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Madeleine McCann search resumes as suspect's prison release looms after years behind bars

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Madeleine McCann search resumes as suspect's prison release looms after years behind bars

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A renewed search for Madeleine McCann, an English toddler who disappeared from a family vacation to Portugal May 3, 2007, likely came from a trusted inside tip, according to Grey Bull Rescue founder Bryan Stern.

Madeleine was abducted from the family’s ground-floor apartment in Praia da Luz, a coastal, southern Portuguese city, when she was 3 years old.

Portuguese and German police began a new search this week in Praia da Luz that concluded Thursday, and officials have not yet said whether they discovered any evidence that may be significant to the missing persons case, according to Reuters.

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“The five W’s are unanswered right now: Who did it? How did it happen? When did it happen? Where did it happen, you know?” Stern, a multiple-tour combat veteran of the U.S. Army and Navy who now rescues people for a living, told Fox News Digital. 

“That’s why these situations are so frustrating … because there’s way more questions than answers. The only thing that anybody knows for sure is that there’s a little girl who used to be walking the streets; now she’s not.”

This undated file photo made available by the London Metropolitan Police shows missing British girl Madeleine McCann before she vanished from a Portuguese holiday complex May 3, 2007. (AP/London Metropolitan Police)

He added that renewed searches like this one for Madeleine show that law enforcement agencies are still actively searching for answers in an unsolved case, and they may have received a tip from someone who knew the main suspect in her disappearance or the suspect himself as part of a deal with prosecutors. 

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A search was conducted June 5, 2025, at the request of the German federal police to look for evidence that could implicate Christian Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

In 2020, German authorities named Christian Brueckner, 45, the main suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. That same year, German officials declared her dead.

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Authorities search for evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. (James Manning/PA Images)

Brueckner continues to deny his involvement in the case. Brueckner spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

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The house where Christian Brueckner was reportedly staying in Monte Judeu, Portugal.  (James Manning/PA Images)

He is serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005 and is scheduled to be released in September, according to Reuters.

Brueckner was also charged in 2022 for sex crimes against children that German authorities allege he committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Police investigators arrive to continue an ongoing search operation in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann at Atalaia, Lagos, in Algarve, June 5, 2025. (Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP)

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A source involved with the search in Praia da Luz this week told Reuters it included several derelict houses, wells and reservoirs covering “dozens of hectares.”

Stern noted officials also likely used radar technology that “can see into the ground.”

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portugal vacation 18 years ago. (Carabinieri Milano/handout)

“They find stuff in the dirt all the time, all the time. It’s 2025. Technology is amazing. DNA technology, specifically, is amazing. DNA doesn’t die,” Stern said. “There’s technology that can see into the ground. They use it for fossils all the time. They use it for missing people all the time.

“They use it for oil drilling. They use them for water mitigation, all kinds of things. … It’s a type of radar that pushes sound and energy down, and it comes back up with a return, and that return, in today’s world, can actually be extremely, extremely detailed.”

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Authorities look for evidence in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

Stern works “all the time” with parents who have lost children, and he said talking to them is the hardest part of his job. 

“I don’t care about the bad guys. I don’t care about the Russians or Hezbollah or any of that stuff. What I care about is the mommy who’s depending on me to bring her kid back. That’s what really, really drives me and scares me. … My biggest thing that I’m afraid of is having to go to a mother saying I failed. Seven hundred and twenty-nine missions later, we’ve never failed; 7,128 people later, we’ve never failed.”

The search June 5, 2025, was conducted at the request of the German federal police as they look for evidence that could implicate Christian Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. (James Manning/PA Images)

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In the McCann case, however, Stern said not knowing absolutely that she is dead, because her remains have never been found, is “painful.”

Madeleine was born in May 2003 and would be turning 22 years old this year.

The Official Find Madeleine Campaign, run by Madeleine’s parents — Kate and Gerry McCann — did not respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital regarding the search.

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Israeli Strikes Kill a Journalist and Injure Another in Lebanon

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Israeli Strikes Kill a Journalist and Injure Another in Lebanon

Israeli strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, rattling a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said the Israeli military had targeted the journalists in the town of Tayri, where they took shelter in a nearby house after an airstrike struck a vehicle in front of the car they were traveling in. About an hour and a half later, a second strike hit the house they were hiding in, according to a statement by a Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which employed the journalist who was killed.

