As I'm sure you know I wasn't suggesting that it's okay to leave the house while your children are sleeping, but it's silly to say you can't even leave them alone in the next room.
Leaving them alone for an hour without checking is unnacceptable, I still don't think that it's neglect, but it is poor parenting, and I think from what I heard last night that Kate McCann is tortured by the decision constantly. I can only think that they felt safe in the complex, perhaps as you would if you were outside having a barbeque on your own property. As I say the decision to leave the children is questionable but in every other respect they just don't strike me as neglectful parents.
I meant you can't leave an awake three year old in a room alone without the potential of something going wrong. Even if she was sleeping when they left the hotel room, there was a chance she could have woken after they left. This is what leads me to believe they gave her something to make her sleep. Then they wouldn't worry she'd wake up.
And just because you have done a neglectful thing doesn't mean that you are a horrible person. I've shared my own instances of such things myself. One time the power went out in our three family apartment house. I went down to the basement with my neighbor while the two boys were sleeping upstairs, and I stayed a little bit too long talking to the neighbor. When I came back up my four year had gone into the bathroom and sprayed shaving cream on his face and was standing there with the razor.
People make mistakes like this all the time. But for an entire table of parents to sit there acting like it was no big deal is really bizarre IMO. I think they all know she was given something to help her sleep. To me it's the only logical conclusion.
It answers many questions.
A. Madeline never woke up screaming or crying even though the night before she had cried for a half an hour. So she certainly wasn't the silent type.
B. As soon as her mother saw she wasn't in the apartment she immediately knew she'd been taken. She didn't look OUTSIDE the apartment at all. The group did later but she didn't at that moment.
C. Their demeanor matches their field. Doctors with sedated patients making a "rounds" visit to the room every few minutes to make sure she was ok.