Nearly two decades after Madeleine McCann vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, the role of the specially trained sniffer dogs used in the investigation is once again under scrutiny.
At the time, cadaver dogs and blood detection dogs were brought in to search the apartment and surrounding areas. Reports claim that the animals alerted in several key locations, including inside the apartment and near a rental car used by the McCann family weeks after Madeleine disappeared.
But what did these alerts actually mean? Experts say dog indications can be helpful but must always be confirmed by forensic testing — and critics argue that some alerts were never followed up with conclusive lab results.
Supporters of the McCann family insist that the alerts alone cannot be treated as hard proof, while others believe they were a vital lead that should not have been dismissed so quickly.
Were the dogs pointing to crucial evidence that could have changed the case, or were their signals simply misunderstood? As investigators continue to re-examine old files, the debate over the dogs’ findings remains one of the most controversial aspects of this enduring mystery.