gravel right there at the base where the cliffs meet the sand. However, in higher tide, this is not possible and one has to worry about the smell hitting sunbathers, joggers, and hikers on the beach. It is possible, but not probable. Dumping the body in the water only to have it come back in the tide or trying to pin it under a rock is not very wise if one doesn't want the body to resurface unexpectedly.
Rocks to Beach at Rocha Negra

Rex the Dog's Grave
Next, PM drove me up to the area where one can follow trails up the grassy hills to the very top of the cliffs. We found a dog, Rex, buried here, so it is possible to dig a grave, although the ground is very hard at that location and one would need a shovel to be successful. Also, while it is possible to walk or run to this location (and Gerry was in good shape), it is quite far to go carrying a child, then have to dig a grave, and run back. Furthermore, a fresh grave in the hills would be quite obvious. I didn't think it would be a good choice.

Gullies to Beach on Rocha Negra
Rocha Negra Gully
Then, PM and I explored the gullies that come down the side of the Rocha Negra. This area really sparked my interest. The gullies that were accessible from the beach were only a five minute walk from downtown Praia da Luz.

One can climb up and up (I doubt many do this for hiking as they are not very inviting) and these gullies have a massive amount of rocks and gravel in them and around them which are easy to move and cover a body with.

Finding a crevice, secreting a small body, and covering it with a pile of rocks would not take that long. On a night with a full moon, one would not even need a flashlight to accomplish this. The spot would be up and out of the way of beachcombers and a good location unless one thought cadaver dogs were going to be set loose on it. At the time Maddie went missing, no one was looking for a body and as long as an abduction was promulgated and a live child searched for, the PJ weren't bringing in cadaver dogs, which they didn't, until the McCanns became Arguidos (suspects).

Right next to the beach a few metres from the gully area is a road and  public parking spaces (if one wanted to remove the body later and transport it elsewhere.





The cadaver dogs supposedly did search some of the Rocha Negra. I don't know if a moved body, perhaps a well-wrapped on, might not have left a scent for the dogs to find or whether there was never a body there. But, this very accessible location on the side of the Rocha Negra would be my top choice for where I would hide a body if I only had a short period of time and couldn't go very far.

At this point, there is not enough evidence to prove in court that the McCanns are involved with the disappearance of the daughter, Madeleine, or that they moved her body or exactly where they could have moved her body if they were. But, when one puts oneself in the mind of a person desperate to hide a body, it is interesting what one sees as possibilities.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

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43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Pat, just a prompt reply as I still need to take in all that you have written.
But things I would like to say. My take on all the help given that night searching for Madeleine, was a walking screaming child, LOST. People were not searching IMHO dark nooks and crannies.
Equally, when and if it happened that way, WHEN Mrs McC discovered M missing, all is quite possible that should have remained hidden or have been hidden. People again would have been LISTENING rather than looking for a whimpering child and she could easily have remained out sight, in FULL VIEW behind the sofa.
SOUND is very important to this whole saga and generally speaking the LACK OF IT.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Pat, a very detailed, enlightening and thought-provoking blog. I feel a bit emotional reading it, because I have followed this sad case for (almost) five years and wondered what could have happened on 3rd May and afterwards, so many times. The scenario you portray in your theory is very vivid and plausible. It is like the pieces of a puzzle fitting together. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Another fascinating instalment. Do keep them coming and please remember to let us know when the new revised profile (Madeleine's) is out. Now, let me order your new book from Amazon (UK). A literary mystery? Just the kind of read I like! Have a pleasant day or evening - as the case may be.

Anonymous said...

The body was freezed not hidden in the beach. Afterwards they were forced to move the body to another place in the car because the police was getting near. The police found body fluids in the car. Only a freezed body could leave those traces. I think the Tapas dinner and the Smith sighting it was all smoke and mirrors.

Anonymous said...

Interesting about the gullies particularly as it coincides with what the psychics felt, i.e. water course or culvert.

Putting oneself in the mind-set of a desperate person having to hide a body is most necessary to get anywhere with this case - Pat has done this. What I can`t understand is why they didn`t report it the next morning, giving them more time to plan and dispose. Maybe I`m not devious enough to work it out !

Tania Cadogan said...

Hi Pat. My thoughts as well.
I found it very interesting they jogged almost daily and within days of her going missing.

