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The new theory about how Madeleine McCann was snatched from her family's holiday apartment.

 

Theories into the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann have been circulating since the three-year-old went missing in Portugal in 2007.

From the missing girl’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann to an unidentified sex trafficker (and everyone in between), followers of Madeleine’s missing persons case have pointed the finger at multiple suspects over the last 12 years.

Speculation and conjecture around who dunnit has only intensified since Netflix released its eight-part documentary series The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann just over a week ago (you can watch the full trailer below, post continues after video).

Video by Netflix

Now, viewers are convinced a word used to describe the toddler on the day she disappeared has everything to do with how she was taken.

The story of how Kate McCann discovered her daughter Maddie was missing has been widely documented in the media since the crime occurred.

At around 8.30pm on May 3, 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann left their three sleeping children in their holiday apartment in the quiet Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz and headed out for dinner.

They thought that Madeleine, three, and 18 month old twins, Sean and Amelie, would be safe just 83 metres from where they were dining at a tapas restaurant with the group of friends they were holidaying with. Throughout the evening, the adults took it in turns to check on the kids.

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At 10pm, it was Kate McCann’s turn. When she arrived at apartment 5A, she knew immediately something was wrong. Madeleine was gone.

Kate and Gerry McCann
Kate and Gerry McCann in 2007 with a photo of their missing daughter Madeleine, three. Image: Getty.

One of the biggest questions to come from the investigation is how Maddie's twin siblings Sean and Amelie weren't woken up by an intruder entering the room where the three children were sleeping, through a window with shutters.

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On Twitter, viewers have spoken about a new theory - that all three children were drugged at the resort's kids club where they'd spent the day before Maddie's disappearance.

In the Netflix documentary, multiple interviewees noted the McCann children, Madeline in particular, were extremely sleepy when they returned from the kids club. This isn't unusual. In fact, often the point of kids clubs at holiday resorts is to entertain and 'wear out' kids so parents can enjoy alone time of their holiday too.

Despite neither Kate nor Gerry McCann confirming this small detail - the McCann's refused to take part in the Netflix documentary, fearing it would impede the ongoing police investigation - a friend of Kate's who was holidaying with the McCann's at the time said Maddie was noticeably tired after the kids club.

So much so, the toddler requested to be carried home and was asleep before her mum could get through a bedtime story.

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"So what if [the kidnapper] had been watching Maddie, watched that the McCanns were leaving their apartment for dinner and checking every half an hour, then on the day she disappeared gave the three kids something to make them so tired they wouldn’t wake? Then went in after Gerry first checked on the kids, took Maddie easily as the kids had been drugged, sold her on etc? Just one theory," a Twitter user posted on this theory.

Another tweeted: "One theory - Kate's friends said Maddie was really tired coming back from the kids club. Possibly [someone] had his eye on her, drugged her earlier in the day to make sure she wouldn't kick up a fuss when she was snatched later in the evening."

"My opinion having watched episode 7/8 is that the McCann children were all sedated by someone (that’s why they were tired and didn’t wake when people were coming in and out of the flat) then someone abducted Maddie," wrote another Twitter user.

Whether or not this latest theory into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has legs is yet to be seen, much like many of the other theories into arguably the world's most infamous missing persons case.

Right now, the only thing we know for sure is a blonde, wide-eyed girl is still missing, and might never be found.

Have you watched the Netflix Madeline McCann documentary? What do you think?

For more stories on Madeleine McCann, you can read more here: