Aired September 7, 2007 - 10:00   ET

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hope of ever seeing his wife again. Then she turned up alive.
It is Friday, September 7th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

At the top this hour, a missing little girl and a shocking new development. A friend of Madeleine McCann's family says the mother has been named as a suspect. Under Portuguese law, someone named as a suspect has the right to certain legal protections not extended to a witness.

An even bigger shock may be a forensic discovery. The four-year- old's blood reportedly found in a rental car. Now according to a family friend, that car rented by Madeleine's parents more than three weeks after her disappearance.

Madeleine McCann vanished in May during a family vacation to Portugal. Her parents had left her alone with her two-year-old siblings while they went out to dinner.

The family's plight has seized international attention. Her parents met with Pope Benedict at the Vatican and have enlist of supporting celebrities. Today, Madeleine's father is expected to face police questioning.

So here is a look at the timeline of the Madeleine McCann case. May 3rd, her parents report her missing. The next day the local police are criticized for slow response. Several days later, police say they've investigated 350 suspicious incidents. They say none have generated leads in the search. One week later, police identify a suspect. But, they say, there's not enough evidence to file charges. August 10th now, Gerry and Kate McCann say they won't leave Portugal until their daughter is found. That brings us to yesterday. Madeleine's mother faces 11 hours of police questioning.

 

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now from Portimao with the latest on this case.

And a lot of people waking up thinking what has happened in this search for the person who was involved in this. And now all fingers are pointing at the mother. Very interesting, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Betty. Yes, Kate McCann has been inside the police station for the past four hours this Friday. Now she was here for 11 hours for questioning on Thursday, but that was as a witness. The difference now is she is a formal suspect, according to the Portuguese police. They believe that they have enough evidence, enough forensic evidence, to be able to consider her a suspect and involved, possibly in some way, in the disappearance of her four-year-old daughter Madeleine.

Now we are also expecting at some point this afternoon -- we were expect it an hour ago -- the arrival of Gerry McCann, the husband. He also is coming in to undergo some questioning. At this point we believe he will be questioned as a witness. But certainly a surprising turnaround of events.

We also know from the spokesperson for the McCann family, they were talking to us earlier, saying that part of the reason they believe that they decided to treat Kate McCann as a suspect is because they found blood in the rental car that her and Gerry McCann had rented. But, bizarrely, they had rented it 25 days after Madeleine had been declared missing.

Now also hearing from the lawyer for the family. He is telling us that she may well be charged this evening -- that's Friday evening -- and may well be held in custody until that time. And also he said that there were more blood samples found on a piece of clothing that Kate McCann had given to the police about a month ago.

So this is what the evidence that the Portuguese police have. We're hearing nothing from them themselves. This is all coming from the family and their representatives. But at this point they believe they have enough to keep her in as a suspect.

NGUYEN: OK, Paula, just so that we can clarify just a little bit in this case as these developments are coming out, the mother is a suspect now, but both the mother and the father rented this vehicle, but at this point the father has not been named a suspect.

HANCOCKS: That's right. It's not entirely clear whose name this vehicle was in, but certainly it was said to us by the spokesperson that it was rented by the McCann family by the McCanns, meaning the parents. But we know that Kate McCann was here for 11 hours yesterday for this questioning as a witness. Now Gerry McCann is supposed to be on his way for his questioning as a witness as well. And at this point we have no indications.

The spokesperson said it is possible that he also could be a suspect, but didn't really want to go into that because she just didn't know. She said at this point it's just Kate McCann who is formally a suspect. Which, for her, it could actually be a protection legally because it means that the questions that the police now ask her, she's not legally obliged to answer them. Yesterday she was legally obliged to answer for 11 hours. Today for four hours she can remain silent.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us live with the latest in this story. And, of course, we'll be following it very closely. Thank you.

HARRIS: John Corner joins us now. He is a friend to the McCanns and the godfather to their twins.

John, good to talk to you.

What is your reaction to the news that Kate McCann is now a suspect in the disappearance of Maddie?

JOHN CORNER, FRIEND OF MCCANNS: Well, I'm appalled, but I'm also frustrated. You know, I've worked very, very hard with Kate and Gerry in the campaign to find our missing child and our missing Madeleine. And what we're worried about truly is that this investigation or this new line that the Portuguese police have taken is going to derail those real efforts.

