Madeleine McCann: German prisoner identified as suspect - #14

[j_in_c]

MK - Body parts found 3m from this garden.

I think we are getting out of control with the initials. Are you referring to Monika Pawluk's murder in 2010? Also 3 meters? 3 miles?

I am not sure where sleuth-d is at so I may re-post my timeline in hopes this thread can stay on track discussing CB as a the possible perpetrator of MM's disappearance and also any other crimes that he may be linked to.

 

[jaci68]

The man whose allotment neighbours the one being searched told the BBC that Christian B rented the plot for a few months in the year that Madeleine went missing.

The man said that Christian B arrived in the spring or summer of 2007 and told him he wanted to insulate a small shack which stood on a concrete base in the garden with a small cellar underneath.

The neighbour went on holiday in July 2007. When he returned in August, he said, the structure had been removed and he never saw the suspect again.

Madeleine McCann: Suspect Christian B rented allotment, neighbour says

Hmm, sounding more and more like this search could be directly for MM.

So that answers my question of whether CB destroyed the building himself. Do you think any DNA evidence could have survived 13 years?

 

[j_in_c]

There was a prison van. Someone gave a tip off. M.N. was chased down by lower saxony L.E. In 2016 he finally told the passwords of his until then not encrypted hard drives to L.E.. He wants to leave prison befor he dies and so he coorporates. In Germany prisoners can be kept longer than 15 years in prison, due to special circumstances!

He often visited portugal at the time. I'ts just a guess, but i think i know, who was the mysterious caller and gave that special tip off....

Is this sourced information or just your opinion speculation? Can you provide a link and I'll try to capture the information in the timeline if it relates to CB?

 

[Victoria Chambers]

I might take on a life of crime! This working full-time carry on is no craic, and apparently I could easily travel around Europe on someone else’s coin!

Haha I shouldn't laugh but you're so right. I thought the same thing myself.. considering he didn't have a legitimate Euro to his name, he seemed to have enough properties and vehicles! X

 

[Deleted member 268067]

Did CB destroy the building?

Or was a demolition why he left? If he wasn't registered, presumably someone else owned the land.

 

[Betty_Boop88]

I wonder how he was allocated the allotment if he wasn’t even really living in Germany/Hanover between 1995 and 2007. In England you have to be on a waiting list for years to get an allotment. My feeling is that he must have had help from people with influence. Could someone else have organised this location knowing about its cellar and tunnel to the river, so that CB could bring Madeleine or her body to this location?

I was comparing it to the UK as well, Jaci. I know allotments here are hot property - I can’t imagine one here would lie empty for 13 years without being reallocated I’m wondering if it’s registered under someone else’s name?
Maybe one of our German members can set us straight.

 

[jaci68]

Another thought - weren’t the remains of Tristan Brubach found in a tunnel?

 

[Deleted member 268067]

It seems unfeasible he'd take her all that way, but then, I guess when you've just abducted a child you would drive, drive, drive as far as you could. Sort of makes an instinctive kind of sense.

 

[SuperdadV8]

IMO we are looking at a pair of fishing-tents. Even similar are tents for hunters. The interesting fact due to these fishing tents is, that they are bottomless, so the fishermen have access to the underground.

So at the field might be two holes, that have been covered up but an access is always possible. Of course L.E. could have installed one big forensic tents over two holes, but who knows...

 

[Chiatos]

Did CB destroy the building?

I was asking myself the same question. Who demolished that shed?
If I have understood well, CB hired it from someone? Or did he own it?

 

[Victoria Chambers]

I might take on a life of crime! This working full-time carry on is no craic, and apparently I could easily travel around Europe on someone else’s coin!

Haha I shouldn't laugh but you're so right. I thought the same thing myself.. considering he didn't have a legitimate Euro to his name, he seemed to have enough properties and vehicles! X

I'm confused (understatement)
Especially at this stage when we don't really know that much about CB and what we do know is fragmented. If he's committed serious crimes, possibly spanning a lot of years and also been in prison for various other lesser crimes; moved around - a lot, however keeping to some kind of pattern ie Portugal/ Germany then how has he kept under the radar (for years) for potentionally very serious crimes?

I think this must be down to the fact that he has no Modis Operandis.. male, female, young, old, your home, his home.. he is game for anything! Very dangerous man X

 

[SuperdadV8]

Another thought - weren’t the remains of Tristan Brubach found in a tunnel?

