[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Zee

They sneak in, go into the bedroom the kids are in, Madeleine wakes up, they cover her mouth with hands/a pillow to keep her quiet, she suffocates and dies without a struggle, they panic and take the body with them and don't steal anything because they've just killed a little girl - they maybe assumed that the parents were in the next room, who knows - obviously just conjecture but it's pretty feasible IMO. They take the body because they don't want their DNA left behind - maybe Madeleine got out of her bed so they didn't actually touch anything - again, if you're in shock, you're not acting rationally. They still think "****" and get out of there as fast as possible, but take the body with them, and as calmly as possible walk away with her so that they appear normal to passers by. She'd have been asphyxiated so she wouldn't have been covered in blood or anything.

But if they hadn't touched anything else, or had barely got into the apartment then the obvious thing to do would be to go, not to pressure the child into silence.

Especially when two babies are sleeping near her and could make a fuss at any time.

I just don't think your average chancing burglar would risk the bother. Just looting for any valuables they'd move onto somewhere else that may be empty.

Just a hard situation to find plausible.