Madeleine McCann: DNA Jigsaw, Torture And The Twilight Zone
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE DNA PUTS PARENTS IN FRAME. British experts insist their tests are valid”
Page 7: “DNA tests ‘fill in more pictures of jigsaw’” – A source close to the investigation provides the headline quote. But what has been found is unsaid, and how it involves Kate and Gerry McCann
“New police chief is accused of torture” – Chief inspector Tavares Almeida is to face charges of “beating up a robbery suspect in custody”. The Express says this is a “torture scandal”. The alleged victim – who was accused of being part of a gang that sexually abused children and coerced them into violent muggings - was acquitted
Mr Almeida was dubbed “Kate’s Tormenter”, possibly by the Express today
DAILY MAIL page 8: “New DNA tests ‘put the McCanns back under suspicion’”
The McCanns, both “doctors” are said to be “extremely distressed by the claims”
DAILY MIRROR page 7: “COPS GAVE UP SEARCH THREE MONTHS AGO”
“Investigation in tatters as second detective accused of violence”
THE SUN front page: “McCANNS’ AGONY – MADDIE: NEW DNA LINK TO KATE”
British forensic scientists “are said to believe tests on fresh clues support earlier findings that led to the McCanns being declared suspects”
Page 4: “McCANNS ‘LIVING IN A TWILIGHT WORLD’”
Clarence Michelle says: “We had reports that DNA had proved ‘inconclusive’ and even it had put the McCanns in the clear.”
Reports from whom is not reported
“Now there are reports that the DNA is making them look suspect. There are wholly innocent explanations for any material police may or may not have found. This just goes to show what a twilight zone we are operating in”
The Twilight Zone – wasn’t that the name of the TV show with the sting in the tail?
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE: NW DNA DAMNS PARENTS. Brit police find shock evidence”
But they have not been arrested. The McCanns are just suspects. How is this damning?
Pages 8 and 9: “MADDIE: SHOCK NEW DNA CLUE TO PARENTS – Boffins say cops on the right trail”
“Torture rap cop” – Tavares Almeida is 48
DAILY TELEGRAPH page 9: “Portuguese police ‘right to focus on McCanns’”
A British source says “Everything that has emerged indicates that the investigation is focusing where it should”
A British detective says the case is being “done back to front” – the parents should have been looked at first. The mantra is: “Clear the ground from under your feet”
THE INDEPENDENT, THE GUARDIAN and THE TIMES: No Madeleine news today
Posted: 9th, October 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,027) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
October 9th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I was going to suggest that perhaps the McCanns will now hire the services of a software company to “mock up” their own version of the events surrounding May 3rd into a Sims type presentation. But upon reading the Sky story I posted earlier it would probably not get past the government.
“New ways to protect children from violent computer games…”
October 9th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Pissflap Face
Maybe this is the pilot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXB_cvdxME&mode=related&search=
October 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1287570,00.html
More UK government interferance into how people raise their children yet strangely no interferance into people who neglect their children by leaving them alone until they “disappear”.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
The Real Stig. Is that you in the photo at the top of the Anorak Home page?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I’m surprised that Team McCann haven’t commissioned a fly on the wall documentary of their operation yet, or even a programme along the lines of The Apprentice to find new staff members.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
87 - Bishop Brennan You will be excommunicated for such wicked thoughts!
October 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
MikeSA
I too remember 12 cars being mentioned and found this:
http://forums.mirror.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=482952
“The Forensic Science Service is working quietly in the tests of a few dozen samples, collected at Ocean Club 5A apartment, several other locations in Praia da Luz and 12 cars and vans….
Analysis of traces of human fluids found at two cars searched by Police is also finished.”
October 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
well he is a bit dickensian isn’t he?
i’m going to see if i can find any other reports on their recent trip to portugal. i know my employer will be quite pleased with my work progress today. 
October 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Pope, the former prosecutor, said it’s human nature to think that only a stranger could kill a child.
“We feel better if it’s a carjacker — the boogeyman that comes to do it,” he said. “That we can kind of prepare for and protect for.”
only if you’ve never watched the telly or read a book since you were 12
October 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Batman.
That would be I (or is it me?)
October 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Batman - I agree that Clarence is reading Anorak. Can you imagine what a moron he will look when McCann’s are charged / convicted. On the plus side, his career would never recover.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
thea.
They’ve been talking for weeks now about sending the lawyers to Portugal to (according to different reports)
a) Have a quiet word in someone’s ear.
b) Present a large file of witness statements.
c) Refute the evidence
All aimed at getting the “suspect” status removed and getting things sorted before Christmas.
I can see why they want it sorted for Christmas though. Imagine having to have Mr Mitchell around for Turkey
October 9th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
“all of it” is private right? or did he really mean “most”?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
http://scaredmonkeys.com/fun-images/EPPS_Amanda1_MySpace.jpg
heres the mother of devon epps my space page
October 9th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Clarence definitely reading Anorak.
