Prosecutor Thinks Madeleine McCann Was Killed Shortly After Abduction

German authorities believe Madeleine McCann, the 3-year-old British girl who went missing from her family vacation in Portugal in 2007, was killed shortly after she was abducted, the Times of London reported.

The suspect has been identified a 43-year-old man who received a seven year sentence in December 2019 for raping a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in Portugal, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. He is appealing that sentence but is currently serving a 21-month sentence behind bars for dealing drugs, the Times reports.

In an interview with the Times, Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters of the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office, who is leading the investigation into the suspect, said, “My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.”

Wolters added, “We believe our suspect committed further crimes, especially sexual crimes, in Portugal possibly but also elsewhere like Germany.”

According to the court documents obtained by PEOPLE, from a court in Braunschweig, the suspect raped a woman at a villa close to Praia da Luz, where Madeleine’s family had rented a vacation home.

In October of 1994, the suspect also received a 2-year juvenile sentence for the sexual abuse of a child in the German city of Würzburg, the documents state.

The London Metropolitan Police said last week the suspect travelled around Portugal in a camper van around the time Madeleine went missing and had been living living out of the camper in the region between 1995 and 2007.

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On the night of Madeleine's disappearance, the suspect was in the Praia de Luz area and received a nearly 30-minute phone call, London police said. Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell described the other person on the phone call as a "key witness."

The suspect has not been charged in connection with Madeleine's case, and Wolters told the Times he is seeking evidence against him.

Last week, McCann family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell said Madeleine's family remained hopeful.

“All they have ever wanted is to find their daughter. To establish the truth of what happened back in May 2007 and to bring whoever is responsible, whether that’s one person or more, to justice," Mitchell said on BBC Radio. "They have never given up hope of finding Madeleine alive, even now despite all these grim reports that are emerging, because they haven’t had anything to suggest the worst has happened."

He continued, "However, they are very realistic, and the police are keeping them closely informed. Whatever the outcome may be from this; however it develops; whether this man was involved; whether the German police are right in what they believe has happened, they still need to know. Because they say they need peace. They need to find peace. And I think everybody can understand that."