German prosecutors: Madeleine McCann, missing British 3-year-old, is assumed dead - The Washington Post

LONDON — In possibly the most significant development in years in a missing person case that has haunted Britain, German prosecutors said Thursday they believe Madeleine McCann is dead and a 43-year-old man serving prison time in Kiel, Germany, is a key suspect.

McCann was 3 years old on May 3, 2007 when she disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Over the past 13 years and multiple investigations involving police forces in Britain, Portugal and now Germany, McCann’s fate has remained uncertain, and authorities have never been so specific about a suspect before now.

British police said the suspect is white and in 2007 had short blond hair.

On the day after Madeleine disappeared, the Jaguar was registered to someone else in Germany.

The same suspect was convicted last year of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same area of Portugal where McCann disappeared, according to the local newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung.

He was sentenced to seven years, though final appeals, focused on the legality of his extradition from Portugal to Germany, are still pending.

On the night McCann went missing, she was sleeping in an apartment complex with her twin siblings, who were 2 years old at the time.