A former associate of Christian Brueckner has confessed to being the person who alerted authorities to the specific location that police searched a couple of years ago. In 2023, a significant search effort was initiated following a tip-off from Elke Piro as investigators scoured the Arade Dam in Portugal for any sign of Madeleine McCann’s remains. Despite an extensive operation involving canine units, drones, and a large deployment of officers, no evidence of the missing girl, who vanished from her family’s vacation apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007, was discovered.
Reports indicate that the 48-year-old convicted sex offender would frequently visit the remote area and spend extended periods alone in his Volkswagen camper van. Elke, 69, and her husband Bernhard, 72, had a friendly relationship with the individual for several years, with the couple cutting ties after learning about his disturbing past. Their last interaction was reported in 2018, with Elke mentioning that they often permitted him to park his van at their residence in the Algarve.
In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, Elke disclosed that Christian had a strong affinity for the lakeside region near the dam, referring to it as his “special place.” She recalled how he would vanish for days, claiming to have spent solitary time at the Arade Dam. Upon discovering his connection to the Madeleine case, Elke informed the police about his fondness for the area, which led to a focused search in that vicinity.
Elke expressed her belief that Christian may have brought Madeleine to the spot he frequented. She assisted authorities in identifying the precise location he described, hoping it would yield clues about the missing girl, albeit without success. Recent developments revealed that British investigators had traveled to Portugal to question Elke and her husband, who hosted the sex offender shortly before Madeleine’s disappearance.
The individual in question has been relocated to a different place in Germany after completing a seven-year prison term for assaulting an elderly American woman in the same town where Madeleine vanished. Elke, a German citizen, remains convinced that Brueckner was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance, stating her willingness to cooperate with authorities and testify if necessary to help bring him to justice in the UK.