- The Observer, Sunday June 16 2002
One of the police suspects is a known paedophile and has a series of sexual convictions dating back more than 30 years. In one instance he raped a teenager and left her hanging upside down in a wardrobe at his home.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is believed to have carried out at least two murders in the past eight years. Both the victims were schoolgirls under 16 and - like 13-year-old Amanda, known as Milly to her friends and family - both went missing close to their homes. One victim's body was recovered more than a year later. She had been strangled. In the other case, no body has been found.
The two murders took place at locations far from the Dowler home, but the man is known to have moved around the country. Police believe they have evidence he may have lived near the Dowlers at the time of Milly's disappearance.
Milly vanished on 21 March while walking to her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. At Walton railway station she stopped to buy chips, then set out to walk the mile home. Using a friend's mobile, she phoned her father to say she would be a bit late. When she had not arrived two hours later, her family alerted the police.
Milly's family and schoolfriends made emotional pleas for information - as did Pop Idol 's Will Young and My Fair Lady actor Jonathan Pryce.
A BBC Crimewatch reconstruction was held of her movements and police asked the public to look out for her beige rucksack, white purse and Nokia 3210 mobile phone.
A nationwide hunt - and a reward of £100,000 - has failed to find any trace of the teenager.
Detectives have said publicly that they have an open mind about Milly's fate. Privately, some believe that she was kidnapped and murdered. Last month they joined with Army experts trained to find hidden bodies. They advised police on the most likely burial sights and conducted night searches with infra-red devices like those used to look for the victims of mass killers Fred and Rose West.
Milly's parents have suffered false alarms: when a body was found in the Thames and when a man was arrested in Chertsey, Surrey, in connection with her disappearance. The man was released without charge and the body in the river was of a missing elderly woman.
