Since the night Madeleine McCann disappeared, her “anguished but unbroken” parents Kate and Gerry have never let the world forget their daughter.
It’s been 13 years since she went missing, but they never stopped searching for answers, and say they hope she is still alive.
But the evidence presented to 60 Minutes Australia could hold vital clues to Maddie’s 2007 disappearance.
On June 4, German authorities made a shock announcement declaring the three-year-old dead, and leading to that announcement is believed to be a disturbing discovery in the campervan of Christian Brueckner.
According to 60 Minutes, over 8000 disturbing pieces of evidence, including videos and pictures of his alleged crimes – along with the swimsuits of little girls – were discovered in the van inhabited by the 43-year-old German sex offender.
When Maddie was taken, on the night of May 3, 2007, Bruekner lived in a house in Monte Judeu, only 8km away from the Ocean Club apartment in Portugal from where the three-year-old disappeared. He also had a “vile and disgusting” shack only 3km from the hotel.
Currently in prison for the torture and rape of a 72-year-old woman, Brueckner was recently named by German police as the most likely offender in Maddie’s disappearance, which is now being treated as murder.
After raiding a deserted factory owned by Brueckner, police discovered thousands of videos and photos of his alleged crimes, 60 Minutes reported.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation into Brueckner, told the program he was not able to say if there is or isn’t any pictures of Maddie.
“I mean he was into child pornography and torture and he did crimes against children at a very young age and according to the current information, he also filmed his offences,” Mark Hofmann, a Berlin-based Crime & Intelligence Analyst who also works with German police, told reporter Liz Hayes.
Police also revelead that back in 2013, Brueckner wrote in a paedophile chat room about how “bad” he wanted to abuse a little girl.
“He’s very, very clear about his fantasy, about abducting children and torturing them and using them for a couple of days. So these are very clear words,” Mr Hoffman said.
Mr Hoffman said he believes that if Brueckner abducted Maddie, it’s also likely he killed her.
“And killing is likely for different reasons. Number one, it’s likely because it’s part of the fantasy, but number two, it also just could have practical reasons not to be arrested for this crime, because she was old enough to talk,” he told Hayes.
Christian Brückner has not yet been charged with any crime relating to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance or death.
This article originally appeared on Over60.