A private investigator hired by Madeleine McCann's parents has issued a fresh plea for information nearly two decades after she vanished, insisting that cracking the case comes down to securing "just one name".
Spanish detective Julián Peribañez was brought in by Kate and Gerry McCann in 2008 - a year after three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. While official inquiries have shifted focus over the years, Peribañez has never stopped pursuing his own leads.
Trafficking theory versus official line
Peribañez revealed he remains convinced that Madeleine was taken by an organised Eastern European human trafficking network operating in the Algarve region. "If you've had encounters with people who fit the profile, please reach out," he urged. "All I need is a name. Give me a name, and I'll chase it wherever I have to."
His trafficking theory stands in sharp contrast to the official line pursued by German and British authorities in recent years. German prosecutors have spent years focusing on convicted rapist Christian Brueckner, who was identified as the prime suspect in 2020 after phone records placed him near the holiday resort on the night Madeleine disappeared.
Case remains unsolved
Despite German authorities maintaining that Madeleine is dead and that Brueckner is their man, no murder charges have been brought against him regarding her disappearance and the case has repeatedly stalled amid complex cross-border legal battles and separate criminal trials.
For Peribañez, the unresolved mystery remains an open wound, and he refuses to rule out the possibility that she could still be out there. "I don't know if she's alive or not, because hardly anyone on Earth does," he said. "But as long as I have hope, I won't stop looking."
Broader fight against child exploitation
That unrelenting hunt for Madeleine also altered the entire trajectory of the detective's life, driving him into a broader battle against child exploitation rings. Following his work in Portugal, Peribañez established Guardianes de la Inocencia (Guardians of Innocence), an organisation that collaborates with police forces internationally to uncover child abuse networks.
He also authored Stolen Innocence: The Price of Power, examining major institutional scandals - such as Portugal's Casa Pia case and the Jeffrey Epstein ring - to expose how powerful figures evade justice. "This book came from Maddie," Peribañez explained. "Her story is not in it, but it all stemmed from my search for her."
Proceeds from his writing directly fund his foundation's operations, though the detective often hands out free copies simply to raise awareness, ensuring that the search for one missing child continues to protect vulnerable victims worldwide.
The night Madeleine vanished
Madeleine was three when she vanished from her family's ground-floor holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of May 3, 2007. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, had left Madeleine and her younger twin siblings sleeping while they dined at a tapas restaurant roughly 55 metres away, taking turns to check on them throughout the night.
At around 10pm, Kate discovered Madeleine's bed empty and the bedroom window open, triggering an international search effort that quickly grew into one of the most high-profile, complex, and protracted police inquiries in modern history. Over nearly two decades, the sprawling multi-agency investigation has seen thousands of leads pursued across Europe - from Scotland Yard's multi-million-pound Operation Grange to German prosecutors naming Brueckner as the prime suspect - yet the case remains formally unsolved.
