Friday 20 June 2008

FBI Agent Analyzes McCann Case

View This Link To Watch Video Footage:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=4766445&page=1

"20/20" co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas recently spoke with former FBI Special Agent and profiler Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant, who discussed the details surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.


Elizabeth Vargas talks to Brad Garrett about the McCann case on 11.14.2007.

Reports said the Portuguese police arrived on the scene soon after Madeleine vanished, and left soon after, a fact Garrett called "unusual." Garrett, who has worked on several high-profile missing persons cases, including that of Chandra Levy in Washington, D.C., said investigators would typically form a "command post right inside the resort. You start collecting information, and everything comes back to a lead detective in a room, and that's how you go through the information. You prioritize what needs to be done. ... You want to be right in the middle of the action so you can make snap decisions as to what should be done at any given time."
Garrett added, "You put people in places like airports, ports for boats" and you secure the scene as well as the resort so that everyone coming in and out is vetted.

From his experience, Garrett said that typically, in an investigation like this, the police would obtain and review surveillance tapes from the resort and any surrounding areas. And police would generally have a set team of law enforcement in place from the very beginning.

"Every case that I've worked like this you usually have a case agent, an FBI case agent and a lead detective," he said. "They sit right next to each other, and they work from that location, and everything comes back to them to make decisions on what should be done."

It would have been helpful in the McCann case, Garrett said, to know which cabs arrived at the resort. Additionally, he said police should have spoken with the entire staff at the resort to figure out if there were any people working there who had a history with missing children. "People get hired and there's limited background done on them," he said.

At times, the McCanns expressed little emotion during public appearances related to the case. Reports emerged that they had been advised by law enforcement not to break down in public. Garrett confirmed that "there is a belief in the world of criminal profiling that by keeping a very steady pace and talking in an authoritative but not condescending manner that you're sending a message out" to whoever may have abducted the child.

"You want to keep calm," he said. "The last thing you want is for them to get excited. They see this hysteria, that's one side of it. The other is some of these guys get kicks out of watching parents suffer on camera."

Garrett said Madeleine could have been taken by someone looking to adopt a blond 4-year-old attractive child. In these types of scenarios, "they actually have somebody go out and look for the child," Garrett said. Adoptive parents also might go to an agency that's unscrupulous and abducts children, he said.

But how could someone take Madeleine from her room without anyone hearing her cry or making noise?


Garrett said there are a few explanations. The McCanns have said that their children sleep quite soundly and that the twins apparently slept through the abduction. They even slept through the police coming into the room, the couple said.
Another theory?

Madeleine might have known her abductor, Garrett said. Somebody might have independently befriended her, possibly someone who works at the resort, he said.

11 comments:

Rosiepops said...

Just in case you missed the link on the front for this story here it is again

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=4766445&page=1

It is well worth viewing, very interesting, to get an FBI profiler's professional point of view, instead of all the absolute garbage, lies and innuendos spouted by Vile and her gang.

dianeh said...

This is an excellent article, which takes a good look at the case of Madeleine and what happened to her.

It must be remembered that the profiler is American, so this is a fair and balanced view, from someone with the skills to make a judgement on the events.

And interestingly what does he say. He questions the processes of the PJ and not that Madeleine was abducted.

In the video, he also talks about the different theories, which is very interesting. And the McCanns harming Madeleine is not one of his theories. Watch the vido for why he thinks this.

Rosie is correct, it is very interesting and refreshing to hear someone talk honestly and fairly and with the authority of a professional. And so completely different from the crap posted on the Vile blog. Strange that the professional, with the ability and experience to make a balanced judgement sees the whole situation completely different to a bunch of people with no experience in this area, who post on a McCann hate blog.

Rosiepops said...

Hi Diane,

He spent time taking the PJ to task for their gross incompetence and Brad Garrett FBI former Special Agent and profiler, becomes another in the very long line of professionals, to publicly slate the Portuguese police and to agree that Madeleine was abducted. We are talking about people whose careers, actually involve working on high profile missing persons and missing children cases.
I have not heard of one professional that says that Madeleine died in that apartment by the hands of her parents.
If the McCann's are acting then they should be awarded an Oscar, every single month for life, for outstanding characterisation.