Killers tend to bury bodies in areas they know, feel comfortable with and feel safe with.
Killers also have a habit of revisiting the fump site of their victim usually to check if the remains have been disturbed by animal or weather but also to gloat and relive the crime or in the case pf familial homicide particularly of a child to perhaps grieve, apologise or in the case of Kiesha Abrahams in Australia her likke mon and stepdad went to her dump site to wish her a happy birthday, wherupon they were arrested.

The route they took whilst h jogging and in particular the frequent mentions of the hill made me woner if Madeleine was long the route so they could check for disturbance of the remains whilst appearing to be innocently jogging (they never searched)
Regarding the cadaver dogs reacting to the hire car most think she was possibly dumped on th way to or from Huelva, brother john was there and he noticed a bad smel but i was passed off as diapers and rotting meat etc.
The UK public wanted them charged with neglect resulting in harm vut the PJ pointed out if they did they couldn't subsequently charge them with homicide.
It is probable the mccanns or one of the tapas 7 moved her from where she was and she was then transported to her final place of rest.
Mention has been made regarding a deleted post pn gerry's blog concerning a freezer which broke down and he took to the dump. this was on his blog and quickly removed before anyone thought to capture it.
Statement analysis indicates deception from the mccanns and what is also telling is the deafening silence from david payne re:the paedophile claims from the Gaspar's and the social worker who recognised him in relation to her work with children. Any male facing such claims would be very vocal in denying them as it is almost the worst thing you can claim about a man. No denial because if he denied it the truth would come out?

Anonymous said...

:)
From 2007 the drains have always bothered me. Regarding the golden coloured rocks below them, would there be any large enough moveable rocks to cover a little body with(maybe using one or two only)? I just think that if someone was to hide a body they would probably need some sort of 'marker' (like the drain hole) for them to come back to. Also, do you have photos of more drains that are higher up from the rocks than the one in your blog? Or if anyone can direct me to some photos I would be grateful. Thanks. :)

Anonymous said...

The garbage containers were checked, for a live child, on the night of May 3rd by volunteers and the local police.
Regular garbage pick up commenced, on time, on Friday, May 4th.
PJ did do a committed search of the garbage containers but not before it was picked up on the 4th.
Garbage is incinerated in Portugal.

Anonymous said...

Pat there are two things I would like to know. Firstly, is it possible that someone could be hidden under layers of sand? I wondered why no one had suggested this as a theory?

Secondly, I wondered what lies in the other direction, where JT's man could possibly have gone to, just to get a better over all view of things.

Anonymous said...

Well done, Pat. A very detailed report logically written. However, I am one of those people who suspects that Maddie died at the beginning of the holiday between the Saturday night and before 4am on Sunday 29 April when there was activity on Jane Tanner's mobile at 4am and that a substitute Maddie was used at the creche all week with Gerry forging one of two girls (as they were friends) father's signatures on creche records when he signed the friend of the girl in. (You might have read about this theory on twitter but I will not use names here.) So my theory is that Maddie's body was taken to a fridge in Apartment 5J which was empty and where the Search and Rescue dogs alerted (but rubbish was blamed for the rotten smell) in the week following the faked abduction but removed before the dogs got there. Didn't Amaral say that the body had been frozen before it was put in the car boot and that he was looking for a fridge? The only other place is the church. Do you think that the body was ever in the church? IMO it could have been put in several places before the car boot. I have always liked your theory of the body being buried in their back garden or the ashes put in that urn on the mantlepiece. I would like to hear your current ideas on these theories.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible the body could be hidden outside few hours and moved to a car before the sunrise. Is that place near to the Church or to go there, they need to pass the church? It is known, the Mccann's asked the keys of the Church after raising the alarm and they got them, I think not from the portuguese priest but from a British Expat who lives there. Not sure, but I have the suspition that this British expat is the same who kept the Scenic and hand it to the rented company when the Mccann's left to UK. He was a friend of the Mccann's. Many SMS were exchanged from Mccann's mobile and were meticulously deleted. The church, could be an excuse used by Gerry, if early in the morning somebody spot him and who was with him (Payne, I think) on their way to the place where the body was temporary hiden. The body could be passed to a car belonging or rented by the guy who bring the keys of the church and then stored in a freeze until they found a final destination. GA said the body was not buried, because that implys mummification and this don't allow body fluids to come out. If the dogs picked the body fluids, means the body was in a freeze.
I don't think, the Smiths saw Gerry carrying Madeleine. Too risky for him to walk with a dead child. Imagine if he crosses with a police doing surveillance or if the Smiths decide to get so close that they could see the condition of the girl. A sleeping child shows the movement of her breathing and moves, even if was sleeping. A dead body is easily spotted, special if was full moon. If was Gerry, he was using a decoy. Probably Tanners daughter and when he played that roll, the body was already hide.
Was also too risky, leaving the body many hours out. They don't know if an abandonned dog could not spot it and expose it.
The police and the people involved in the searches were looking for an alive child who could have wonder off the flat and be near by. There was no evidences of break in and of abduction and what was the priority of the police was the safety of the child. She could have fall in a pool, a well, or just been lost in the streets or in the fields nearby. Who had to deal with body, was safe because knows where the searches were happening. Anybody controlled the movements of Gerry, Payne and the guy who handed the keys of the church? I believe, not. This connections, for me, have a lot of interest and why Murat went on the morning of May 4 to a rental car to rent a car he justifies to be to the parents of the missing child?
I think, the investigation needs to go to the first hours, days and see what papers printed about the situation.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 7.57pm, there was no JT's man! Read her statements, they are a work of fiction, and a bad one at that.

