Maddy Parents Demand Pedophile Come Clean

One sleuth believes pedophile ring took her to America

(NEWSER) - Nearly four years after her disappearance, an amateur investigator believes he knows where Madeleine McCann is: the US. Marcelino Italiano has told police that a Portugal-based pedophile ring likely snatched the little girl and smuggled her out of the country, and he tells the Sun he has been twice attacked for threatening to expose the ring. "They are ruthless, he says, adding that "I even lost my front tooth in one attack." Italiano’s lawyer calls his information "credible and believable," and private investigators hired by Maddie’s parents are also looking into the claims. Click for more on the case . More»

Dying suspect demands he be paid thousands to talk to private investigators

(NEWSER) - A British pedophile has changed his story and now says he saw Madeleine McCann twice before she disappeared in Portugal two years ago, Bild reports. Raymond Hewlett, who is recovering from throat cancer surgery in Germany and may have just weeks to live, previously insisted he was miles away. Investigators are keen to interview him, but he is demanding he be paid to talk. More»

New book reveals mother's shock, pain

(NEWSER) - In a new book, Kate McCann reveals that she felt suicidal after daughter Madeleine went missing in Portugal four years ago. "I had an overwhelming urge to swim out across the ocean, as hard and as fast as I could; to swim and swim and swim until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just allow the water to pull me under and relieve me of this torment," she writes. "I wasn't keeping that desire to myself, either. I was shouting it out to anyone who happened to be in the room." More»

(NEWSER) - The search for Madeleine McCann has moved to Australia, two British tabloids and the Australian report. Private detectives working for the missing toddler's parents turned up a woman with an Australian accent who was spotted in Barcelona 3 days after Maddy went missing in Portugal in May 2007. More»

Man watched family for days: witnesses

(NEWSER) - Madeleine McCann's parents say they hope a new artist's sketch of a pockmarked, frail man seen lurking around their Portugal apartment before the child disappeared will yield fresh clues. Detectives the couple hired interviewed witnesses and combed police files to produce the image, People reports. Gerry and Kate McCann will appear in a UK film about the closed case as they ramp up efforts to find their daughter. More»