Two years later, McCann parents still hope

Oprah Winfrey has unveiled an age-progressed image of a British girl who disappeared from a Portuguese resort two years ago.

The picture shown live on her talk show Friday depicted a young girl with shoulder-length blond hair and a pink headband.

Winfrey had previously talked to the parents of Madeleine McCann and that taped interview is slated to air Monday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

It was a few days short of Madeleine McCann's 4th birthday when she disappeared from a hotel room on May 3, 2007. Her parents were at a nearby restaurant at the time.

Oprah asked whether the suspected abductor might have spent time watching the family before Madeleine disappeared. Kate responded, "It makes you feel sick, actually, when you think about it."

During her interview with the McCanns, Winfrey asks: "Do you let yourself go to the worst?" Kate McCann responds: "I think it's natural. I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there. But as a mom, inevitably there are times when I do."

A spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann said Friday he was contractually barred from discussing the interview before the airing. But Clarence Mitchell said the McCanns thought Winfrey and the breadth of her viewership presented an opportunity to stoke awareness of the missing girl.

Mitchell said Kate McCann was teary at points during the interview.

Ho / Reuters A poster released May 1 by the McCann family shows their daughter Madeleine as she looked when she disappeared (left) and an age progression image which shows what she might look like now, at age 6.

The segment was taped on April 24. On May 3, the actual anniversary, the couple and their four-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, spent the day privately, according to the U.K. Telegraph, while prayers were said at the church they regularly attend, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic church in Rothley, Leics.

Gerry McCann told Oprah that their marriage has actually been strengthened by the tragedy.

"A child abduction ... could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it. It's one of the most devastating things. But ... I think it's helped us stay strong and stay together. We're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and [her younger siblings, twins] Sean and Amelie."

Madeleine McCann's disappareance was officially closed last summer, but the couple continue to search for their daughter. Two retired police detectives hired by the couple are concentrating their efforts near the Portuguese resort town from which she disappeared.

According to the U.K. Telegraph, they have uncovered a statement from a family who said that they saw a man carrying a small blonde child near the McCanns' hotel room on the night of May 3, 2007.

The McCanns are committed to finding their daughter, they told Oprah, and have kept the little girl's room unchanged, ready for her return.

"It's all ready," Kate McCann said. "I go in about twice a day. Morning and evening, [I] just say hello. Tell her we're still going, you know, we're going to do everything we can to find her."

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report

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