Anonymous said...

The drains were searched, inclusively with police dogs, nothing found.

As another poster said, the bodily fluids found in the car were consistent with a frozen body. I read somewhere that the police was interested/looking for some metal slab that they believed had been in contact with a frozen body.
A witness reported that one day, the McCanns hired car was left with the back boot open all over nigth as if it needed airing, and a friend or a relative of the McCanns said he had felt a foul smell inside the car, but it was later said it was because of some dirty nappies from the twins and some rotten meat(!!!)

I am a portuguese national and to this day I never heard that our garbage is incinerated! Hazardous residues, such as hospital ones are indeed incinerated, but not the vulgar urban trash. This goes to "aterros sanitários"(landfills) or more modern triage facilities (in the larger cities), where the garbage is separated.
If all of the garbage was to be incinerated the portuguese sky would be permanently grey and the smell would be unbearable!

Anne said...

Hi Pat !
First the bins were searched 3 days after... and they're emptied every day except on Sunday (even in winter).
Second, the sound aspect,and the lack of it, is crucial as Anonymous 4:37 notices. Amazing is that Madeleine's parents didn't scream her name through the night, their voices being the only ones that could make her react if she was hurt.
It must be pretty unbearable to pretend calling a child you know is dead, especially when the child is yours.

Anonymous said...

It had been commented on that there had been a continuing bad smell around the doorway of the Church.

Does anybody know what would be under that area? Would a crypt extend that far?

If such a smell had something to do with the decomposing body of the child, was there then panic to get it removed permanently elsewhere.

Oddityfinder said...

Glad you remembered your rock climbing shoes.
Pat, I can only say I feel you were so close when searching Rocha Negra.Perhaps a helicopter trip over the cliff face would have exposed some more strange rock anomalies on the cliff face.
Or perhaps a search on Google Earth will focus on one so you can continue your hot search.
Maybe it be possible a cadver dog like Eddie might pick up a cadver scent if body was moved years ago.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous March 5, 2012 11:51 PM
You can have my opinion on your current theories if you like - don't be ridiculous!! If the Mccanns are responsible for Maddies disappearance it will have been a spur of the moment decision to cover up an accident on May 3rd, which has completely spiralled out of their control. There won't be any elaborate deception with duplicate Madeleines for the entire holiday.

Anonymous said...

'Anonymous at 7.57pm, there was no JT's man! Read her statements, they are a work of fiction, and a bad one at that.' March 6, 2012 4:31 AM

Ok, thank you. I just wanted to know where you would end up if you followed the route this man was supposed to be walking. I wondered this for two reasons.

1) If this sighting were true then logically any body to be found would be located in this direction, within walking distance of the appartment.

2) To make this sighting appear true, this would be a possible location of a body which had been moved later (when the searches had ended and when a post mortem could no longer establish cause of death)

Remember the Mccanns, whether involved in this or not, cannot give up the search for Madeleine (and put any of this behind them) until she is found one way or the other.

Anonymous said...

