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Ben Kentish 10pm - 1am
24 May 2023, 12:25 | Updated: 24 May 2023, 12:49
Have they found Madeleine McCann? When did she go missing? Here's a full timeline of dates and the latest news as a new development happens in the investigation.
Madeleine McCann has been missing since 2007 following a holiday with family and friends in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
And now, 16 years on, a new development has risen and police have begun a thorough search of reservoir, Arade dam, which is over 31 miles from where the British toddler went missing from her apartment.
The latest search is in connection with German Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the case, who is believed to have been in the area at the time she was taken.
Police divers entered the water at the site on Tuesday 23rd May and have already removed multiple bags of possible evidence.
The Policia Judiciaria said in a statement it is co-ordinating the searches of the area at request of the German authorities (BKA) and in the presence of British officers.
So what exactly happened to Madeleine McCann? Here's a full timeline of events as the investigations continue in 2023.
On holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, plus her brother and sister Amelie and Sean, as well as family and friends, Madeleine was reported missing.
It was this night where her parents put them to bed and went for dinner with a group of friends in the hotel complex where they had devised a rota to keep checking on the children.
When it was Kate McCann's turn to check, she noticed her daughter was missing and alerted the police and hotel.
From this moment on, staff, guests and hundreds of volunteers searched Praia da Luz, where the family were staying in Portugal, in an attempt to find Madeleine. Border police and airport staff were also put on alert.
On the 12th, the McCann's issued a statement that said they "cannot describe the anguish and despair" they are feeling.
On the 26th, police issued a description of a man from the night of Madeleine's disappearance who was spotted possibly carrying a child.
A Portuguese police chief officer has admitted that some important forensic clues may have been destroyed in the search for Madeleine McCann as the crime scene was not protected efficiently enough in the first few hours.
Over 100 days since she went missing, the Portugese police interviewed Kate McCann as a witness and then the couple were named as suspects. Days later they returned to the UK with prosecutors saying there was no evidence to keep questioning them.
Dad Gerry McCann released a video detailing how he believed his family was watched by a "predator" in the days before Madeleine's disappearance.
New images of Madeleine McCann are released showing what she might look like now.
The McCann's begin to say they are getting incredibly "frustrated" at the lack of looking for their daughter.
Kate and Gerry McCann sign a book deal to write about Madeleine's disappearance.
The McCann's officially publish their book, Madeleine.
Prime Minister David Cameron brings new attention to the missing child case as he asks the Metropolitan Police to help igniting a two-year review.
The UK review Madeleine McCann's case hoping to bring "closure". New images of Madeleine are also released as they speculate what she might look like now, aged 9.
The Portugese authorities also confirm they will not be reopening the case.
German prosecutor confirms search is 'connected with Madeleine McCann proceedings'
A new prime suspect emerges in the form of 43-year old German prisoner Christian B, a German paedophile.
A spokesman for Kate and Gerry say it's "the most significant development in 13 years".
German prosecutors say they believe Madeleine is dead and treat her disappearance as murder.
It also emerges the prime suspect allegedly confessed to his part in Madeleine's disappearance to a man in a bar.
Christian B has previously been convicted of raping an elderly woman and has other convictions of child sex abuse.
May - On the 16th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance the McCann's hold a vigil and say she is "still very much missed".
New developments in the case also emerge as police begin searching a reservoir for new evidence.