Share
4th April 2023
07:52am BST
A Polish woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann for the last few months is not the missing Brit, DNA results have reportedly shown.
Julia Wendell, who is also known by the names Julia Faustyna and Julia Wandelt, went viral in February after sharing what she claimed as “evidence” on Instagram that she is the girl who went missing in Praia da Luz in 2007. The evidence included some freckles on her leg, an eye defect, and missing pages from her medical records.
The 21-year-old, who would be two years older than Maddie who would turn 19 this month, has said she does not remember large chunks of her childhood, or the moment she was supposedly taken. She has also claimed she was abused by a German paedophile who looks like someone who was once a suspect in Maddie’s disappearance. Polish police have disputed Julia’s evidence and her parents have claimed she is unwell.
Julia took a DNA test to find out more about her identity and the results have finally come back revealing she is not Madeleine. They show she has from Poland, and also has some Lithuanian and Romanian heritage.
"She is absolutely 100 percent from Poland," Dr Fia Johansson, a private investigator and medium who has been helping Julia, told RadarOnline.
"She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian but the test results show she is Polish," she added.
Fia told the publication she still believes the man who allegedly sexually abused Julia may be linked to Madeleine's case – and investigators in Portugal have expressed an interest in looking into his background, RadarOnline suggested.
“Julia had all the birthmarks as Madeleine McCann which I believe is God and the universe’s way of wanting us to get close to the man who sexually abused her, expose him, and his possible ties to the McCann case,” Fia said.
She added that Julia's case, "at least" got investigators to "move on the McCann case - she made things happen".
The news comes as Fia on Monday announced she had been granted power of attorney so she can make decisions for her.
Last week Julia, and her investigator and advocate, Dr Fia Johansson - a doctor of psychology who also goes by the name, the Persian medium - appeared on Dr Phil where the chat show talked through her evidence. She is currently awaiting the results of a DNA test, which will reveal whether the family that raised her are her biological relatives.
Julia’s appearance on Dr Phil came as is was revealed that police investigating Madeleine’s disappearance will be given another £300,000 to continue their inquires.
Reports have suggested Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are reportedly open to a DNA test, but they have never spoken about Julia’s case publicly.
Madeline 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.
Explore more on these topics:
