Three year old missing in Portugal

[Cookiely]

I have a question. Would you leave your three year old daughter and twin two year old sons in a hotel (family holiday) and go next door to eat at the restaurant? The parents said they were checking on the children frequently, but when they came back at eleven the shutters and window was open and the three year old girl was gone. I'm praying and I ask you to pray to for this childs safe return.

[southerngale]

No way!!

I'll pray for the child's safe return and then pray that a competent couple can adopt her. What were they thinking?

[Brent]

3 and 2???!!! Absolutely not... That is completely stupid...

[alicia-w]

LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Police searching for a four-year-old British girl who disappeared almost two weeks ago in southern Portugal have placed a man under formal investigation, a news report said Tuesday.

Portugal's national news agency, Lusa, quoted unnamed police sources as saying the man was one of three people questioned late Monday after detectives and forensic experts searched a villa near the hotel from where Madeleine McCann was apparently abducted.

Police officials at national headquarters would not confirm the report nor name anyone under investigation.

Under Portuguese law, opening a formal investigation is a first step toward possibly bringing formal charges.

The legal measure is designed to safeguard a citizen's constitutional rights. It grants the person in question access to potential evidence and allows the person to mount a legal defense.

Lusa also reported that police took computers and mobile phones from the villa, which is about 100 meters from the Ocean Club holiday village in Praia da Luz where the toddler was apparently taken from her hotel room May 3.

Detectives questioned the three in Portimao, the nearest large town to Praia da Luz, Lusa reported.

The girl vanished after her parents left her, and her brother and sister, both aged 2, alone while they went to a nearby restaurant within their hotel complex. Last week, police called off their ground search.

Her parents are still at the hotel.

British media have said that promised contributions to a reward fund total some 2.6 million pounds ($5.1 million), including reported donations from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, tycoon Sir Richard Branson and "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell.

Also, celebrities including soccer star David Beckham have made public appeals for help in finding Madeleine.

Asked how long they would stay in Portugal, Kate McCann said, "I can't even consider going home at the moment, absolutely can't even let it enter my head."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05 ... index.html

[Shelby6977]

I have to say that I am completly appalled at this. I wont let my 7 year old ride her bike in front of my house unless I am with her, let ALONE leave her in a Hotel Room while I go to dinner. The parents CLEARLY need to be in jail. My heart absolutely ACHES at the thought of what is or what HAS happened to this poor, innocent child because her parents are more concerned about dining out than taking care of their children.

[CajunMama]

Total irresponsiblity on the parents part. This just sickens me.