How Madeleine McCann, Who Vanished 19 Years Ago, Entered The Epstein Dossier

Nearly two decades after three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from a holiday apartment in southern Portugal, her name has surfaced in the newly released United States court documents connected to the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The material, made public by the US Department of Justice as part of the extensive record surrounding Epstein's prosecution and the 2021 conviction of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, contains a single, isolated witness statement referencing Madeleine. 

Authorities in both the United States and the United Kingdom have said that the reference does not amount to verified evidence linking her disappearance to Epstein's criminal enterprise or to Maxwell. It has not prompted any new investigative action.

Madeleine McCann In Epstein Files

Millions of pages of court filings, depositions, witness accounts and related exhibits have been opened to public scrutiny following years of litigation and public pressure. In that process, one document -- identified as EFTA01249618 -- has drawn attention because it mentions Madeleine McCann by name.

The statement is dated 2009 and comes from an unidentified witness. An individual describes an encounter in September of that year. According to the testimony, the witness was walking along a main road after turning off from their street when they found themselves behind a woman and a little girl. A middle-aged man was also present, walking several metres ahead. The witness states that when they drew closer to the child, they noticed that she resembled Madeleine McCann.

The woman, the witness wrote, appeared to be trying to hurry the girl along and seemed agitated by the witness's presence. The child, according to the account, held her hand over her right eye "the whole time" they were walking. The girl repeatedly turned around to look at the witness. After some time, the witness turned away and later reported the sighting via a website. They did not, by their own admission, report it to police at the time.

The statement reads in part:

"In September 2009 I was living in [road]. It was a Sunday and very quiet. I turned off from my street on to the main road and found myself walking behind a woman and a little girl. There was also a middle aged man with them but he was walking much further ahead. When I got up close to the girl I noticed she looked like Madeline McCann. The woman was trying to hurry her along and seemed agitated that I was there. The little girl held her hand over her right eye the whole time we were walking along. She kept on turning round to look at me. I turned off after a while. I reported it to the web sight as a sighting as I found it was odd. Didn't think about it for years till saw the Fb post about Ghislaine Maxwell, and the theory of her taking Madeline McCann. The woman I saw looked just like Ghislaine Maxwell. I reported the sighting to the police but thought I would report it to you as well."

The reference to the child covering her right eye has been noted because of Madeleine's distinctive coloboma -- a rare eye condition visible as a dark mark on the iris of her right eye. Public appeals issued over the years have repeatedly highlighted that feature.

In 2009, Madeleine would have been six years old. The witness states that the age of the girl they saw was consistent with that.

The E-Fit Image

The renewed interest in this 2009 account has coincided with the resurfacing of a separate development from that year, an e-fit image released by private investigators working on behalf of Madeleine's parents. British media, including The Telegraph, reported in August 2009 on the publication of an image depicting a woman described as resembling a "Victoria Beckham lookalike." The woman was estimated to be between 30 and 35 years old and approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall.

That sighting was said to have occurred in Barcelona, Spain, in the early hours of May 7, 2007, three days after Madeleine disappeared. The release of that e-fit was part of an effort by the McCanns' private investigative team to pursue leads outside Portugal. The image has been recirculated online recently amid speculation about connections to Maxwell.

The Disappearance

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007 while on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, in Portugal's Algarve region. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had gone to dinner with friends at a restaurant within the complex, roughly 100 yards from the apartment where Madeleine and her younger twin siblings were sleeping. When Kate McCann went to check on the apartment, she discovered that Madeleine was missing. Police were called and staff and guests searched through the night.

Border authorities and airport staff were placed on alert. Volunteers joined searches in the following days. Portuguese police initially stated that they believed Madeleine had been kidnapped and was still alive in Portugal. A description was issued of a man seen carrying a child on the night she disappeared.

Over time, the investigation grew into one of the most high-profile missing-child cases in modern history. But McCann is still missing.