Info suggests McCann girl may be in U.S.

LONDON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Madeleine McCann, a child kidnapped while vacationing with her parents in Portugal nearly four years ago, may be in the United States, a family spokesman said.

The spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, who live in Great Britain, said an investigator found evidence that their daughter was kidnapped by a pedophile ring and could have been taken to the United States, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"I know these people were involved and I have been told that Madeleine may now be in America," Marcelino Italiano, the investigator, said.

Italiano, who also works at a nightclub, said he gave his information to police in Huelva in southwestern Spain.

A spokesman for the McCanns said the investigator did "absolutely the right thing" by contacting police in Spain, the Telegraph said.

"It is entirely appropriate that the police and any other law enforcement body now investigate these claims along with the private investigators currently searching for Madeleine," the spokesman told the Telegraph. "These investigations are now under way."

Madeleine McCann was almost 4 years old when she disappeared May 3, 2007, while vacationing with her family in Praia da Luz in the Algarve region of Portugal. The official Portuguese inquiry into the child's disappearance ended in July 2008 but private detectives employed by the McCanns maintain their search.