Yes. The body of T.B. was found at the Liederbachtunnel in Frankfurt Höchst. Through that tunnel runs the Liederbach (Bach = brook) where the poor boy got his throat got cut from ear to ear and was bleeded out into the brook and then was dismembered in the tunnel.

 

[Ardoch]

I guess the link between petty diesel thief and murderer is quite rare. Petty thefts don't seem to lead to detailed background searches that might throw up the required links.

IMO minor sexual offences like indecent exposure aren't treated nearly seriously enough until there is an escalation and it's too late. How many threads on Websleuths will have found rapists and murderers had started off as flashers and been let off or not even investigated.

IMO it's time to treat those early signs far more seriously

I agree especially with your last statement.
This point came up at the end of the AM (Bute) case too with the conviction of AC, a sixteen year old and his first horrific crime. It's maybe too early to discuss it here till we get all the facts, (if they're relevant) but I think it's something we as a society are not addressing properly. It's a big subject.

 

[j_in_c]

<Snipped by me>
One thing is certain: the German investigators are looking for evidence. So far, there has only been talk of "evidence-based suspicion" against Brückner, and that is not enough for an indictment in the Maddie case.

In this context, Hofmann refers to the "four essential indications in the Maddie case, which, when summed up, give a strong picture, but are not sufficient in court":

• The radio cell evaluation : Brückner was near the crime scene on the night of Maddie's disappearance - or at least it was his cell phone. The device had been on the phone for 30 minutes. The police are looking for Brückner's interlocutor.
• Preferences and criminal records go together: "Brückner had preferences for child *advertiser censored*, for rape, for weak, defenseless victims," says the profiler. His criminal records corresponded pretty closely to these preferences.
• Break-ins as a specialty: Brückner often bragged about his thief tours and his tour of getting into apartments, even when there were people sleeping in them. Profiler Hofmann suspects that what was planned as a break-in into Maddie's room ended up being kidnapped.
• Strange behavior: After all of Praia da Luz and soon the whole western world was looking for Maddie, Brückner unregistered his car and left Portugal.

It remains to be hoped that the police will find what they are looking for in the garden parcel near Hanover - namely concrete evidence. According to Hofmann, this includes "a body, a confession or a witness - without at least one of them, an indictment and conviction will be difficult" ».

This is what it all comes down to (thanks for the excerpts Betty_Boop88). CB checks a lot of boxes as to the "type" of person who could commit this crime. AND he claimed to have been involved. I have not followed every suspect that has been raised on this case, but I do not recall seeing this level of focused activity and searching by LE. I truly hope they can find the smoking gun to connect him and bring some semblance of closure to the MM case.

 

[Ardoch]

Another thought - weren’t the remains of Tristan Brubach found in a tunnel?

I thought it was more of a secluded underpass JMO

 

[SLouTh]

Is this sourced information or just your opinion speculation? Can you provide a link and I'll try to capture the information in the timeline if it relates to CB?

EXCLUSIVE: Madeleine McCann kidnap suspect's secret CELLAR - EBENE MAGAZINE

Good article but very long and repetitive but also very informative....

Is this the information you mean about a Time Line for CB????

1976: Christian Brueckner is born in Würzburg under a different name. He was adopted by the Brueckner family and took their surname.

1994: He is given a two-year youth jail sentence for ‘abusing a child’ and ‘performing sex acts in front of a child’.

1995: Brueckner arrives in Portugal as an 18-year-old backpacker and begins working in catering in the seaside resorts of Lagos and Praia da Luz. But friends say he became involved with a criminal syndicate trafficking drugs into the Algarve.

September 2005: He dons a mask and breaks into an apartment where he rapes a 72-year-old American tourist.

The victim was bound, gagged, blindfolded and whipped with a metal cane before being raped for 15 minutes. She said afterwards that he had clearly enjoyed ‘torturing’ her before the rape.

April 2007: He moves out of a farmhouse and into a campervan now linked to the crime. The farmhouse is cleaned and a bag of wigs and ‘exotic clothes’ is found.

May 3, 2007: Madeleine McCann is snatched at around 10pm from her bed as her parents eat tapas with friends yards away. Brueckner’s mobile phone places him in the area that night. He returns to his native Germany shortly after that.

2014: He moves to Braunschweig where he starts running a town-centre kiosk. He then goes back to Portugal with a girlfriend.

2016: He is back in Germany. He is given 15 months in prison for ‘sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material’.

May 3, 2017: Brueckner is said to be in a bar with a friend when a ten-year anniversary appeal following Madeleine’s disappearance is shown on German television. He is said to have told him in a bar that he ‘knew all about’ what happened to her. The friend apparently went to police.