I just read Mark Harrison's Profile & report on Maddiecasefiles and found this interesting line:
An inhibiting factor is that since the disappearance of the child an old empty house adjacent to the Trig Point on the Rocha Negra has been demolished and all rubble removed, If she was concealed within this property the search would be unlikely to detect her now.

Anonymous said...

The more I think about this the less plausible I find the whole idea that M's body was hidden in the area of the beach. There are too many variables to list here, but let's take just one - suppose she had fallen backwards off the sofa and banged the back of her head. There could be blood in her hair, so it would have to be washed and dried before she could be carried (as per Gerry getting off the plane with the twin), and possibly her pyjamas would have to be changed too, not to mention other metabolic functions that might have happened around the TOD, and just possibly rigor mortis when it comes to the position of the child against the body of the person carrying it. You can extrapolate this line of thinking for all the likely scenarios and none of them work for me except with an incredible amount of luck.
Then the Smith sighting. If someone was carrying a child to the beach they would have to take into account they might be seen both on the outward and the return journeys, with and without the child. If it was G., how could he be sure of getting back unseen?
Having stayed at the next village, I can endorse that it would be too risky to use the dumpsters, because they are very open for inspection, and were emptied by hand by a man in a pick-up - no automatic unloading into a purpose-built refuse-cart. However, you mention the upturned boats Pat, and if you could be sure that the body could be removed before dawn by a colleague, that would be an obvious place, because the boat can be identified by name, number or color for someone else to retrieve the body. On the current Google satellite image these boats seem easily accessible from the road. Beyond dawn you have the problem of dogs out for walkies, especially if you bury the body in a shallow grave.
I don't know how high the moon was in the sky that night, but unless it was vertical, gullies in the rocks could be very dark indeed (in nocturnal shadow), and it would be difficult, I suggest, for someone carrying 20 kilos or so of body in his arms to scramble through the black rocks area without getting scratched or his clothes soiled. Perhaps you should get your ex-policeman to carry a 20 kilo sack from the apartment to the beach, then along it to your area of suspicion, and then climb up it in the dark and conceal the sack?
I get the distinct impression that the scattergun principle was used to lay as many false trails as possible, safety in confusion when time was against the perpetrator, and I would not be surprised if the little girl in the man's arms seen by the Smiths was not Maddy at all, but someone who looked like her, especially if wearing her pyjamas - in other words the trip to the beach was just another false trail. I can't help feeling we're looking at a class act here, someone who was trained (covering for someone who wasn't!).
Harking back to previous blogs about the apartment, no-one seems to have considered temperature and noise. There is likely to be a seaward breeze after sundown (land and sea breezes), and the external temperature is likely to drop by about 7 degrees at night in May, all of which would tend to suck cold air through an open window into the apartment. Whether this change in environment would be enough to wake a child or close an internal door is a matter of conjecture and experimentation, but one thing I have experienced staying in a narrow street in the area is that there is a world of difference in noise entry into an apartment between an open and a closed window, and conversation can seem much more proximal than it actually is. Bearing in mind M. could be heard crying on previous evenings, one has to ask how likely it is that all three children could sleep through these disturbances

Johanna said...

While the whole group apart from the parents was conveniently absent from the children's dinner and playtime that day, there is a timespan in the afternoon of May 3rd after the parent's tennis lesson and before collecting the twins that is not accounted for. They tried to close that gap by giving wrong times to the police but the tennis instructors evidence is pretty clear. They had at least a 2 hour window to go searching for a hiding place, most probably each in a different direction. That is when Kate was seen jogging along the beach exactly in the direction of the Rocha Negra....

Anonymous said...

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here is Kate's religious beliefs. If it does happen to be true that her daughter's body was temporarily hidden to thwart an investigation, I suspect Kate would've been deeply troubled by this. Could it be the case under these circumstances that the Mccanns moved their daughter to a more suitable resting place?

I would also be interested to know, supposing Madeleine did die in the apartment by accident, what would the likely consequences have been if the Mccanns had admitted this at the time?

Anonymous said...

