EXCLUSIVE: "IT WASN'T THE WIND - IT WAS A BODY BEING DRAGGED!"
UPSTAIRS NEIGHBOR BREAKS SILENCE: I HEARD THE STRUGGLE AT 9 PM. THE PARENTS JUST POURED MORE WINE AND LAUGHED.
A terrifying new witness account has emerged from the shadows of the Ocean Club, painting a picture of negligence—or cold-blooded concealment—that will haunt the world.
"Mrs. Alida" (78), a retired schoolteacher who was staying in the apartment directly above 5A, has come forward with a story she claims the Portuguese police refused to write down.
She says she didn't just hear a noise. She heard the crime happening. And when she tried to stop it, the parents laughed in her face.
THE 9:00 PM NIGHTMARE
According to Mrs. Alida, the silence of the night was shattered exactly at 9:00 PM—an hour before Kate McCann would officially raise the alarm.
"It wasn't a child crying," Alida told The Crime Desk, shaking as she relived the memory. "It was a heavy, grinding sound. Like something dead weight being dragged across the tile floor. Scrape. Scrape. Thud."
She describes hearing a muffled struggle, followed by the distinctive, violent SLAM of the patio door.
"It shook my floorboards. I thought, 'Someone is being hurt down there.' I couldn't ignore it."
THE CONFRONTATION AT THE TAPAS BAR
Concerned for the children she knew were left alone, Mrs. Alida claims she rushed to her balcony, which overlooked the Tapas restaurant where the McCanns and their friends were dining. She spotted them instantly—laughing, toasting, and completely unbothered.
"I called down to them," Alida reveals. "I shouted, 'Excuse me! There are terrible noises coming from your room! Dragging and banging! Is everything okay?'"
"JUST THE WIND, LOVE"
The reaction she received was bone-chilling.
Instead of rushing to check on their three unsupervised children, Mrs. Alida claims Gerry McCann didn't even stand up.
"He looked up, raised his wine glass, and smirked," she alleges. "He just shouted back, 'Relax, it’s just the wind, love! The doors are old!' Then the whole table burst into laughter. They turned their backs on me and ordered another bottle."
THE HORRIFYING REALIZATION
Mrs. Alida went back inside, reassured by their confidence. But an hour later, the screams of "They've taken her!" pierced the air.
"It wasn't the wind," Alida weeps. "The wind doesn't drag a body across the floor. The wind doesn't slam a heavy sliding door. I heard her being taken. Or moved. And they were 50 yards away, laughing and drinking red wine while it happened."
WAS THE "DRAGGING" THE STAGED ABDUCTION?
Investigators are now analyzing this testimony with fresh eyes. If the parents were so dismissive of a specific report of noise at 9:00 PM, does it mean they were negligent? Or does it mean they knew what the noise was because it was part of the plan?
"You don't laugh when a neighbor says your kids' room sounds like a construction site," a source close to the case said. "Unless you need the neighbor to go away."