years of Anxiety, of hope and disappointment, grief and, sometimes, even the cautious Confidence, may now have an end - albeit a negative one. In the famous case of Briton Madeleine McCann, who disappeared at the age of three in Portugal, and after that, never to be seen again, has opened up a new track. The Federal criminal police office announced on Wednesday evening that the state's attorney of Braunschweig is investigating a 43-year-old man from Germany. Also the ZDF-show "aktenzeichen XY" reported on Wednesday evening by the new development.

This man was now in the focus of the investigation. He was met with a convicted sex offender and had his last domicile in Braunschweig. At the time he had been in the Region residing in the Maddie McCann disappeared. He currently seats for any other fact in prison.

• More to the topic: Since 2007, the miss - murder-investigation against the German in the case of Maddie McCann

it is reported How the British media treat the investigating Prosecutor's office in Braunschweig the case as a murder investigation, if confirmed so, that would mean that Maddie is dead. So 13 years have search to an end. A search that began on the Morning after the Disappearance of Maddie, and dozens of twists and turns took.

chronology of events:

3. May 2007: Madeleine disappears from a luxury holiday complex in Praia da Luz on the Portuguese Algarve coast. The parents, a British medical Doctors-Some were in the vicinity of the resort at dinner. Their three children, the three-year-old Madeleine and two-year-old twins, left her asleep.

7. May 2007: In the British television Madeleine's mother pleads with a possible kidnapper, the child is free. The parents consult with a media campaign to the Public. Photos of the blonde Maddie go around the world. Shortly thereafter, footballer David Beckham calls for help. Celebrities from four million Euro reward for clues.

15. May 2007: The police suspected a British. He denies the allegations.

5. August 2007: cadaver dogs have discovered the traces of which suggest that Madeleine died in the hotel room. The tracks do not come, but probably from the girl. Nevertheless, the investigators believe that Madeleine died in the apartment. The investigators focused on the parents and their Acquaintances.

6. September 2007: , Both parents are now officially considered as Suspects. According to media, the police believe that it was an "accident" and hid the body.

July 2008: , The Portuguese police in the investigation without result. For a crime there is no evidence. The case was not, however, put to the files.

January 2009: A Team of former investigators from Scotland Yard has made on behalf of the parents on the search for Madeleine, such as media reports. The action is financed by a wealthy business man.

may 2009: Two years after Maddie's supplication to Disappear her parents of the possible kidnapper to release her daughter. You can use a conversation with the US talk show Queen Oprah Winfrey, the millions of viewers to see.

March 2010: The parents request to inspect discovery documents that should be withheld from the Portuguese police so far.

March 2011: Madeleine's parents protest in vain against the sale of a book written by the Portuguese Ex-chief investigator Gonçalo Amaral on the case. He represents the core of the Thesis, that the child died in 2007 in a holiday hotel for the family in Portugal and has not been kidnapped. The parents would have had something to do with the Disappearance.

may 2011: The mother of Kate McCann released a book with her Version of the story. In the memoir, she describes, among other things, their agonies and turmoil, after the Disappearance of their daughter that she had brought to the brink of collapse. To the outside it had occurred, but always in focus. In mid-may 2011, the UK police announces, to investigate the case again. The investigation files were reviewed, announces Prime Minister David Cameron.

25. April 2012: The British police declared that Maddie may still be alive and publishes the images, as the then-three-year-old today might look like.

July 2013: The search continues>: Scotland Yard have identified 38 "persons of interest" in an internal investigation – fest is not to be expected, however, still be increased.

September 2013: A British man is arrested after he had told people about at a Party that he had seen Maddie alive on an island in the Mediterranean sea. The investigation, however, no concrete suspicion.

16. October 2013: The parents of Maddie are in the ZDF-Show "aktenzeichen XY" to the guest and hope for new clues to the Disappearance of their daughter.

24. October 2013: Portuguese investigators to open an investigation new.

January - April 2014: the British and Portuguese investigators to identify multiple potential Suspects who have been around the time of Maddie's Disappearance in the Region. All of the investigations petered out.

27. July 2015: , After a child was found in a suitcase in Australia, and at first suspicions were raised that this Maddie could be found a study, that it was Maddie.

March 2019 Four years is a lavishly produced documentation to the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann's to come in the investigators and other third Parties, passed more or less uneventfully, then released Netflix. The parents, however, are not. In the documentary, many questions remain unresolved.

03. June 2020: Against the Background that the investigations in the last years were rather poor, had announced the news, the presenter Rudi Cerne in the "aktenzeichen XY"programme on Tuesday evening, however, surprising, and sensational. A new trail leads to Germany, a convicted sex offender, the resident had last met in Braunschweig am, therefore, now in the centre of the investigation, such as the Federal criminal police office said.