June 2017: He heads back to Portugal and is extradited again to Germany to face 15 months’ imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child.

August 2018: After his release from prison he lives on the streets. But he was jailed again for drug offences.

September 2018: Brueckner is arrested in Milan and extradited to Germany and to face trial for raping the American tourist after a DNA match to hair found at the scene.

July 2019: He is jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt.

August 2019: Brueckner is charged with the rape of the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005.

December 2019: He is convicted of rape raping the tourist based on DNA evidence. He is given a seven year sentence, but has not yet started it because of an ongoing appeal.

June 4, 2020: Brueckner is named by German media as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.

 

[Ardoch]

Or was a demolition why he left? If he wasn't registered, presumably someone else owned the land.

In the UK, allotments are generally owned by the local council.

 

[j_in_c]

Childhood information sourced from this link below:
Pictured: adoptive mother of Madeleine McCann, first suspect, Christian Brueckner | FR24 News English
1976(?) - Born in Bavaria and adopted as an infant by B & F Brueckner in Würzburg, Germany
1990(?) - Father's car accident when he was 13-14yrs old.
Christian’s disruptive and increasingly criminal behavior and deal with her disabled husband who suffered brain damage and was confined to a wheelchair after the crash
1992-94 - Between 1992 – when he was 16 – and 1994, he lived in an institution for young people with learning difficulties
Unless another link is provided, the date and information is from this article (Guardian's Timeline):
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brückner fled police in 1995
1994 - Convicted of sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child, and carrying out sexual acts in front of a child.
1995-2007 - Police said the suspect lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 apart from brief spells in Germany
Madeleine McCann suspect investigated over 2015 disappearance of German girl
Cars assosciated with CB around (?)2004-2007:
Jaguar (reported variously as black/grey/eggplant)
VW Westfalia camper van (white & yellow)
Mustard coloured VW estate - School caretaker saw Madeleine McCann suspect give kids 'sweets and toys'
Winnebago - (2007 - 2013 (???))

1995 - Flees to Portugal as an 18-year-old to escape a two-year youth custody sentence for the above offences.

1995 Aug 4 - Jair Soares (7) goes missing at beach in Den Haag, Netherlands. Tabloids report possible connection to CB.

1996 June 19- René Hasse (6) boy in the Algarve, goes missing. Possibly linked to CB. Family contacted, but latest news suggests no link (see 2nd article)
Madeleine McCann suspect investigated over two other missing children – reports
Germans 'have evidence' Madeleine McCann was killed by new suspect

1996 June 28- Carola Titze (16), found murdered in De Haan, Belgium. Possibly linked to CB.
Did Madeleine McCann suspect kill these three youngsters? - Metro Newspaper UK

1998 March 26 - Tristan Brubach (13), found murderedin Franfurt suburb of Hochst.
Maddie McCann: Missbrauchte Verdächtiger Christian B. vier Kinder in Portugal? Hinweise aufgetaucht | Welt

1999 - Returns to Germany to serve a youth custody sentence he had escaped.

2001 May 7- Peggy Knobloch (9) disappears on her way home from school in Bayreuth, Germany. Possible link to CB.
Police reviewing disappearance of another German girl in light of new Madeleine McCann suspect.

2001 June 18 - Louise Kerton (24) UK student nurse goes missing from Aachen Germany.Family wants link investigated, so far no mention by LE if it any link is being looked at.
Father of missing Louise Kerton wants Madeleine suspect questioned | ITV News

2004-2006 - 9 sexual assaults and 3 attempts on different British girls in Algarve. Specifically attempting to link attack on 10 yr old to CB in 2005. Earlier article from 2014 also references these attacks and the distinct t-shirt possibly linked.
Christian Brückner refuses to discuss Madeleine McCann case until police show ‘proof’ | News | The Times
FOUND: Shirt worn by Madeleine McCann suspect

2004-5 - Dates an English woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal. More information provided by ex-girlfriend in this article:
Madeleine McCann suspect linked to THIRD vehicle - new details made public for first time

January 15, 2004. Caught by police driving his Jaguar in Lagos, which had been seized before by customs and he was the trustee and couldn't drive it.
https://cdn-ondemand.rtp.pt/nas2.share/informacao/2020/wMaddieTJ_2606ww_288584.mp4

2004 - Hazel Behan(20) sexually assaulted in Algarve. Her attacker may be CB. Portuguese police appear to deny any link.
Irish woman raped in Portugal believes attacker may be Madeleine McCann suspect | The Irish Post

2005 - Rapes an American woman(72) in Praia da Luz.