The Lebanese Red Cross said its teams came under fire while trying to evacuate the journalists from the house, forcing them to withdraw. The rescue crews were targeted by a warning strike and machine-gun fire, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Zeinab Faraj, a photojournalist, was rescued from the house. The other journalist, Amal Khalil, who was a reporter for Al-Akhbar, remained trapped under rubble for hours before emergency medics recovered her body, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense.

In addition to Ms. Khalil, the two people in the car in front of her were killed in the strikes, Al-Akhbar reported.

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Amid the 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has continued strikes against what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, citing its right to self-defense. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group, said that it had fired rockets and drones into Israel on Tuesday in response to what it said were violations of the cease-fire. Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese News Agency reported that an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded two others in another part of the country.

The Lebanese health ministry called the strikes in Tayri a “blatant double breach, involving both the obstruction of rescue efforts for a civilian known for her media and humanitarian work, and the direct targeting of an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross.”

The Israeli military denied in a statement that it had prevented rescuers from reaching the injured journalists, and said the incident was under investigation.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said Israeli forces had spotted two vehicles emerging from a military building used by Hezbollah. The military observed the vehicles cross what the spokeswoman called the forward defense line, determining the move to be a violation of the truce agreement.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the Israeli military had struck one of the vehicles and the building some of the occupants of the second vehicle had taken shelter in.

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Ms. Khalil had covered southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah exercises strong control, since at least 2006. In a tribute to Ms. Khalil, a colleague from Al-Akhbar said she embodied the resilience of the southern Lebanese through her relentless reporting, refusing to leave the front lines of war where thousands of Lebanese had been displaced.

“As with every act of aggression, wearing a press vest did not protect those who wore it from the treachery of the Israeli enemy,” Al-Akhbar said in a statement. “Instead, it has become a danger to journalists’ lives, as part of a systematic Israeli policy aimed at silencing anyone who seeks to expose the crimes and practices of the occupation.”

In a forceful statement on social media, Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese prime minister, accused the Israeli military of war crimes for targeting journalists and obstructing access to medical aid. He said that Lebanon would pursue action to ensure Israel is held accountable with international bodies.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it was outraged by the attack, and that it raised serious concerns of deliberate targeting.

“The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

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Former Mexican beauty queen found shot dead as investigators examine possible family involvement: reports

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Former Mexican beauty queen found shot dead as investigators examine possible family involvement: reports

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A former Mexican beauty queen was found shot to death in her Mexico City apartment, with investigators examining the possible involvement of her mother-in-law, according to local reports.

Carolina Flores Gómez, 27, was found dead inside an apartment in the Polanco neighborhood, one of the city’s most affluent areas, Reporte Índigo, a Mexico-based news outlet, reported. 

Authorities said the death is being investigated as a homicide, after initial findings indicated she suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency responders were called to the scene, where paramedics confirmed she showed no signs of life.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Flores Gómez’s mother-in-law, Erika María, as well as a man described in reports as her partner or husband, may have been involved in her death.

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Carolina Flores Gómez was found shot dead in her luxury apartment April 15 in Mexico City. Her mother-in-law has been named the main suspect in the suspected homicide. (Jam Press)

The man, identified as Alejandro, accused his mother of killing Flores Gómez, Mexican news outlet Azteca Guerrero reported.

The outlet also reported that the woman’s mother-in-law was present at the scene when the gun was fired and that authorities are looking into the timeline of when the incident was reported.

WIDOW, SON OF LATE CHICAGO COMMISSIONER FOUND SHOT DEAD INSIDE HOME IN SUSPECTED HOMICIDE

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Mexican prosecutors have opened a homicide with intent case in the death of former beauty queen Carolina Flores Gómez.  (Jam Press)

Preliminary reports cited by Mexican news outlet Diario Puntual indicate that a security guard at the building did not hear gunshots, adding uncertainty about how the crime occurred.

Authorities in Baja California, Mexico, also responded to the case, Diario Puntual reported.

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Former beauty queen Carolina Flores Gómez, 27, was found dead in her Mexico City apartment. (Jam Press)

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Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda expressed solidarity with the victim’s family and called for the case to be clarified. 

State prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez also said there is coordination with Mexico City authorities to support the investigation.

Flores Gómez previously competed in beauty pageants and was crowned Miss Teen Universe Baja California in 2017.

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The case has drawn attention in Mexico amid ongoing concerns about violence against women, with advocacy groups calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

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The investigation into the matter is open and ongoing.

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‘Blockade and threats’: Iran blames US siege of ports for stalled talks

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‘Blockade and threats’: Iran blames US siege of ports for stalled talks
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