You know, we were in Spain only a few weeks ago and dropping posters in different towns in Spain. And what we were amazed that is 50 percent of the people that we were approaching had never heard of Madeleine. And that's what we're up against right at street level of getting those posters out. And that advice had come to us from the U.S. The International Center for Missing and Exploited Children have been marvelous in their support and guidance and direction. They're the world experts. And they're saying to us, you know, six months in an average time. So hang on in there. Keep looking for Madeleine. And now this.

HARRIS: Well, John, I'm trying to understand here, Kate is now an official formal suspect. You believe she had nothing to do with this disappearance?

CORNER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARRIS: So why do you think she's a suspect? And have you heard -- you certainly are aware of the new evidence that seems to be pointing, at least the authorities, in her direction?

CORNER: Well, you know, whenever Kate and Gerry hear that there's new evidence or new technological evidence, it gives them hope because they think the Portuguese police are going to have a new breakthrough, it's going to lead us to whoever's abducted Madeleine. It's going to allow us to get her back home safely. And I think it's truly frustrating and exasperating. It's just dreadful that the mind set of the police is quite the opposite, that they're actually looking into the parents and not looking out, not doing the search, not doing the intensive work that we really need . . .

HARRIS: You would have been surprised -- John, you would have been surprised if the authorities hadn't looked at the parents, wouldn't you?

CORNER: Well, you know, Kate and Gerry were interviewed at some length in that first few days. Interviewed extensively. And that's good -- that due diligence, that's good practice. You know, all police forces do that. You look, you interview the parents, you clear them and you move on and we get out there and find Madeleine. And for us to come full circle after four months is just dreadful. It's (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: Well, how do you explain the apparent break-through in the case? You mentioned a break-through a moment ago. Well, there has been a break-through in the case, according to the authorities. How do you explain the blood in the rental car? A car rented more than 20 days after Maddie was reported missing? How do you explain it?

CORNER: It defies explanation, quite frankly. I have no idea. It flies in the face of common sense. I could speculate all day about that, but . . . HARRIS: Well wait a minute, John. I mean this is DNA evidence. This is DNA found in a rental car that was rented by the couple 20 days -- I'm just asking you, how do you explain it?

CORNER: It makes -- I can't explain it. It makes no sense. It makes no sense.

HARRIS: Do you or do you not . . .

CORNER: I just know that . . .

HARRIS: Do you not trust what the authorities are saying to you? Have you talked to Gerry or Kate about the new evidence?

CORNER: No, I haven't. Not about new evidence. Only about the police line of questioning last night. And, quite frankly, it makes no sense to me and I can't speculate on it. You know, it just -- it makes no sense at all.

HARRIS: So the authorities come back, let me just try this on you. The authorities come back to Kate and to Gerry because the question lingers, who leaves a three-year-old to watch two-year-old twins. Who does that?

CORNER: Well, you have to understand the situation. I think the only thing that Kate and Gerry are guilty of is a little bit of complacency. It's a very, very sleepy town. Well, it certainly was before the media . . .

HARRIS: Complacency? How about neglect?

CORNER: There has been police force (ph) . . .

HARRIS: How about neglect? How about child endangerment?

CORNER: Well, I disagree with that. I disagree with that. And if you talk to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, they disagree with that, too.

HARRIS: So as a general practice, it's OK with you, in your mind and the way you think for a three-year-old to be left to care for two- year-old twins?

CORNER: I'm not sure that's productive at this stage to talk about that. I mean, I've been to (INAUDIBLE). I've looked at it very carefully myself. And it literally was like sitting in your garden. That's how far away the apartment was.

HARRIS: OK. John Corner is a friend of the McCanns and, John, some tough questions to ask you, but we appreciate you stepping up to take those questions on for us.

CORNER: Yes.

 

HARRIS: OK, we're at the top of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.

But take a look at this, this is interesting. Kate McCann leaving the police station this morning, or this afternoon certainly in Portugal local time there. There was some question as to whether or not she would be held, as you no doubt know at this point. She is, by all reports, a formal suspect, a formal suspect in the disappearance of her daughter Maddie.

And just a short time ago, we saw her husband, Gerry, walk in through that same door to face some questioning as well. So, an interesting set of developments right now. There are the pictures from a short time ago of Gerry McCann walking in to face the authorities there in Portugal and answer some questions.