When this much maligned couple can see their files, is when the lid will really start to come off of this case.

The PJ have done nothing much but whinge about the British press, probably because they found they cannot control the British press like they can their own, by feeding them nonsense. I have to say if they think our press have been bad so far, oh dear, they haven't seen anything yet.

I also think that the British press will be very interested in the files of Robert Murat, especially those papers that he has said he is going to sue!

I found it very interesting the read what Garrett said about how,

"investigators would typically form a "command post right inside the resort. You start collecting information, and everything comes back to a lead detective in a room, and that's how you go through the information. You prioritize what needs to be done. ... You want to be right in the middle of the action so you can make snap decisions as to what should be done at any given time."

The Portuguese police/Goncalo Amaral decided to set a new trend in these investigations and set up a command post from his bed, so he could combine sleeping with doing his job!

This pig ignorant insensitive man went home and actually went to bed and slept soundly, while all hell was breaking loose in PDL, evidence being trampled on and ash dropped on it and lost forever. But more than this he left a couple who were absolutely distraught and panic stricken, unable to speak the language, foreigners on holiday in a strange country, he left them to wander the resort crying and pitifully calling out for their daughter.

I actually find this hard to think about without getting upset and it doesn't wear off, this feeling gets worse and my anger towards this fat pig of man increases each time I think of it.
This actually makes me go cold and shudder, how on earth can a man who apparently has to have a degree to do his, fall so badly short of the plate? How could he do this as a human being, let alone a detective whose job it was to find Madeleine.

I have great difficulty believing that a human being detective would have done this, this one fact alone, is the fact that started me thinking that all is not as it seems in PDL - Portugal.

Some people in Praia da Luz knew something that night, who are they? Does Goncalo Amaral know who they are? Does someone within the PJ actually know what happened to Madeleine?

This is what we will discover over the coming months, I firmly believe this. Whoever it was that tried to keep these files secret has just lost their first battle and it is downhill all the way for them from now on.

The papers will not be interested in the theories and the all the garbage the PJ have been feeding them over the past 14 months, they have done that already, there is no news in it anymore (if there ever was) the real story now will be the incompetence and the bungling of the PJ and all the missed leads and ignored witness information.

I feel that we will discover where Madeleine is.

I also feel that at last the question will be asked, why?

Why exactly did this astonishing inept police force, make bungle after bungle, after bungle?

What was the reason for this? This I feel is where the McCann's investigators will start and this is what the newspapers will ask.

Whoever it was that did what they did in PDL that night, I believe they still live there, they may as well admit it now, because I firmly believe their time is up and I hope it is burning in their sick depraved minds!

Hang on Madeleine, hang on baby, not long now.

xxx God Bless Madeleine xxx

dianeh said...

Rosie,

100% agree that when the secrecy order is lifted and the files opened, that the PJ will become the focus of many many investigative pieces. I think 2020 just to name one, is already planning a follow up piece to the one we are currently discussing. Followed closely by Skynews, BBC, and who knows who else. And the best part, they will be syndicated world wide.

Yes, I agree that the files will show just how pathetic those leaks and smears were from the PJ. Nothing to incriminate the McCanns. Cause if there was then they would have been charged already.

dianeh said...

As for the McCanns being left to wander the streets alone, calling out Madeleine's name. Makes a mockery of those liars that say they never even looked for her.

And the worst part, is that some of the people who started the rumours that they didnt look for her, knew that they had wandered the resort and town looking for her, by themselves, in despair.

Rosie, why do you think that such people started with the lies so early on in the investigation? It has always concerned me that such an effort was made to discredit the McCanns so early on. Why, why the smear campaign??? I also have wondered about the advice given to the McCanns so early on, to do things for themselves. Who gave them the advice to publicise Madeleine's disappearance themselves, without the PJ? It needed to be done,but that is I believe when things turned against the McCanns, when the smears and lies started. Of course, this is only my opinion.

children_deserve_protection said...