Pat, do you think it possible body was moved 3 or even 4 times? Initial hurried concealment on 3rd May, return approx 4am following morning to move to Rocha Negra, move again shortly after to (shudder) deep freeze? Then final removal in blue bag/hire car to final resting place? Have you investigated the cell phone 'pings' and the intriguing 'triangle' - that is, areas of interest where there were phone mast pings (including one when Gerry McCann on returning from Washington instead of going immediately to PDL to see his family went straight past?) What do you make of the fact he wrote that strange blog at the start? That they returned their kids to the creche and were eating at the tapas the next day? Flying to different places and leaving the twins behind? What do you make of their televised interviews and body language? So many questions I would love to hear you answer!!

Anonymous said...

Can we just flag up one thing about head injuries. Very often there is NO external injury, blood or CSF loss.
And it is for that very reason that head injuries, where there is NO EXTERNAL damage, can be silent and deadly!
Basically the brain is on a stem and knocks around on the inside of the skull, the swelling thus contained, pressure builds, can lead to sudden or just slow loss of consciousness and death

...............

And another pet subject of mine is looking for missing people. I've had years of experience of people getting lost\disappearing
Some due to confusion others to commit suicide
What you seek and what you find are often two completely different things
But the human sense of direction whiilse searching is SOUND directing vision and what is before your very eyes, you miss!!
Believe me
................
As for a Madeleine substitute, please get real! Whether for a day or a week, can you beleive that none of the nannies looking after a small group (out of season) wouldn't have realised retrospectively they had been dubed! But of course the whole MW approach and disappearance of the nannies is highly suspicious
As it the continued silence of anyone remotely connected to the case, either to support or speak out.
Poor Pennington, where is she now? Either she had guts or was naive!

Anonymous said...

I also read Gerry's blog yesterday and all I can say, it was disturbing to see how casually he could continue his life as if nothing in the world has happened. I would be so freaked out, torn by wanting to be with my remaining children and searching, searching, searching... I wouldn't leave this to others to do, I wouldn't be able to.

Anne said...

You're right, Anonymous 12:29, if the window was open at around 9:15, red herring or not, the temperature would have fallen down enough to be noticed by someone entering the flat 10 minutes later. Also the breeze various persons noted turned impossible to have the bedroom door stay open when the patio door was open. KMC may have told this story in front of the cameras to obtain a dramatic effect boosting the search of Madeleine, but this is nevertheless absurd.

Oddityfinder said...

Pat, that area at the foot of Rocha Negra does not do it for me, Why not look at the nearby rock slide, you know the one with the wierd looking rock thatlooks like a dead animal from above.

Oddityfinder said...

Hi Pat, don't know if I got that test right.
That rock fall at the foot of Rocha Negra,looks very interesting, but I think I would have gone for the rock fall nearby the one with the weird looking rock or is it a drain, just to see what I could find in it.

Anonymous said...

There was supposedly, though it appears not to be available now, a photo of Gerry very soon after Madeleine went missing, taking the children to the beach, with a suitcase and spade.

I can remember that because of the commenting on why he would want to take a suitcase to the beach.

This is from the very beginning, so far back to remember, and they were not suspects then. I think the media were also giving them privacy so he could have dug to his hearts content.

JimmyChanga said...

To the people who are disregarding the Smith Sighting, think of it another way....

IF:::: IT was anyone OTHER than Gerry Mccann, they would have come forward or been found.

The population in the area even with tourists is not that big, however the publicity campaign is HUGE!

The Smith Sighting WAS Gerry.

I always thought that her body was put in that empty building which Goncalo closed off at some point?

Randie said...

I had put this on the wrong thread.

Randie said...
You would get a noticeable smell from bacterial decomposition within six hours at 70 degrees F.

And the bowels void themselves when a person dies.

They were doctors they would know how to clean up bowels.

They would then have 6 hours to carry a child.


imo the smith was Gerry.

Anonymous said...

Pat, in the uk news today, I see the PJ are reinvestigating Madeleine's disappearance. Is this anything to do with your recent visit?

Anonymous said...

how many spades in the bucket outside the flat

Anonymous said...

A week after the disappearence of Madeleine I arrived in my house in Luz, a mile away from the appartment of family McC. In my neighborhood nobody has ever there to ask questions and no flyers were left in the mail box in the wall of the house about the missing child. I have seen the couple when they walked to the daycare center to their twins. They were quiet but not did not seem desperate. What I remember from an interview on TV was the question to Kate: "How does your day start?" Her answer was:"I go to take a shower and do my things....and I think of Madeleine of course!" As a mother I found that answer so strange.
Do you know that in around 2005 two boys of around 19 years old just arrived in Luz for a holiday. The sea was rough. They stood on the rocks on the outskirts of Luz(Direction Sagres). Suddenly a huge wave came and the boys were thrown in the water. One boy came out of the water and the other one was never found!!!! I think about this because you search for places to put a body in the soil. You also wrote there was never found any soil on the clothes! When the body was left in the sea no soil could be found on the clothes.
Thanks for all your work and information!

