Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann, is once again a free man.
The convicted offender walked out of a German prison on Wednesday, September 17, after serving a seven-year prison sentence for an unrelated crime.
Ahead of his release, a senior detective revealed new evidence and theories about Christian and his string of criminal activities.
Highlights
- Christian Brueckner was released from a German prison after serving a seven-year prison sentence for attacking an American woman.
- A criminologist exposed Christian’s disturbing criminal past, including him inappropriately touching other kids at a children's home when he was a teen.
- “He’s a ticking time bomb, a danger. He shouldn’t be let out...,” said Thomas Hertel, who was in the same children's home.
“He's got a criminal record longer than a telephone directory,” said one man, identified as Ken.
Christian Brueckner was released from a German prison after serving a seven-year prison sentence for attacking an American woman
Image credits: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Christian was sentenced to seven years in prison for brutally attacking a 72-year-old American woman, Diana Menkes, in Portugal's Algarve region, where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
Madeleine was three years old when she vanished from her bed while holidaying in Portugal with her parents.
Her disappearance remains one of the world’s most haunting mysteries to date.
Image credits: Find Madeleine
Christian’s disturbing criminal past was exposed in a new ITV documentary called Madeleine McCann: Searching For The Prime Suspect.
The chilling documentary follows criminologist Dr Graham Hill, a former senior Met detective who was dispatched to Portugal during the early days of the investigation.
Born Christian Fischer in Bavaria, Germany, the suspect was raised by a troubled mother, who eventually gave him and his two brothers up for adoption.
British parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, were dining at a nearby tapas bar when their daughter Madeleine disappeared
Image credits: Netflix
Christian got his current surname after he and his brothers were adopted by Brigitte and Fritz Brueckner. The adoptive parents were accused of being physically violent towards him.
At the age of 15, the future predator committed his first crime, a burglary, and was convicted for it.
A couple of years later, Brigitte and Fritz placed him in a children’s home in Wurzburg, Germany, where he began inappropriately touching kids.
Christian was first caught inappropriately touching a child after being placed in a children's home as a teenager
Image credits: 48 Hours
Thomas Hertel was in the same children’s home in the 1990s, back when he and Christian were teenagers.
“He did a lot of nonsense. He thieved things, he burgled, he broke into places. And if you said something to him, he flipped out,” Thomas told the Mirror earlier this year.
“He was the king in that place and he would not let himself be told anything - he had the most cigarettes and money,” he added.
Thomas also expressed fear about Christian being released from prison.
“I’m afraid that if he’s freed, he’ll come back to Wurzburg. He’s a ticking time bomb, a danger. He shouldn’t be let out, that would be my wish,” he told the outlet.
Image credits: ITV
After being caught inappropriately touching a 9-year-old child, Christian was sentenced at the age of 17 to two years in prison for “se**** ab*** of a child, attempted se**** ab*** of a child and performing se**** acts in front of a child,” the documentary said.
Between 1995 and 2007, it is believed Christian was living in Portugal's Algarve region, robbing hotel rooms and selling narcotics.
Dieter Fehlinger, the father of Christian’s ex-girlfriend, told criminologist Graham about seeing the inside of the convict’s camper van on one occasion.
“He said to me there was a hiding place inside, 50kg of marij**** would fit in easily, he built it,” Dieter said in the documentary. “And then he said, it was ‘so big that you could hide a small child inside.’”
Image credits: Find Madeleine
Christian is a “dangerous man,” according to Helge Busching, who used to commit nefarious activities like stealing solar panels and diesel with him.
Helge claimed he is “100%” sure of the Christian’s involvement in Madeleine's disappearance and recalled a conversation they had at a festival in Spain about a year after her abduction.
“I told him I don’t understand how somebody can rob little children from a hotel,” Helge recalled.
He then quoted Christian’s answer: “She was not screaming.”
“He can say ‘I am innocent.’ I know what he was doing, I saw it with my proper eyes. I know he's a dangerous man,” Helge added.
Image credits: ITV
Another man named Ken spoke about how he used to bump into Christian at beaches in Portugal around the same time Madeleine disappeared.
“I knew him reasonably well but I kept my distance because he was part of the criminal fraternity. Didn't want anything to do with him,” Ken said in the documentary.
He said Christian should have “been made a suspect three hours after she went missing.”
“I just don't trust the guy, he gives me the creeps,” he added. “He's got a criminal record longer than a telephone directory.”
Dieter Fehlinger, the father of Christian’s ex-girlfriend, spoke about him in the chilling documentary Madeleine McCann: Searching For The Prime Suspect
Image credits: James Manning/PA Images
Christian was accused of violently attacking an Irish tour guide named Hazel Behan at her apartment in Portugal in 2004 and then attacking 72-year-old Diana in 2005.
Hazel alleged she was attacked at knifepoint by the predator, who was accused of breaking into her apartment, tying her up with rope and then filming himself insulting, whipping, and mistreating her for hours.
Christian was acquitted of the alleged crimes in 2024 by a German court, and Hazel is now waiting for the outcome of her appeal against the acquittal.
The alleged survivor said she was afraid Christian would hunt her down after his release from prison.
Image credits: Netflix
“His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years,” she told The Sun in June.
“[I] fear that I’ll see him. Fear that he’ll find out where I live and hunt me down,” she added. “I also have fear that he’ll do to someone else what he did to me.”
In ITV’s recent documentary, Graham was captured going through disturbing Skype messages that Christian exchanged with another child exploiter.
He brazenly spoke about his desire to abduct a child, wishing he could “capture something small and use it for days.”
Madeleine's disappearance continues to be one of the world’s most haunting mysteries to date
Image credits: Find Madeleine
Furthermore, the German police had stumbled upon a stash of evidence at an abandoned factory owned by Christian in 2016.
They recovered a number of items, including 75 children’s swimsuits, toys, small bikes, and an alarming amount of footage that pointed towards Christian’s obsession with little girls.
Image credits: ITV
Although Christian has never been formally charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said he believes the convicted offender was involved.
“He has no alibi. There is only evidence that incriminates him. He is the prime suspect and, above all, he's the only suspect,” the prosecutor said in the documentary.
“We really only have evidence that points to him as the perpetrator,” he added. “But as to whether we can prove it, prove it in a court of law, that is the big task that lies ahead of us.”
“Don’t think anyone will ever know what happened to poor Maddie that night,” one commenced online
