unknown third party killed Isabella while they were in the basement garage. In an interview with the Globo TV network, they pleaded their innocence. "Isabella was our treasure. God is our only witness," said Alexandre. Meanwhile Isabella's mother, also called Ana Carolina, was appearing on Evangelical TV being comforted by a priest.

During Nardoni and Jatoba's (pictured right) short period of imprisonment, thousands of vigilantes tried to break into the police station chanting 'Happy Birthday, Isabella' on the day she would have turned six. Since their release, the couple say they've been unable to venture outside for fear of mobs and the media. Last weekend President Lula da Silva, on a visit to Africa, was forced to quell the continued fever, saying the couple had "already been condemned" by the media.

On Sunday, beamed live on TV, Brazilian police mounted a

seven-hour reconstruction of the murder. A nation addicted to telenovelas and soap operas was transfixed. The climax was the pushing of a life-like Isabella doll through the window and protective mesh of the sixth floor of 'Residencial London'.

Twists and turns are drip-fed daily. Testimony from neighbours includes the claim that the couple's three-year-old son was heard yelling, 'Stop, daddy, stop.'

And, in a significant reminder of the McCann case, as the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance approaches, there have been allegations of police incompetence. Antonio Nardoni, Isabella's grandfather and a lawyer, claims that police visited the apartment the day after the crime and helped themselves to Coca-Cola in the fridge, ate the kid's Easter eggs, sat on the sofa and watched TV - all before the forensic teams arrived.