‘Ludicrous’ has been dropped.
Kate has grabbed the Kleenex (allegedly)
The Fund has been updated to include latest sale of Maddy goods.
Who asked yesterday - anyone seen any up to date photos of the dear McCanns?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1287593,00.html?f=vg
He also hit out at critics who said they were not showing enough emotion over the loss of their daughter.
“They are normal human beings and they are as emotional as anybody else. A lot of that is in private,” he said.
–
Mr Mitchell has eyes everywhere!
October 9th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
76 - Brandon. Its ok to leave doors open and well as unlocked now.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
the tales of dna confusion were simply lies set up as diverisons and an attempt to discredit the science of forensics. it’s ridiculous for them to say madeleine’s dna could be confused with another family member in this day and age. maybe 15 years ago this would have been a concern but not today. with or without madeleine’s colomba - the scientists know what they are doing - camp mccann is clutching at straws and most of them are make believe too.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
why would a police officer risk his career etc to convict a suspected robber? maybe yes they torchered confessions out of people..but why? i could understand if the police officer was 100% sure the person was guilty..whos to say that just because this man was aquitted that he was innocent..or that mother in portugal who is serving time for her daughters murder..the one that was also torchered..maybe they are actually guilty but the evidence wasnt there so they torchered a confession out of them..if the man is part of a gang that sexually abuses children he should be torchered..
October 9th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
It always worried me that Madeleine’s DNA might be confused with Amelie’s, but it seems that would be impossible.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
strange too that i only read the story about their pr travelling to portugal in hopes of axing aguido status in not portuguese press but british? i want to believe it but i only read one account of it so far. i’d think it would be everywhere by now?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
sorry for not deleting the silly bit had a knock at the door and forgot
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Info on progress re identifying the gene linked to hereditary coloboma can be found online in bmj reports
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
S.C. boy’s slaying raises suspicions
This sketch released by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office shows the man described by Amanda Reagan Smith as having smothered her 7 year-old son, Devon Epps, with a pillow before fleeing into the woods on August 12, 2007 in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Greenville County Sheriff’s Office)
By Katrina A. Goggins, Associated Press Writer |
September 20, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The young mother called police with a story out of any parent’s nightmares.
Amanda Reagan Smith says a knife-wielding carjacker forced her to drive to a secluded, wooded area in Greenville, S.C. Once there, he pushed her out, locked the car doors and pressed a pillow to the face of her 7-year-old son.
The 26-year-old former nursing student said she shattered one of the car windows and struggled with the assailant. But when deputies arrived, little Devon Epps was dead on the ground next to the car, his mother on a cell phone with a 911 dispatcher. An autopsy indicted the boy had been strangled.
Now, more than a month after the Aug. 12 killing, the case remains unsolved. And the worry that once filled Greenville has sharpened into questions about his mother’s account. The case has also revived vivid memories of another mother named Smith — Susan Smith — who told a similar tale.
In the hours after the killing, police dogs and helicopters searched the woods where Amanda Reagan Smith said the attacker had fled. Sketches of a suspect she described were posted in businesses and neighborhoods.
Sheriff’s deputies say they are pursuing more than 60 leads in Devon’s death, and forensic tests are still being performed on the car where his mother said he was killed.
“It’s one of those situations where we are just having to exhaust every lead that comes in,” sheriff’s Lt. Shea Smith said. “We’re not calling the mother a suspect at this time, but certainly we are looking at the whole investigation. We’re not ruling out any possibility at this point.”
In 1994, about an hour east of Greenville, a woman named Susan Smith reported that she had been carjacked by a man who escaped with her sons.
Smith went on national television to beg for the boys’ safe return. Days later, she confessed to strapping them into their car seats and letting her vehicle roll into a lake, where they drowned. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Attorney Tommy Pope, who as a prosecutor sought the death penalty for Susan Smith, said the most recent carjacking scenario gives “pause for concern.”
“Arguably if the goal was to have the car, he had the car,” Pope said in an interview. “A child would be the least likely target in that scenario. Stranger things have happened, but it begs a number of questions.”
Andrea Regan Smith’s relatives declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press and refused to have her talk about the case.
In an obituary, they wrote: “Devon, you are such a joy in our lives. You will be greatly missed and remain forever in our hearts. Love, Mama and family.”
Page 2 of 2 –Records obtained by The Associated Press show the boy nearly perished in a house fire just a few months before he was killed.
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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts On May 1, Devon Epps was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire that started in the bedroom where he was sleeping destroyed a third of home where he and his mother lived. Smith told authorities she had “left a lamp turned on as well as a night light,” according to a police report. The fire was ruled accidental, and authorities have not reopened that case.
