Maddie Affair: Kate and Gerry McCann: A Couple's Resilience in the Face of Drama

They never stop hoping to see their daughter again : Kate and Gerry McCann, parents of little Maddie who disappeared in Portugal in 2007, demonstrate unwavering resilience. When three-year-old Madeleine disappears on May 3, 2007, from the apartment in the Praia da Luz seaside resort where the family is spending their holidays, this couple of doctors decides to publicize the case and finds themselves catapulted to the front pages of international media.

Eighteen years and many twists and turns later, while investigators resumed their investigations on Tuesday at the site of the girl's disappearance, Kate and Gerry McCann, 57, parents of two other children, are still together. "While we are fortunate to have a relatively normal and pleasant life today, this feeling of living in uncertainty remains very disturbing," the couple confided in 2024 on their website. "We know that the love and hope for Madeleine, as well as the desire to find her, even after so many years, remains," they added.

Kate and Gerry McCann met in 1993 in Glasgow while they were medical interns. They married five years later, and had Madeleine in 2003, followed by twins Sean and Amelie in 2005. On the night of the disappearance, the couple were having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the complex where their apartment is located. They regularly check on the children, but at 10 p.m. noticed that Maddie was no longer in her bed, while two-year-old Sean and Amelie were sleeping peacefully.

Suspected of false kidnapping

After several months of research and media hype, they themselves became suspects and were questioned by the Portuguese authorities, who defended the theory of an accident followed by a fake kidnapping. The couple vehemently denied this accusation, which was widely reported by the tabloids, and the Portuguese prosecutor announced almost a year later, in 2008, that there was no evidence to support this theory.

Kate McCann, a general practitioner, left her job shortly after the disappearance to focus on research and caring for the twins herself. She returned to work during the Covid pandemic and now supports patients with dementia. She is also an ambassador for the Missing People charity. Gerald McCann is a cardiologist and a renowned lecturer at the University of Leicester.

The book "Madeleine," written by Kate McCann and published in 2011, gives a glimpse into their life after the tragedy: buying Maddie Christmas and birthday presents each year, the fear of overprotecting the twins, and the impact the disappearance had on the couple's private life. "I worried about Gerry and myself," she wrote, saying she was "unable to allow myself any pleasure" and haunted by the fear that the girl had "fallen into the hands of a paedophile."

"In the shadows"

Kate McCann also spoke of how Maddie's disappearance shook the faith of the two practicing Catholics. "I often felt that God had abandoned me or that he had abandoned Madeleine," she said. The McCanns still live in the same brick detached house in Rothley, central England, where they were living at the time of the tragedy.

The couple successfully lobbied Prime Minister David Cameron to relaunch the investigation in 2011. But the costly "Operation Grange" investigation failed to uncover the truth. The twins, now 20, grew up "in Madeleine's shadow," a family friend told the Daily Mail, but "are now young adults building their lives." Amelie is studying at Durham University and Sean, a freestyle swimming champion, is at Loughborough University, both in the north of England.

Two women were recently charged with harassing the McCann family. One of them, a Polish woman named Julia Wandel, had claimed to be Maddie , which a DNA test ruled out in 2023. Despite the ordeal, Kate and Gerry have not given up, as they summarize on their website "Find Madeleine." "There is no suggestion that Madeleine was harmed. She is still missing and we must look for her. She is young, vulnerable and needs our help. We love her deeply and her absence is indescribable," they write.