LISBON, Portugal – The home of a British man was being searched Monday by police looking for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal on May 3.
The man, Robert Murat, was taken to a police station.
His mother told Sky News that he has not been arrested. She said no trace of Madeleine had been found at the villa. She also insisted that her son had been with her in the house on the night that Madeleine was kidnapped.
Portuguese police said that several people were being questioned but that no one had been formally arrested.
The property is just 150 yards from the apartment where Madeleine's family were staying, in the southern Portuguese resort of Praia Da Luz.
The house, known as Casa Liliana, was sealed off with tape by police while men in white suits and masks began a search inside. They are believed to have drained the villa's swimming pool.
Police guards were on the doors outside.
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Meanwhile, the girl's parents said Monday they are considering how best to use expressions of support, including financial help, in the search for their daughter.
McCann vanished May 3 after her parents left her, and her brother and sister, both aged 2, alone while they went to a nearby restaurant within their hotel complex at Praia da Luz, a vacation resort in Portugal's Algarve region. Police last week called off their ground search but are following various leads.
"There have been multiple offers of different forms of help, including financial pledges by people wishing to help Madeleine," the girl's father, Gerry McCann, told reporters outside their hotel.
"We have brought in our lawyers to help us decide how best to use these offers of support to help us find Madeleine," he said in comments broadcast on Portuguese television.
British media have said that promised contributions total some $5.1 million, including reported donations from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, tycoon Sir Richard Branson and American Idol judge Simon Cowell. Also, celebrities including soccer star David Beckham have made public appeals for help in finding Madeleine.
Gerry McCann said he and his wife Kate had taken strength from the "spiritual outpouring" around the world.
Asked how long they would stay in Portugal, Kate McCann said, "I can't even consider going home at the moment, absolutely can't even let it enter my head."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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