Andi: Missing UK Girl

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Missing UK Girl

Portugal: Missing UK girl abducted
POSTED: 8:55 a.m. EDT, May 5, 2007

LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) -- A British girl who disappeared from her bed in a Portuguese beach resort while her parents dined nearby was kidnapped, police said on Saturday.

Police believe three-year-old Madeleine McCann is still alive and have a drawing of a suspect based on evidence from witnesses, said Guilhermino Encarnacao, head of the judicial police in the Faro area of the Algarve.

He would give no further information about the suspect other than saying there was "all the evidence to show it was a kidnapping" and other possibilities had been ruled out.

He said up to 150 officers were searching for the girl, who was reported missing on Thursday. Friends of the McCann family had insisted she was abducted because there was evidence of a forced entry into the villa where the family was staying.

Madeleine McCann's parents, who were on holiday in the Algarve with friends, made an emotional appeal late on Friday for their daughter to be let go.

"Words cannot describe the anguish and despair that we are feeling," Gerry McCann said in a televised statement from the Algarve resort, flanked by his wife Kate.

"Please, if you have Madeleine, let her come home to her Mummy, Daddy, brother and sister."

The McCanns had put her to bed and were dining 50 meters (yards) away with friends when she vanished on Thursday night from the apartment where they were staying.

She was with her twin brother and sister, who were asleep when the parents returned and found her missing.

Police with sniffer dogs are searching the resort village with a population of about 1,000. They have also alerted all airports in Portugal and neighboring

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About Rebecca

After the 1999 abduction, rape, and murder of her 12-year-old daughter Andria, Rebecca Petty chose to fight for the rights of crime victims and focus her anguish on keeping the children of America safe from predatory crime and abduction. Rebecca has worked closely with law enforcement, crime victims, children, parents, law makers and her community.
She is frequently called upon by regional media in the event of a child abduction or any issue involving child safety to offer her advice and insight on the issue. In her efforts to create a legacy for her daughter, Andi, Rebecca has worked in her community to fingerprint and photograph over 20,000 children and has handed out over 10,000 home DNA kits. She has appeared on national and local television shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show and Phil Donahue show as well as written articles for her local newspaper and periodicals. She is also a member of Team HOPE, a support network for families of missing children. Runner Up for the 2007 Jefferson Award. She is also a founding member of the Surviving Parent’s Coalition, a group formed to empower surviving parents of children who were abducted and sexually assaulted, or are still missing, to work together and present a unified voice for legislation and prevention education that will maximize efforts to stop child sexual abuse, exploitation and abduction. Rebecca was part of a private round-table discussion with President George W. Bush and lobbied for the Child Safety Act that created the National Amber Alert system.