Missing child, Madeleine McCann, in Epstein files, leads to decades-old image resembling Ghislaine Maxwell being reexamined

The name of missing British child Madeleine McCann has surfaced in newly released Epstein files, and many are now speculating that Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, could be involved in her disappearance.

Meanwhile, some are now reexamining a 2009 E-fit witness composite image generated by private investigators involved in McCann’s search that many claim resembles Maxwell, seeing it as further proof there’s an Epstein link.

However, authorities have not established any verified connection between the McCann case and Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal network, and the claims circulating online remain unproven.

The McCann reference in Epstein-related files

Among the documents drawing attention is an account released by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The excerpt reads in part:

In September 2009 I was living in [redacted]. I turned off from my street onto the main road and found myself walking behind a woman and a little girl. When I got up close to the girl I noticed she looked like Madeline McCann. The woman was trying to hurry her along and seemed agitated that I was there. The little girl held her hand over her right eye the whole time. Didn’t think about it for years till [I] saw the FB post about Ghislaine Maxwell. The woman I saw looked just like Ghislaine Maxwell.”

The tipster said the sighting was reported to police at the time and later resurfaced after seeing social media theories alleging Maxwell had abducted McCann.

One reason the account has drawn so much attention is McCann’s distinctive eye feature: a rare marking in her right eye known as coloboma, which created a visible dark line in her pupil, widely publicized by her family and investigators in appeals for information after her disappearance in 2007.

There is no indication in the public record that law enforcement substantiated the reported 2009 sighting or linked it to Maxwell.

The “Victoria Beckham lookalike” image

Separately, an E-fit image — essentially a witness composite generated by private investigators working for McCann’s family — from around the time of her disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, has been reexamined online. The image—sometimes described as showing a “Victoria Beckham lookalike”—depicts a dark-haired woman in the resort area in May 2007.

The photograph was originally circulated as part of broader efforts by Portuguese and British police to identify potential witnesses in the area following Madeleine’s disappearance. It was one of numerous leads reviewed as investigators pursued multiple theories over nearly two decades.

In recent years, some social media users have speculated that the woman resembles Maxwell. However, authorities have never publicly identified the woman in the photograph as Maxwell, nor have investigators tied the image to Epstein’s circle.

What happened to Madeleine McCann?

McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from a holiday apartment while her parents dined nearby. The case became one of the most high-profile missing child investigations in modern history, drawing international attention.

In 2020, German prosecutors identified Christian Brückner as a suspect in the case, though he has not been charged in connection with McCann’s disappearance. The investigation remains open.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges related to Epstein’s abuse of underage girls and is serving a 20-year sentence. Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial.

To date, the reference to McCann in Epstein-related materials appears to stem from an unverified tip rather than a documented operational link between the cases. Despite renewed attention to the eye detail and the Praia da Luz photograph, no official investigation has confirmed any connection between McCann’s disappearance and Epstein or Maxwell.