Smith attended Greenville Technical College as a nursing student from 2003 to 2006, according to the school, which declined to provide more information about her. Police say it’s unclear whether she was employed at the time of the killing.
Parents are no longer afraid of a killer on the loose in Greenville, a city of 56,000.
“A lot of people have their own ideas of who they feel did it,” said Amoretta Dogan, volunteer chairwoman of the Parent Teacher Association at Devon’s former elementary school.
Smith’s neighbor Debra Drinkard said she didn’t know the mother and son well because they had lived on her street only a few months. The two stayed to themselves, she said.
“I was just mostly him and her,” said Drinkard, who lived across the street. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions. Whether she’s telling the truth I couldn’t say … but the account does seem strange.”
Soon after the slaying, a television reporter interviewing the boy’s father, David Epps, told him that some members of his own family thought the sketch based on Amanda Reagan Smith’s description looked a little like an older version of David Epps himself.
Looking at the sketch, Epps said the revelation was “weird.” He was in jail at the time of the killing for failure to pay child support, police said.
“God will have his vengeance and the person who’s guilty will eventually be revealed,” Epps told Greenville television station WYFF.
Lt. Smith said the relationship between David Epps and Smith at the time of the killing is unclear. Attempts by the AP to reach David Epps were unsuccessful. A phone number listed in his name was unpublished.
Pope, the former prosecutor, said it’s human nature to think that only a stranger could kill a child.
“We feel better if it’s a carjacker — the boogeyman that comes to do it,” he said. “That we can kind of prepare for and protect for.”
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Believe the new police chief is not Dixon of Dock Green and will not bend to political force from abroad.
Would love to know if it is common practice for lawyers to request the ‘arguido’ status be dropped in Portugal. Don’t think Murat has requested this.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Tony Bennett,
This site needs a good post! I think you have submitted the most comprehensive posts based on the information available, also picking up on interesting snippets of information that sometimes appear on this site. You should have been a solicitor- sorry you were.
Look forward to reading it.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
66 Andy
Hoorah. The voice of reason. Why indeed.??????
The more they dither with their mouthpieces, the more I suspect them .I stopped believing them around 7th May but was unsure what they were ” hiding”
Now in October, I could believe anything frankly, given the dithering and waffle and doing nothing except image making exercises .And an entire battlefield of heavy weights who seem to serve no useful purpose, except for the daily press leaks.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I also read that their lawyers had flown out to make the case to drop the “suspect” status. As this has not happened am I to believe that the Prosecutor told them to shove it?
October 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
By Katrina A. Goggins, Associated Press Writer | September 20, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The young mother called police with a story out of any parent’s nightmares.
Amanda Reagan Smith says a knife-wielding carjacker forced her to drive to a secluded, wooded area in Greenville, S.C. Once there, he pushed her out, locked the car doors and pressed a pillow to the face of her 7-year-old son.
The 26-year-old former nursing student said she shattered one of the car windows and struggled with the assailant. But when deputies arrived, little Devon Epps was dead on the ground next to the car, his mother on a cell phone with a 911 dispatcher. An autopsy indicted the boy had been strangled.
Now, more than a month after the Aug. 12 killing, the case remains unsolved. And the worry that once filled Greenville has sharpened into questions about his mother’s account. The case has also revived vivid memories of another mother named Smith — Susan Smith — who told a similar tale.
In the hours after the killing, police dogs and helicopters searched the woods where Amanda Reagan Smith said the attacker had fled. Sketches of a suspect she described were posted in businesses and neighborhoods.
Sheriff’s deputies say they are pursuing more than 60 leads in Devon’s death, and forensic tests are still being performed on the car where his mother said he was killed.
“It’s one of those situations where we are just having to exhaust every lead that comes in,” sheriff’s Lt. Shea Smith said. “We’re not calling the mother a suspect at this time, but certainly we are looking at the whole investigation. We’re not ruling out any possibility at this point.”
In 1994, about an hour east of Greenville, a woman named Susan Smith reported that she had been carjacked by a man who escaped with her sons.
Smith went on national television to beg for the boys’ safe return. Days later, she confessed to strapping them into their car seats and letting her vehicle roll into a lake, where they drowned. She was sentenced to life in prison.
Attorney Tommy Pope, who as a prosecutor sought the death penalty for Susan Smith, said the most recent carjacking scenario gives “pause for concern.”
“Arguably if the goal was to have the car, he had the car,” Pope said in an interview. “A child would be the least likely target in that scenario. Stranger things have happened, but it begs a number of questions.”
Andrea Regan Smith’s relatives declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press and refused to have her talk about the case.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
46, Peter O
Whatever happened, neither police force seems in a hurry to reveal details, if they know.
It is enough to make anyone’s imagination run riot.