On May 3rd, 2007 a three-year-old named Madeleine McCann disappeared while on vacation with her family in Portugal. It was reported that her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were eating dinner with friends 100 yards away from Madeleine and their twin children when the abduction occurred. Once news spread of the tragedy million-dollar rewards were offered by both J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) and Richard Branson (an airline tycoon), but with no luck.
On April 25th, 2012 the Metropolitan Police released a statement that due to new evidence they believe that Madeleine McCann may still be alive, therefore they are seeking to reopen the case. The investigators stated that they had “uncovered what they believe to be ‘genuinely new material,’” which has led to hundreds of opportunities for further inspection. At this point the Metropolitan Police are hopeful because for the first time since the investigation began they are allowed to review information from all sources involved with the original case. This means that all investigative materials obtained from the Portuguese police, British law enforcement agencies, and private investigators hired by the McCann family will be subject to review.
Despite international publicity, the original investigation was formally closed in July 2008. In May of last year, the McCann family pled for Prime Minister David Cameron to begin another investigation with the Metropolitan Police. Cameron agreed and the detectives on this case have been going through roughly 100,000 pages of material generated from the original investigation hoping that fresh eyes will help solve this awful mystery.
SOURCE: The New York Times
Forensic artist Teri Blythe, via the Metropolitan police, released an aged progressed image of Madeleine McCann at age nine, five years after her abduction. That image can be viewed here: http://www.findmadeleine.com/index.html.
Age progression is a technique used to produce an image of how a person may look many years after the last available photo was taken. http://www.teriblythe.co.uk/. But it takes more than just simple photo manipulations to produce an accurate representation of what a person looks like. Rather, forensic artists like Blythe apply the science of aging in order build an image of how the missing person might look today. In Madeline’s case, Blythe used photographs of her mother when she was young in order render an image of how Madeline might look at the same age. Moreover, age progressed images deliberately keep clothing and hair generic, so as to not detract from facial appearance.
Yet, while the forensics of age progressed imaging is certainly fascinating, the real power of an age progression lies in the generation of publicity- which may provide new information for the police to work with.
Please read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/shortcuts/2012/apr/25/sad-ageing-madeleine-mccann.