Nearly 20 years after three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished during a family vacation in Portugal, a new Channel 4 documentary is shedding fresh light on the case—and possibly bringing investigators one step closer to answers. Madeleine McCann: Unseen Evidence suggests that Christian Brueckner, the longtime prime suspect, may have confessed to the abduction during a conversation at a music festival back in 2008.

Brueckner, who has not been charged in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance, has a deeply troubling history. In 2019, he was convicted of raping a woman in Praia da Luz—the same coastal town where Madeleine went missing in 2007. During a 2016 search of his home, German authorities uncovered graphic images, children’s swimsuits, and disturbing writings about child abduction. Although no direct evidence has tied him to Madeleine’s case, German prosecutors believe she is no longer alive.

The potential confession allegedly occurred at a Spanish music festival, where Brueckner made unsettling comments to an old acquaintance. The man later recalled how Brueckner seemed to slip up while talking about Madeleine, raising new suspicions.

For the McCann family, the possibility that someone has known the truth all this time is both devastating and deeply unsettling.