Ever since then 4-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing from an apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, while her parents were out having dinner, her case became “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history.”

Sadly, 15 years later, no one knows where Madeleine could be or whether she’s still alive, although her parents and her family never lost hope of ever seeing her again.

On May 12, 2022, what would have been her 18th birthday, her devastated parents shared a heart-wrenching message. “We love you and we’re waiting for you and we’re never going to give up.”

The investigation around her disappearance continues up until this day and her mom and dad, who were considered suspects at one point, say they never lost hope of finding their daughter.

Back in 2020, detectives who are working on Madeleine’s case said how they believe the girl had been murdered. German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters allegedly said that he believes the suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner, didn’t move the girl from Praia da Luz to Germany as many believe, but executed her in Portugal, as reported by the Evening Standard Newspaper. “I am optimistic we will solve this case,” Wolters added.

The prime suspect in the case, German pedophile Christian Brueckner, 44, is currently serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old American in Praia da Luz in 2005. At the same time, he’s awaiting a trial for a separate case in which he’s charged for raping an Irish tour rep in 2004.