2006- Portuguese authorities drop the rape investigation due to lack of evidence.

2006- Arrested and convicted for stealing diesel fuel in Portugal (April 7, 2006), jailed until Dec 21, 2006. Court listed address as Barrocal.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...troyed-Christian-Brueckners-van-searched.html

2007 (date??) - Buys marihuana and hashish and sells it to a middle-man on the northern German island of Sylt, where it is sold on.

2007 May 3- Madeleine McCann (3) disappears from Praia da Luz.

2007 May (?)Jaguar and VW van towed to Augsburg, Germany where CB lives on/off (and registers jaguar to AB)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8393497/How-Madeleine-suspect-slept-attic.html

2007 May/June - Visits MT in Orgiva Spain w/ Winnebago.
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-...ths-with-him-in-algarve-and-spains-andalucia/

2007 ??- 2008 ?? - Living "off the grid" on allotment in Hanover Germany
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ml?ito=push-notification&ci=25444&si=11452578

2007 Nov - CB listed address as Barrocal Portugal. Blue Bedford van (co-owned with Austrian friend MT) impounded and scrapped by Portuguese LE.

2007 June-2008 (?) - CB living in Foral Portugal with German woman Nicole and her boyfriend Roman (or in his VW camper van parked at their residence). Nicole and Roman running some sort of program for troubled youth (?). Townpeople reportedly feared CB.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/30002...spect-christian-brueckner-terrified-villagers
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-...r-madeleine-mccann-disappeared-from-portugal/

2010- Monika Pawlak (24), sex worker, found murdered in Hanover. DM suggests possible link, article listed below suggests no link.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/30003...ce-madeleine-mccann-was-killed-by-new-suspect

2012- Opens a kiosk in Braunschweig, in north-west Germany.
Further information on kiosk- School caretaker reports lots of interaction with children
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/school-caretaker-saw-madeleine-mccann-22150501

~2012-2015 (?) - In a relationship with NM, now under police protection
https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/09/poli...s-ex-girlfriend-who-beat-black-blue-12825565/

2013- McCanns appeal to the German public on TV for evidence over Madeleine’s disappearance. Brückner’s name crops up in connection with the case.

2013 September 29 - Documents seen by Der Spiegel said that in that year, he had fantasised about kidnapping and sexually abusing a child in an online chat with a friend.In September 2013, he allegedly wrote that he wanted to “catch something small and use it for days“, and then destroy the evidence.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...g-suspect-germany-prison-update-a9551421.html

2015 - May 2- Inga Gehricke (5) goes missing - LE investigating possibly link to CB
"The Volksstimme newspaper reported that he owned an abandoned property in Neuwegersleben, around 57 miles from where Inga went missing"
"The home was reportedly searched as part of a child abuse investigation in 2016, with officers finding a USB stick containing indecent images."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...g-suspect-germany-prison-update-a9551421.html
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...r-being-investigated-over-second-missing-girl

2017- Convicted of sexual abuse of a child in Germany and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
2018-Arrested in Milan and returned to Germany.
2018 - CB's apartment raided by German police looking for evidence of crime against MM.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...nn-suspects-flat-raided-police-two-years-ago/
2019- August – charged with the rape of a US citizen (from 2005).
2019 - December – convicted. Sentenced to seven years for the rape. Prison term not yet started pending an appeal that the conviction was unlawful but he is being held in police custody.
2020 June 4- German Police announce CB as possible suspect in Mccann's disappearance
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...olice-name-new-suspect-missing-child-n1223836

 

[Lincoln34]

yeh true, typical media, I guess I have to keep more skeptical when it comes to what they say, Grrrr so frustrating for all of us xx

Oh no, I know Betty you weren't, you are right about the red tops, anything to sell a story! My mum passed recently and we have followed this since 07, and she always said the same about the red tops, take what they say with a pinch of salt ! wise woman x

Very sorry to hear about your Mum. Sounds like a wise woman!

 

[Scorpiette]

It seems unfeasible he'd take her all that way, but then, I guess when you've just abducted a child you would drive, drive, drive as far as you could. Sort of makes an instinctive kind of sense.

After all, he told his gf on May 2nd 2007, he had a horrible job to do the next day, and that he'd be away a long while, and it would change his life. That sounds like he was leaving PDL after the 'horrible job'.