Lisbon: Portuguese police are dropping their investigation into the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann due to lack of evidence, media reported on Tuesday.
Three Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office would call off its search for the British girl before August 15, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.
Closing the case would mean that official suspects, including Madeleine's parents, would no longer be under formal investigation.
Police could reopen the case if new evidence were to emerge, the newspapers said.
The three — Correio da Manha, Jornal de Noticias and Expresso — cited unidentified police sources saying the 14-month investigation had reached a dead end.
The police media office in Lisbon said there was no official comment on the reports.
Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal's southern Algarve region during a family vacation in May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday.
Detectives named her parents, Kate and Gerry, and local man Robert Murat as formal suspects in the case. All denied involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Clarence Mitchell, the parents' spokesman, said they were trying to confirm Tuesday's media reports but said he expected the search for Madeleine to continue.
