Julia is not Maddie, police believe
Polish police have reportedly disputed a young woman's claims that she is
Madeleine McCann.
Julia Wendell, who also goes by Julia Faustyna or Julia Wendlet, hasn't stopped making headlines since she posted "evidence" on Instagram earlier this month, claiming that she was the missing three-year-old Bit who vanished while on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007.
Julia's proof included two freckles on her leg and an
eye defect.
The 21-year-old, who would be two years older than Maddie who would turn 19 in April, has said she does not remember large chunks of her childhood, or the moment she was supposedly
taken, but does remember overhearing her mum say she
"took her". She also claimed she was abused by a German paedophile who looks like someone who was once a suspect in Maddie's disappearance and now has a
medium who helps police crack cold cases investigating her story.
Pawel Noga from the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wroclaw told Polish outlet Gazeta late last week that they have “ruled out” the connection after meeting with Julia's biological family.
Noga said that Julia's relatives had shown authorities a birth certificate and photos in a desperate bid to bring an end to the media storm.
The news comes after Julia's family
released a statement over the weekend saying they were “devastated” by the claims and the worldwide media attention Julia had stirred up.
“It is obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie,” they wrote in a statement on the 'Missing Years Ago' Facebook page, adding that their daughter has received therapy from psychologists and psychiatrists in the past, but suggesting that may have stopped recently.
“She refuses treatment, doesn’t take medicines regularly … we are devastated at the current situation.”
Julia has claimed that Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry, had agreed to a DNA test, but a spokesperson for the family would not confirm the claim to Fox News Digital.
“Due to an active police investigation, Gerry and Kate are not issuing any statements or giving interviews unless requested by The Metropolitan Police,” a spokesperson for the Official Find Madeleine Campaign said in a
statement to Fox.
Maddie was just four years old when she disappeared from her holiday apartment. No trace of her has ever been found and no one has been arrested. The prime suspect in the disappearance, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, has been charged in Germany with unrelated sexual offences. He is accused of five offences between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal. German prosecutors say the investigation into Maddie's disappearance is ongoing separately.
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