PRAIA DA LUZ, Portugal —
Kate McCann marked the 14th day of the search for her missing daughter
Madeleine by attending a church service Thursday, while Portuguese police
released a local Russian computer expert questioned in connection with the
case.
Madeleine, aged 4, vanished after her parents left her, and her brother and
sister, both aged 2, alone in their room while they went to a tapas bar inside
their hotel complex in southern Portugal’s
Algarve
region, a popular European tourist destination.
Police said they questioned a Russian man who is believed to have had business
dealings with their only formal suspect in the case, 33-year-old Robert Murat,
a British man who lives close to the McCanns’ hotel.
The Russian, who has lived in the resort town Praia da Luz for several years,
was taken to a local police station by plain-clothes detectives late Wednesday.
They also took computer equipment from his apartment.
Inspector Olegario de Sousa told Portugal’s news agency Lusa the man
was released in the early hours of Thursday after providing a witness
statement.
Police have placed Murat under formal investigation, though they released him
after questioning earlier this week because they did not have enough evidence
to charge him.
Murat has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
