Authorities have evidence that missing British tot Madeleine McCann may be dead, Seven News reports.

In an interview with the Portuguese television network RTP, cited by the New York Post, a German prosecutor said there is “material” evidence that McCann is no longer alive.

According to the report, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters was asked by a journalist for the television network: “Do you have any material evidence that Madeleine is dead?”

Wolters answered “yes,” but he declined to expand any further.

Wolters added that McCann’s body would not be needed to proceed with a prosecution, telling the journalist for the network that “to indict someone we don’t need a body.”

The comment has led to speculation that prosecutors may be on the cusp of charging 43-year-old Christian Brueckner in connection with McCann’s disappearance from a Portuguese resort in 2007, according to the New York Post.

Brueckner is a convicted rapist and pedophile who is currently in prison in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman.

Wolters further told the RTP reporter: “A person can be convicted without a body being found but we have to be convinced a person is dead.”

There also may be evidence linking Brueckner to the Algarve resort where McCann vanished just before her fourth birthday, including mobile phone data indicating that Brueckner was in the area of McCann’s hotel when she went missing.

“All I can say is this is like a puzzle and there are many pieces that lead us to believe Christian B is responsible,” Wolters told RTP. “One of the pieces is the signal from the mobile phone he was using at the time Madeleine McCann disappeared and has been shown to have been in the area of the Ocean Club resort where she was staying.”

Wolters added: “The result of our investigation does not point in any way to the possibility the suspect might have kept Madeleine alive.”

As CrimeOnline previously reported, one witness claims Brueckner admitted to his involvement in McCann’s disappearance.

Watch Nancy Grace in a recent appearance on the “Dr. Oz” show about the McCann case.

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