London ? The parents of a 4-year-old British girl who disappeared in Portugal said they believed their daughter is still alive but suggested that Portuguese authorities may fear otherwise.

In an interview broadcast Friday, Madeleine McCann’s father said Portuguese investigators appeared to have changed their focus.

“There’s definitely been a shift. They haven’t said that she’s dead – on multiple occasions they (said they) believed they were looking for a missing child – but there’s been a shift,” Gerry McCann told the British Broadcasting Corp. television.

Recent media reports have said that previously undiscovered traces of blood have been found in the hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal, from which Madeleine disappeared while her parents ate in the hotel’s restaurant.

British police are reportedly still testing the substance to determine if it is blood, but the find has prompted speculation that the child was murdered in the room. Portuguese police have insisted Madeleine’s parents are not suspects.