After four months of strenuous searches and inquiries, the policemen investigating the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann declared the girl’s mother a suspect on Friday.

Kate McCann answered the questions of investigators for several hours on Thursday at the police station in Portimao, a town in the southern region of Algarve. She was formally declared a suspect, or “arguido”, Madeleine’s father Gerry being also expected to have the same status soon.

No charges were pressed against the couple, but they will face an avalanche of questions and have to refrain from making any statements. Kate and Gerry vehemently denied any implication in their daughter’s disappearance, which puzzles detectives from Britain and Portugal since May 3.

On Thursday, Kate faced another inquiry and remained at the police station for more than ten hours, during which investigators asked her a multitude of touchy questions.

After that first hearing, the family’s spokeswoman Justine McGuinness said Kate faced “completely ludicrous” questions. Kate was even asked whether she hurt Madeleine in any way or was directly responsible for her death, the same spokeswoman said.

“Kate is a caring and loving mother. She would never hurt her children,” McGuinness stressed.

The 39-year-old mother entered the same police station Friday amid cruel jokes and harsh words addressed by people gathered arround the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria.

The mysterious disappearance of little Madeleine triggered a huge wave of criticism and accusations unleashed by both British and Portuguese media. Numerous speculations appeared weekly in different tabloids, the Portuguese authorities being accused of moving slowly and allowing the girls to be taken out of the country.

The police remained silent, but information pointing at the parents as being the main suspects began appearing in Portugal. Rumors quickly emerged and the whole case could snowball into a fierce scandal.

Numerous questions haunt detectives, but the latest clues discovered in the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz could shed some light over the mystery. Blood or saliva stains were found in the room Madeleine was sleeping along with her twin siblings when she vanished.

Samples were taken to a laboratory in Britain for analyses and a first batch of results were handed over to Portuguese authorities earlier this week.

Media reports said traces of blood were also found in a vehicle rented by the McCann’s a few weeks after Madeleine disappeared.

The parents, who are both doctors said they are innocent and could never hurt their own child. Kate and Gerry said they are being “framed” by Portuguese authorities who want to “distract from their own inefficiency.”

Another hypothesis said Madeleine was give a fatal dose of sedatives by her parents, so “she would sleep as they were eating out with pals.” While the toddler vanished, her parents were serving dinner at a restaurant just 50 metres away from the hotel room, the couple stressing they went to check on their children every half an hour.