LONDON -- Investigators with Britain's largest police force said on Wednesday that they believe that Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who vanished while on vacation with her parents in Portugal, could still be alive. Madeleine's tragic story reverberated across the globe, and as the years have passed most have given up hope of ever finding her.

But a week before the anniversary of her disappearance, the Metropolitan Police released a statement saying its investigators had uncovered what they believed to be "genuinely new material," as well as nearly 200 new opportunities for further inspection. Investigators said that they "now believe that there is a possibility Madeleine is still alive," and have called for the investigation by Portuguese police to be reopened after an almost four-year hiatus.

Along with the statement, the Metropolitan Police released an age-progression image ahead of what would have been Madeleine's ninth birthday on May 12.

While the initial investigation by the Portuguese authorities was roundly criticized, the British inquiry has been aided by the fact that, for the first time since Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom in the family's rented apartment in the Algarve region of Portugal, investigators have been able to review material generated by three independent investigations in one location.

Madeleine was just nine days shy of her fourth birthday when she was abducted as she was sleeping.