Anonymous said...

It's good to see your commitment to resolving this case, Pat. Hats off to you and all the others who endeavour to unravel this mystery!

On 16 August 2007, the UK's "Daily Mail" carried a story of one Najoua Chekaya (aerobics instructor/"Quiz Night" organiser) who was purportedly witness to the events at the dinner table the night of Madeleine's disappearance. After all, she was "chatting with Gerry and Kate McCann and their friends when Madeleine vanished" - after all she had organised a bar quiz at the resort "that night", if the Mail's source and reporter are to be believed. Important alibi, you're likely to think...!

Yet, in her police statement, Ms Chekaya places that particular event when she was invited to their table as having occurred on May 1st and not May 3rd.

Interesting. And there goes someone's alibi. The fallacy makes this seem an act of desperation, though. And the question is, who was she supposed to be an alibi for? And an alibi for WHAT exactly - child supervision?? Pinch me, I must be dreaming...but answers on a postcard.

imakimou said...

Dear Mrs Brown
I sent you a pm on the MCF forum.
I would appreciate you reading it.Hope to see a reply soon.
Kindest regards
parapono

Anonymous said...

What feature is present in Rothley and in Praia da Luz? Answer. A golf course.

Anonymous said...

@Anon who suggested "how many spades?"
One.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P1/01_VOLUME_Ia_Page_12.jpg

Anonymous said...

Your in depth look at places where a body might have been hidden was and is very welcome, Pat. Whether or not a body was hidden in the open, this needed to be done, to help fill in a searching, troubling void of wonder in this area. It's especially so so the evidence from the McCanns, their friends and even others in the case so often doesn't add up at all and makes little sense.

However, I think that you put too much stress on the possibility that the McCanns may have had, on the night of the 3 May (or even before) to run and hide a body, by themselves. In a scenario of the death of the little girl somehow involving the parents, that seems far less likely than that others were involved and helped. It seems too huge a task that those two, even with some of their holiday friends, could have managed everything themselves. One reason I give for this is the notable presence of possible abductors outside the appartment, and around the family, very notable at times. As if intended to be notable. Weren't there just a lot of strange people standing around, on the beach, right outside the appartment looking strange, coming very furtively from the next appartment, walking with child in outstretched arms at time of disappearance, walking with child held at body soon after?

I can't conclude the parents of Madeleine were not at least associated with her disappearance. There is too much that says they are lying.

However, it is hard not to conclude that some bigger situation was the truth, involving others, with much advance planning, and, by its very nature, something that cannot be understood. That is its nature. Which may suggest only sect or cult ritual activity with foul acts.

dewi lennard said...

Everything Pat writes here confirms my belief that the McCanns had time to dispose of Madeleine by virtue of the fact that she was "gone" (dead or removed from the scene) at an early date. This date can, I believe, be fixed by the time when Gerry began to falsify the creche attendance records. That is to say, the morning of 29 April.

Anonymoud said...

No alibi, that's why they didn't wait until morning. This way they can say they were with their friends in the restaurant. Claiming they're daughter went missing in the morning...a lot more suspicious!!

Anonymous said...

Pat i would just like to suggest that i believe Madeleine died the night before she was reported missing , giving Gerry more than enough time to hide her body (the rest of the night and most of the next day) and i do believe it was an accident that Madeleine woke drowsy looking for her parents ,in the living room she climbed onto the sofa to look through the window and fell between the window and back of the sofa and died , i believe like you do that she was sedated and that is the reason they could not call for an ambulance etc due to sedatives in her blood stream , the twins would have then been tested aswel as the Tapas 7 children once it was known they all left their children unattended , all would have been prosecuted and even their children taken away from them so all were complicit in this cover up i believe .

Pat Brown said...

Chic UK

Many have suggested an earlier death, but I do not believe either the evidence or logic supports this. Also, the Smith sighting is a key issue and I will be writing yet another post on this matter.