Madeleine McCann Investigator Makes Emotional Appeal Nearly 20 Years After Her Disappearance

Julian Peribañez, who worked with the private investigation team hired by Madeleine’s parents, says he still does not know what happened to the missing girl — but he refuses to give up hope.

Nearly 20 years after Madeleine McCann disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal, a private investigator who spent years searching for her has made an emotional appeal for information.

Julian Peribañez, a Spanish private investigator who worked with the team hired by Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, says the case remains unresolved for him and that he has no intention of stopping his search.

In an interview with The Olive Press published on October 25, Peribañez reflected on the investigation that has shaped much of his life.

He admitted that he still does not know whether Madeleine is alive or what happened after she vanished.

“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.”

A disappearance that captured worldwide attention

Madeleine was just three years old when she disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

She had been staying at the resort with her parents and younger twin siblings. On the evening she vanished, her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant while the children were asleep in the apartment. They took turns checking on them.

At around 10 p.m., Kate McCann discovered that Madeleine was missing. An international search followed, drawing enormous public and media attention.

Despite years of investigations, appeals and searches across Europe, Madeleine has never been found.

The investigator who still refuses to give up

Peribañez became involved in the search after being brought in by the McCann family in 2008, a year after Madeleine disappeared.

He has continued pursuing his own lines of inquiry and is now appealing particularly to people in Portugal’s Algarve region who may have information relevant to the case.

He also made a direct plea to anyone who might have encountered people he believes could be connected to the disappearance.

“All I need is a name. Give me a name, and I’ll chase it wherever I have to,” he said.

His latest comments do not announce a confirmed breakthrough. Instead, they underline his determination to keep searching despite the passage of time.

His theory has not been confirmed

During the interview, Peribañez discussed his personal belief that Madeleine may have been abducted by an organised Eastern European trafficking network.

However, this remains his own theory and has not been established as an official finding by investigators.

German authorities identified Christian Brückner as a suspect in 2020. He has not been charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance and denies involvement.

The case remains unresolved, and there is no publicly confirmed account of what happened to Madeleine after she vanished.

A search that changed his life

Peribañez has said that his work on Madeleine’s case influenced his wider efforts to protect children.

He later founded Guardianes de la Inocencia, an organisation focused on child protection, and wrote Stolen Innocence: The Price of Power, a book examining child abuse and exploitation scandals.

He told The Olive Press that his book and wider work grew out of the search for Madeleine.

For him, the case remains deeply personal.

Nearly two decades have passed since the little girl disappeared. Madeleine would be 23 years old in 2026, but her whereabouts remain unknown.

Peribañez’s message offers no new answer to the mystery. It is a reminder that, for those still searching, the hope of finding out what happened has not disappeared.