Dogs Don’t Lie

Clarence Mitchell confirms Madeleine’s death at the LSE event in London on January 30, 2008.

Originally written on 7th June 2008
Article by Dr Rosemary Claire Taylor MA MB BChir (Cantab)
Olfaction, the act or process of smelling, is the primary special sense possessed by dogs. A dog’s sense of smell is a thousand times more sensitive than humans. Dogs have more than 220 [...]

My professional opinion as regards to the EVRD’s alert indications is that it is suggestive that this is ‘cadaver scent’ contaminant. This does not however suggest a motive or suspect as cross contamination could be as a result of a number of given scenarios and in any event no evidential or intelligence reliability can be made from these alerts unless they can be confirmed with corroborating evidence.

Portuguese police believe Madeleine McCann died after falling down a flight of steps and that her parents panicked, hiding her body because they feared being blamed, it was claimed yesterday.

It was alleged that the four-year-old smashed the back of her head on a ceramic flagstone at her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

This gruesome case will stick out in my mind forever. The victim was originally reported to the police department as a missing persons. The case started to unravel when two boys who were out fishing reeled in a skull. The victim’s live-in boyfriend and father to their child was the prime suspect from the beginning (his mother reported her missing, not him). The offender went to great lengths to hide the body of his girlfriend. He not only removed the teeth from her skull, but he also dismembered her body and dispersed her remains in a field.

A dog who is trained to find human remains has been brought in from the United Kingdom to help in the search for Theresa Parker, the Walker County 911 operator who has been missing for almost six months.

FBI Regional Director John Parrish said Martin Grimes and his English springer spaniel Eddie are some of the best in the world at finding bodies.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson introduced Mr. Grimes and Eddie at a press conference in LaFayette on Thursday afternoon.

They are furious at the manner of the questioning and may decide to stay in Portugal to clear their names and revive the search for their girl, who vanished four months ago while her parents were at a nearby tapas bar in the resort of Praia da Luz.

Portuguese sources said police were using a “war of nerves” in an effort to make Mrs McCann “crack” and confess to killing her daughter.

Her two interrogations last week – the second lasting 11 hours – were described as “aggressive”, with officers said to be “exploring her weaknesses”.

Media reports said the couple used their right to remain silent and refused to answer “more than 40 questions”. Friends insisted they answered all questions put to them.

It appears highly likely that Keela was the dog who was brought in by British detectives last week who located tiny traces of blood in the McCanns’ apartment despite alleged attempts to wash them off.

A pair of elite police sniffer dogs attached to an English police force has been helping Portuguese police in their hunt for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann, it has emerged.

The specially-trained English springer spaniels Eddie and Keela were reportedly flown to Praia da Luz in the Algarve last week to take part in the investigation.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the pair were brought in to help after the police looking into her disappearance re-focused on the McCanns` holiday apartment.

HER detective work is unsurpassed, her dedication to duty during some of Britain’s most challenging murder cases unfailing.

Keela, a 16-month-old springer spaniel, has become such an asset to South Yorkshire Police that she now earns more than the chief constable.

Her sense of smell, so keen that she can sniff traces of blood on weapons that have been scrubbed after attacks, has her so much in demand by forces up and down the country that she is hired out at £530 a day, plus expenses.