Christian Brueckner, a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, reportedly told a former prison cellmate that he abducted a child from a Portuguese apartment during a break-in.
Brueckner, 47, is currently standing trial for alleged sexual offenses that are not connected to the disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine, who was abducted in 2007 from her family’s hotel room in Portugal.
According to DailyMail, testimony was presented in a German court this week during Brueckner’s trial. His cellmate, Laurentiu Codin, testified that Brueckner asked if DNA from a child “can be taken from bones under the ground.”
“He told me that in Portugal, that he had stolen there. He was in a region where there are hotels and rich people live,” Codin told Braunschweig Regional Court.
“He said there was somewhere with an open window, he told me this. He was looking for money…He said he didn’t find any money but found a kid and took the child. He said that two hours later, there were police and dogs all over the place, so he then went away, out of the area.
“I am just saying what he told me. He told me that a person was with him, who he had had an argument with, allegedly it was his woman. He said he took the child in Portugal in his car, and in the time when the police and dogs were at the house, he drove away and he was gone.
“He asked me if the DNA from a child can be found as evidence and I answered yes.”
Codin testified that Brueckner confided in him while they were both in custody in 2020, following Brueckner being named a suspect in Madeleine’s case. Despite this, Brueckner has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.
According to Codin, Brueckner was reportedly concerned about possible evidence left at a crime scene, specifically asking if someone could be identified through hair. Brueckner also allegedly spoke about using a van to assault young girls near Hanover.
“There was talk of a girl, I don’t know if what he said was true or not,” Codin continued. “He said that he had a bus and that he had taken her with it. He said he kept some of them, but not others, but he never said that he had killed them.”
“We’re talking about girls, not boys. Not all at once, always one at a time. He told me about two. He said that he had taken someone, had sex with her but he didn’t kill her.
“I don’t want to get it wrong, but it was very young, tiny. I mean young. Each time when we were together he spoke about it because he was convinced that I was a paedophile.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Madeleine was vacationing with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when she vanished from her hotel room on May 3, 2007. Her parents had been dining a short distance away on the resort property while she slept in the room with her siblings.
Brueckner has denied the accusations that he was involved in her disappearance.
Court records indicate that Brueckner lived intermittently in Portugal from 1995 to 2007, where he accumulated a hefty criminal record that includes convictions for sexually abusing children.
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[Feature Photo: Madeleine McCann/Handout]
