No matter who we are, everyone will have regrets in their life. Sometimes, those regrets can haunt us for many years and make it hard to sleep at night.
One famous woman who feels regret is the mother of a British toddler who disappeared while the family was on vacation in the Algarve region of Portugal in 2007.
Kate McCann, the mother of Madeleine McCann, has always held something heavy in her heart that was hard to bear. It was a regret she had, and she talked about it four years after her three-year-old daughter disappeared.
This incident took place in 2017, when the little girl was in the family’s hotel apartment while her parents were dining nearby. They were at a restaurant where they could keep an eye on the apartment, but when they returned, Madeleine was gone.
Around 10 PM, Kate went back to check on the three kids at the place. She discovered that Madeleine was missing, and this has been a struggle that continues even after 18 years.
Since that time, the couple has been running many campaigns to find out information about where their daughter might be. Several books have been released, and some even share details about what has happened in the investigation.
Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search For Her was a memoir published in 2011, where Kate shared everything she could recall about the night her little girl went missing. She also revealed a ‘bitter regret’ that she and her husband still carry to this day.
Kate talked about the time she and Gerry asked for a dinner table at the Ocean Club restaurant in the resort. They wanted to be able to see their holiday home, where their little girl and twins were sleeping.
After they learned that their little girl was missing, she found out that one of the restaurant staff had written a note about their reservation. This made them realize that there were children left unsupervised in the apartment.
She wrote: “To my horror, I saw that, probably in all innocence and just to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat near our apartments because we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them from time to time.
“We now deeply regret it and will carry that regret for the rest of our lives.”
This week, a new documentary came out, and people are once again thinking about this strange disappearance. The documentary, ‘Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence’, talks about some disturbing evidence found in 2016 that suggests the toddler is no longer alive.
Several images were shown to viewers of some items that were found in an abandoned factory. That factory belonged to a German man, Christian Bruckner, who is also a convicted sex offender. He was named as a suspect in 2020.
USB drives and a hard drive were found, and this was mentioned in the documentary. Some other young kids, believed to be around four to five years old, were seen on those devices.
They also discovered some masks at the location, unregistered guns, toys for kids, and as many as 75 swimsuits for children. So far, the McCanns have not publicly commented on the documentary, but they did release a statement marking nearly 20 years since their daughter went missing.
“As we reach the 18th anniversary of Madeleine’s kidnapping, we want to thank our loyal supporters once again for being with us and always remembering Madeleine.
“The years seem to fly by even faster, and while we don’t have any big news to share, our commitment to ‘leave no stone unturned’ remains strong. We will do everything we can to make this happen.”
Kate and her husband also reminded everyone who follows the case that May is the month their daughter was born. She would have turned 22 years old this year.
The couple concluded their message: “No matter how close or far she is, she is always right here with us, every day, but especially on her special day. We keep ‘celebrating’ her as the beautiful and unique person she is. We miss her.”