Valerie Lopes Blog

Valerie Lopes - An American Writer

FEBRUARY 5, 2009

The 3 arguidos & Madeleine McCann

I didn't expect my blog post about Madeleine McCann to spark debate, but it has. It was posted onto the 3 Arguidos forum and as of posting has received 252 responses. Just to clear up any confusion, I'm a writer not a rocket scientist - yes my theory was simplistic, but I'm not a conspiracy theorist, investigator or forensics expert. I wrote about MM for a few reasons. Her disappearance stunned me - not because she was gone (children disappear - it is tragic, but it happens) but because of the frenzy. When I first heard about her disappearance I quite literally couldn't believe the sturm and dram that was created. From the beginning I thought it was like smoke and mirrors.

The absurdity of some of the theories was almost insulting. An international gang of kidnap to order thugs? I couldn't understand why the simple was being passed over for the sensationalized. It was as if the magician was showing us the wiggling fingers of his right hand while the left passed off the hidden card to his assistant. Theories for the gullible and those who would rather believe than know. If she wandered off which is the most logical theory, then the parents would be 100% culpable. So this brouhaha was created to cover their irresponsible asses.

As a writer I've spent years studying motivation, body language and speech patterns. Subtle ticks, a tilt of the jaw and a nervous biting of the lips - these are things I know about. I couldn't look at the McCanns and not believe there was something deeper that wasn't being revealed. Including allowances for internal and external factors (nervousness, agitation, worry, anger, fear) that would be expected there was more. Even taking into account that they are medical doctors that are trained to respond to a crisis with steadiness and logic there was still something just not right. I understand I look at people like they're in a petri dish. I have for years. It's my favorite tool in my writers kit. If they were characters in a book I would build in just the same kind of ticks, twitches, verbal cues and tells the two have to indicate something wasn't quite right. I gave the McCann's a good look and their mannerisms are very telling.

My post was pure conjecture born from anger. I didn't base it on any hard evidence just a smattering of facts that I'd pulled from different sources. I'm angry these people left their children alone. It's arrogant and irresponsible. They have an air of entitlement and hubris that comes across very clearly. How dare anyone question our international gang of boogeymen theory? As I understand it they're in negotiations with Oprah... Oprah? Really? to cash in on her show. I know my own kids and what they would have done in the same situation. My daughter would have gotten out of bed and gone looking for me.

On the 3A forum I found some very interesting information. Clearly I'm not the only one that thinks something just isn't right. I'm not saying they murdered their daughter. I'm saying they should have been looked at a whole lot more closely than they were. It's as if they put themselves in a position of bullying and intimidating the investigators until they cowed. They created the potential for a ferocious backlash if anyone dared imply there was something abnormal about going to dinner with their chums and abandoning their children to their fates. Normal parents don't do this - the arrogant, foolish and entitled do this. Sounds like the McCann's to me.