THE CHILDREN MISSING OR MURDERED FOUR CASES BEING RE-EXAMINED AFTER CHRISTIAN BRÜCKNER REVELATIONS
1 RENÉ HASEE
Disappeared: June 21, 1996, at a beach in Aljezur, 25 miles from Praia da Luz, Portugal.
What happened?
The six-year-old schoolboy from Elsdorf, Germany, ran ahead of his mother and stepfather towards the sea during a walk on the beach. They lost sight of him and his clothes were later found. The authorities speculated that he had drowned.
Where was Christian Brückner?
He moved from Germany to Praia da Luz in 1995 and would have been 19. He was already convicted of sex offences against children.
What is the connection to Madeleine McCann?
René’s father, Andreas Hasee, has claimed that an investigator from the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany called him this week to reveal that detectives were reinvestigating his son’s case. Mr Hasee told The Sunday Telegraph that police have told him “absolutely nothing” about his son’s case being linked to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and didn’t mention Brückner when they spoke to him. But, he added: “Personally, when I look at it, I find that the two cases aren’t that different at all – and that he could have something to do with it. “Maddie was a sweet little girl and my son was a small, sweet boy, and he was also the same age. And then they both disappeared. A whole lot about the two cases fits together.
“Maddie’s parents kept pushing the investigation, and maybe now they will see some success. It’s not a nice ending, but it is an ending.”
Status of the case
German police have reportedly put out a general alert to regional forces to check all child cold cases, and it is possible the case is being investigated as part of this sweep. There is no indication police have previously connected Brückner to Rene’s case.
The fact that he disappeared in the Algarve while Brückner was there may have been enough to reopen the case. German police said they will not comment on any of the investigations. It is believed this is over concerns that lawyers for Brückner could demand access to the case files if police linked him to them.