NANCY GRACE

 Search for Madeleine McCann Continues

Aired May 18, 2007 - 20:00:00   ET

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/18/ng.01.html

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Millions have joined the search for 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, missing now for two weeks from a luxury vacation with her family. findmadeleine.com set up by the McCann family to aid the search for Maddie receiving over 65 million hits.

Rewards offered by businessmen, famous athletes and ordinary individuals total more than $5 million. Maddie vanishes from a bedroom after her parents leave her alone with her 2-year-old twin siblings to go to dinner. Investigators focus on the area near the resort where Maddie went missing. Police Tuesday identified 33-year-old Robert Murat as a formal suspect.

But said they didn`t have enough evidence to charge him. Maddie`s parents, Kate and Gerry, criticized for leaving the children alone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her face stares out from tens of thousands of posters, and millions have logged on to her Web site. Today, the search for Madeleine McCann has gone truly global. The site that`s raising awareness about her abduction has received 60 million hits since it was set up this week. It`s part of a mass movement involving thousands of people with just one aim: to find Madeleine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: This now-4-year-old baby girl missing from a luxury resort vacation, 60 million hits on the Find Maddy Web site. The world is watching and wondering why she was left alone as her parents went to a dinner party.

Straight out to Emily Smith, the U.S. editor of "The Sun," what`s the latest, Emily?

EMILY SMITH, "THE SUN": Well, the latest is the police have a suspect, but they don`t have enough to charge him yet. But there`s a lot more information coming out, but still nothing to the whereabouts of where little Maddy is.

GRACE: Is it true that this suspect had a secret room in his home and he lived pretty much across the street from baby Maddy?

SMITH: Yes, he lived 100 yards from the apartment where she was staying with her parents. And the house has been searched. And in there, they have found a room, a basement room, but we don`t believe that they have found anything in that room that leads us to Maddy.

GRACE: What made him a suspect to start with, Emily Smith? Emily joining us, she`s the U.S. editor of "The Sun." I understand he suddenly was on the scene acting as a translator voluntarily. Is it true that he said something that drew attention to him?

SMITH: Well, what he did was, he initially was working as a translator with the police and the parents of Madeleine, helping them out. And he was also speaking to journalists down there on the scene, as well.

And eventually, people began to get suspicious. He began talking about his own 4-year-old daughter who he wasn`t able to see now because they were in a custody battle. He didn`t want to give his full name. He seemed to be hanging around a little bit too much and asking too many questions.

GRACE: Emily Smith, is it true that he suddenly wanted a rental car right around the time of her disappearance and told the rental agency he needed it fast?

SMITH: That`s right. He already had two cars. He lives with his mother. His mother has a van. He has his own gold Kia. And then, suddenly, on Saturday, he called a car rental agency and said, "I need a car, and I need it fast."

GRACE: Out to you, Dr. Patricia Saunders, clinical psychologist, this is a luxury resort, a lot of security. The parents were about 50 yards away. Every night, about eight parents would put their kids to bed and go to dinner at an outdoor tapas bar. They could get appetizers. They could see the front door of the downstairs condominium in which they were renting. Do people let their guard down too much on vacation?

DR. PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Unfortunately, they do, Nancy. And being on vacation doesn`t mean you`re on vacation from your parental responsibilities. When people are on vacation, they kind of move into a trance-like state. They feel safe, and they`re lulled into a feeling of security, which obviously is not realistic.

GRACE: And back to you, Emily -- Emily, U.S. editor with "The Sun" -- I understand that the borders were not really checked or didn`t become a focal point for police until 15 hours later. How far away is the border -- this resort is Portugal -- from the resort?

SMITH: They could be across the border within two- or three-hours drive. I mean, the problem was that the police...

GRACE: I`m sorry, I couldn`t hear you. Did you say two or three hours?

SMITH: Yes.

GRACE: That`s like driving from Connecticut to Rhode Island. I mean, it`s not far at all.

SMITH: No, not at all. And the problem is the police didn`t classify this as an abduction. She was seen as a missing person, so there wasn`t an alert until 24 hours later.

GRACE: And, Emily Smith, is it true that his computers were taken and some videos were taken from his home?

SMITH: Yes, this is a British man who lives with his mother very nearby. And they`ve raided the house. They`ve taken his computers, a lot of files, videos, clothes, even soil samples, and they`re working through those at the moment.

GRACE: Soil samples? Out to you, Bernadine in Illinois. Hi, Bernadine.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: How are you, dear?

CALLER: Oh, I`m just fine. I`m just very upset about this little girl.

GRACE: Me, too.

CALLER: I cannot understand why parents would leave them children in a room alone and go have dinner.

GRACE: Back out to you, Dr. Patricia Saunders. You know, these parents, apparently both doctors, both physicians, had tried for a long time to have children, had to go to infertility treatments, the whole works. Finally had the children, then had twins. The mom had cut back on her practice in order to spend time with the children. What happened, Dr. Saunders?

SAUNDERS: Well, clearly they loved Madeleine, but they were with three other couples. Apparently they were doing this every night, so it`s group pressure, kind of like a group fantasy that everything`s right with the world and our babies are going to be safe. People need to wise up: This is a dangerous world.

GRACE: And back to Emily, what can you tell us about the search effort now, $5 million and climbing on the reward?

SMITH: Well, the search effort is truly international now. They have a Web site, as you said earlier, that`s had 60 million hits. There`s posters going out all over the place. Tomorrow in England, there`s a very big soccer game, and Madeleine was a huge soccer fan -- is a huge soccer fan, and said there will be videos played during that that could reach an audience of 450 million. Her parents and everybody are doing as much as they can in the hope that we find Madeleine and we find her alive.

GRACE: And question: What are the parents` explanations for leaving her alone to attend a dinner party?

SMITH: Well, they checked on her every hour. They went back at 8:00, at 9:00, and at 10:00 she was gone. Her twin brothers and sister was there lying in the bed, and Madeleine was gone. And I`m sure that`s a decision that they`ll regret for the rest of their lives.

GRACE: And where are the twins right now?

SMITH: They`re still with the parents. The parents remained in the resort, and they say they won`t leave until they have found Madeleine.

GRACE: We`ll stay on the case, baby Maddy. There is a Find Baby Maddy website. The reward tonight climbing over $5 million.