A cop who worked on the original Madeleine McCann investigation is sure we will find out the truth, as German police "clearly know something."
Speaking to the Mirror hours after fresh searches for missing Madeleine began in Portugal, 16 years after she went missing, Jim Gamble said: "I absolutely believe that during my lifetime we will find out what happened to Maddie."
At the request of German investigators, Portuguese police were seen extensively searching the surrounding area of the Arade dam, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, where Maddie was last seen alive just before her fourth birthday in 2007.
The reservoir is said to be a favourite spot of convicted German rapist Christian Brückner, who is the number one suspect in her murder.
Child safety expert Gamble, who led the UK's own review of the disappearance of Madeleine, says he declines most interviews but chose to say something today due to the development's significance.
He told the Mirror that the German Police statements are "uncharacteristic", as the language they are using suggests they are certain she is dead.
He continued: "From my point of view, the German police clearly know something. They have a level of confidence when they talk about their suspect and Madeleine's death.
"But they have not shared specific reasons with the public, as you don't want to give your suspect any more information than you have to until you're ready to charge them."
Brückner is currently in jail in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in the same resort Maddie vanished from and has been charged with the rape of an Irish holiday rep.
He has always denied any involvement.
But Gamble says the evidence against Brückner is "all very powerful."
However, he also cautioned: "It's really important that everyone keeps an open mind. Yes, he's an excellent suspect. But up to it until he's charged people need to be consciously aware that it could be someone else.
"Anyone that was in Portugal at the time 16 years ago, or who was in the vicinity of the reservoir in the days that followed Madeleine's disappearance, really does need to think back and think ‘Did I see anything?’"
Portuguese broadcaster SIC said: “Investigators know suspect Christian Brückner used to come to this dam regularly. He would call it his little paradise and would often spend the night here. He was seen here often."
The area was already searched twice in 2008 by divers hired by a private Portuguese lawyer.
The searches brought no results, but Gamble says this time around it is different as it is a law enforcement-led search.
"The German police now have active lines of inquiry and advancement of technology. Any land-based searches or indeed anything found in the water can be forensically interrogated in ways that might not have been quite so easy 16 years ago", he said.
Gamble says if Brückner or anyone else has murdered Madeleine, then it would be very difficult to "completely and comprehensively" dispose of a body.
SIC said: "Any biological traces have likely disappeared because of the waterways in the area, but investigators could be looking for other elements, such as objects or clothes that could serve as evidence.
But Gamble believes that even if they find the "smallest, minuscule fragment of bone" new DNA advances would produce an identity.
He continued: "It is really difficult to say whether there will be any preserved evidence, but as I've said, there's every likelihood that the bones may well be intact.
You always feel hope when something else breaks, having been involved in the start I am fuelled by hope... hope that something will happen that gives the parents peace that exposes the truth about what happened to Madeleine."
Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents, from Leicestershire, said on the 16th anniversary of her disappearance earlier this month that they too have not given up hope.
And on Maddie's 20th birthday on May 12th, they told her: "We love you and we're waiting for you. We're never going to give up."
