Buried deep in the newly released Epstein files is a 2009 witness report describing the sighting of a young girl who “looked like Madeleine McCann,” allegedly walking with a woman who “looked just like Ghislaine Maxwell.”
Madeleine McCann was just 3 years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann — 40 and 39 at the time — had gone to dinner with friends at a restaurant roughly 100 yards from the apartment where Madeleine and her two‑year‑old twin siblings were sleeping. When Kate returned to check on the children, Madeleine was gone.
Police were called immediately, and staff and guests searched through the night as border authorities and airport personnel were placed on alert.
Portuguese investigators initially said they believed Madeleine had been kidnapped and issued a description of a man reportedly seen carrying a child that evening.
The case quickly became “the most heavily reported missing‑person case in modern history,” drawing global media attention, extensive police resources, and years of follow‑up inquiries. Despite international cooperation and multiple leads, the child has never been found.
Maddie’s name in Epstein files
Nearly 19 years later, Madeleine’s name surfaced unexpectedly in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecution and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 conviction on child sex trafficking charges.
The reference appears in a single witness statement contained within millions of pages of filings unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The statement, dated July 7, 2020, was written by an unidentified witness in the UK who claimed to have seen the young girl in the fall of 2009 and reported it at the time to local police.
“In September 2009 I was living in [redacted] road. It was a Sunday and very quiet. I turned off from my street onto the main road and found myself walking behind a woman and a little girl,” the witness wrote.
‘Held her hand over her right eye’
“There was also a middle‑aged man with them, but he was walking much further ahead.
“When I got up close to the girl I noticed she looked like Madeleine 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 we were walking. She kept turning around to look at me…”
The statement, submitted to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC), continued: “Didn’t think about it for years till I saw the FB post about [Ghislaine] Maxwell and the theory of her taking Madeleine McCann. The woman I saw looked just like Ghislaine Maxwell. I reported the sighting to the police but thought I would report it to you as well.”
One detail has drawn particular attention: the child “held her hand over her right eye.” Madeleine had a rare eye condition called coloboma — a key‑shaped mark in her right pupil that the Cleveland Clinic says can cause light sensitivity. Her distinctive eye has been repeatedly highlighted in public appeals.
Posh Spice lookalike
The renewed attention around the document has also revived interest in earlier leads from 2009, including an Electronic Facial Identification Technique (e‑fit) image commissioned by private investigators working for the McCann family.
At the time, British media reported on a composite image of a woman described as a “Victoria Beckham lookalike,” believed to be between 30 and 35.
That same year, both Beckham and Maxwell had short, black hairstyles.
The reported sighting placed the woman in Barcelona just days after Madeleine vanished, prompting investigators to pursue leads beyond Portugal.
However, no law enforcement agency has confirmed any connection between the image and Maxwell, and officials have not indicated that the lead changed the direction of the investigation.
‘Production may include fake’ information
Despite renewed online debate, authorities in both the United States and the United Kingdom have stated that the reference does not amount to verified evidence linking Madeleine’s disappearance to Epstein or Maxwell. “This production may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos, as everything that was sent to the FBI by the public was included in the production that is responsive to the Act,” the DOJ stressed in a press release.
The statement is one isolated account within a massive trove of documents. It has not prompted new investigative action, nor has any official agency indicated that it substantiates a connection between the McCann case and Epstein’s crimes.
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