Main Suspect in Madeline McCann Disappearance Released From Prison | Crime Alert 6AM 09.24.25
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 September 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
49-year-old Christian Brueckner [BROOK-ner] has spent the last week a free man, after his release from a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005. Ryan Routh is found guilty of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump and then immediately tries to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the verdict. Drew Nelson reports.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking Crime News now, the primary suspect and three-year-old Maddie McCann's |
| 0:06.4 | disappearance has been released. Yes, Christian Bruckner serving a seven-year sentence for an unrelated |
| 0:15.4 | rape, now walks free. Reportedly, a former German federal police employee paid an outstanding fine for |
| 0:25.5 | Bruchner, but tried to get the money back after realizing it would lead to his release. Straight out to |
| 0:33.4 | Drew Nelson for more. Nancy, 49-year-old Christian Brookner has spent the last week of free man after his release |
| 0:41.3 | from a seven-year-old sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Priya-old |
| 0:45.2 | woman in Priya-Dlew's Portugal in 2005. |
| 0:47.7 | German police confirmed he left the high-security facility in Zanda around 9.15 a.m. local |
| 0:53.3 | time last Wednesday. He must wear an electronic tag, |
| 0:56.9 | give up his passport, and report to probation staff. His lawyers are expected to appeal the |
| 1:01.7 | restrictions. Prosecutors say he is still dangerous and could re-offend. A psychiatric report found |
| 1:07.5 | he refused treatment in custody and remains a risk. He also faces an October |
| 1:12.1 | court date in Oldenburg, where he's accused in a verbal altercation with a prison employee. |
| 1:17.6 | Police in Britain, Germany, and Portugal all confirmed Brookner remains a suspect in Madeline |
| 1:22.7 | McCann's case. He has denied involvement. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell of the Metropolitan Police |
| 1:29.1 | say they will, quote, continue to pursue any viable lines of inquiry. In June, German and Portuguese |
| 1:35.3 | police carried out a major search in the Algarva. Investigators dug near Derelict farm |
| 1:40.9 | buildings and pumped out wells hoping to find traces of Madeline or her clothing. |
| 1:45.6 | CNN Portugal reported the search focused on a route between Brookner's former house and the cliffs at Prya de Luz. |
| 1:52.2 | The theory was that he may have used the path to dispose of her body. Nothing conclusive was found. |
| 1:57.7 | Madeline McCann vanished on May 3rd of 2007 during a family holiday in Prya de Luz. |
| 2:03.2 | She was three years old. Her parents, Kate and Jerry McCann, had left her and her twin siblings |
... |
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