I know that I have compared the McCann case to the Lindy Chamberlain "dingo" case before, so perhaps people are getting sick of it, but I noticed this write-up about the DNA findings of the (Chamberlain) case and thought it may be appropriate to post here. Like the McCann case, the Chamberlain case was very complicated, and the DNA "evidence" was a big part of that complication. In fact, Lindy Chamberlain was sent to jail for three years on the basis of forensic evidence that was later found to be false. Here is an excerpt from this very interesting page:

..............................

This type of case is difficult, as it was based on circumstantial evidence, which required interpretation as to what it meant. That is why the first inquest and the Royal Commission had such a wide ranging investigation. Forensic work is not at all cut-and-dried like we see it on television programmes like CSI. As a small example, some have said, 'Why didn't you use DNA testing?', as if that would solve everything. The answer is, they did. But DNA testing on the clothing could only tell you who touched the clothing, not when. So, if the Crown Prosecutor touched the clothing at some point after they were found, then would you accuse him of murder? No, because you have to look at the circumstances. Forensic labs worldwide have improved skill and technique immensely since the Chamberlain case, but it can still go wrong, based on human bias, lack of skill, or prejudice.

http://www.lindychamberlain.com/content/legal/forensic

children_deserve_protection said...

Another quote from this site about the Chamberlain case:

............................

The first police officers on the scene from Alice Springs were taken off the case when they said the evidence showed a dingo was responsible.

.............................

Interesting. Why take these officers off the case? Who or what was determined to make this a murder case when it, in fact, was not?

Some things really ARE murder cases but this was not. So why bother drudging up a whole bunch of "evidence" that was never evidence in the first place?

chinadoll said...

The fact that during the course of an interview with an FBI profiler, the words 'Keystone Cops' are mentioned, speaks volumes.

No wonder the pj do not want an independent outside force to review their abortion of an investigation. Even without access to the files, the FBI profiler could see that the pj ignored just about every rule in the book in the crucial first hours and days of the investigation.

As the FBI profiler stated, it seems to be essential to follow/implement a minimum standard. With a child this young, it is imperative to freeze frame the location. The resort should have been closed down and every access sealed off.

Yes, the level of hysteria and crises, as Mr Garrett put it, was completely off the charts. The pj should have taken control and sealed off the apartment (in additon to the above)

The investigation should have been likened to a circle with the room and the apartment at the nucleus and the investigators should work outwards from the nucleus and covered every inch of the Mark Warner resort ie eliminate every circle painstakingly.

Why is it the pj do everything back to front, inside out, upside down? I have to wonder whether, because Amaral has gotten away with this shoddy incompetent method of investigation before, that he just assumed he would get away with it again, or , at the very least, he did not know any better and was seriously out of touch with modern police methods and protocols. Either way, Madeleine and her family, as guests in Portugal, were very seriously let down by the unacceptable sub standard investigative qualities of the pj.

Frankly, I am beginning to wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye. Why did the pj break just about every single rule in the book? Did they just assume that they could fall back on blaming the family, as they have clearly done in the past? Do they think that they and their damned reputations are above the law? Did they think they could hide their incompetence behind their secrecy laws forever?

For over a year now, the pj have done everything possible to smear and undermine this family. They have used tactics such as bullying and intimidation. They have leaked the most absurd stories to their media contacts and have promptly jumped behind the cloak of their secrecy laws, when those higher up in the command chain could have refuted same. They are a disgrace in uniform and a disgrace to their badge and country.

The pj have sat back and smirked at the pain and grief they have caused this family. Well, it will soon be the turn of the pj to be put under the microscope for the world to see/examine. The FBI profiler and his expert opinion on their tin pot methods is just the beginning. Put your seatbelts on pj - this is going to be a bumpy ride.

chinadoll said...

Oh and in addition to your seatbelts, do not forget your crash helmets, you are going to need them.

Mandz said...

Would Goncthedonk have turned down experts help if it was his daughter? His baby girl aged 3 years??? Would they have shut up shop and gone home early? Would the investigation have been such a blooming balls up?? Then why is his code of professional conduct not being questioned?

A very good interview from a professional. LET DOWN COMES TO MIND LET DOWN. A 3 year old badly let down. unforgivale unbelievable and a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

Good work rosie. Still hope the true will be made.

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