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Did Madeleine McCann suspect kill in Belgium?

Bruges prosecutors are investigating whether the new chief suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann can be linked to the murder of a German teenager in the Flemish resort of De Haan in 1996.  

Carola Titze was 16 when she was killed during her Belgian holiday.  Several days before her death she is said to have befriended a young German man at a disco.  The German boasted about his brushes with the judicial authorities.  Carola went for a walk on the beach on 5 July never to return.  The new suspect now in the picture for the Madeleine McCann disappearance is a German man serving a sentence for sexual assault.

A week after Carola’s disappearance her badly mutilated body was discovered in the sand dunes.  The investigation homed in on the German she had met at the disco.  An identikit photo was publicised, but the suspect was never identified. 

The formal investigation into Carola’s killing was closed in 2016, but Belgian investigators are still able to look into new developments. 

Mayor Wilfried Vandaele of De Haan:  “A shockwave went through our community when the body of Carola Titze was found in woodland in the dunes in 1996.  Of course, we too want the perpetrator to be found at long last. Let’s hope the German investigation can provide greater clarity.”

Our video shows pictures of the search for Carola in 1996 and the identikit image of the young German wanted in connection with her slaying.

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