The disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann in 2007 has been reignited as a Polish woman, Julia Wandelt, known as Julia Faustyna or Julia Wendell, has raised the global conversation about the case.
Wandelt, who could be Madeleine, the centre of one of the most reported cases of missing persons in history, has taken to social media to tell her story.
Her pictures and anecdotes, which she shares on her Instagram account under the handle @iammadeleinemccann, include things she feels are strikingly similar to the missing child.
Wandelt points to physical traits like an eye mark and features of the face, also talking about some fragmented memories from her childhood that she thinks correlate with Madeleine’s known history.
The 21-year-old claims she has contacted Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and asked them to take part in a DNA test to prove her claims.
But she says she has received no response from the McCanns and has turned to other ways of discovering her origins.
To find the answers, Wandelt visited her representative, Dr. Fia Johansson, a psychic medium, who helped her undergo DNA testing.
Last year, Dr. Johansson revealed that Wandelt’s DNA proves she is ‘100 percent Polish’ with small amounts of Lithuanian and Russian ancestry.
Dr. Johansson also seemed to debunk Wandelt’s claims of being related to the McCanns, saying, ‘She is absolutely 100 percent from Poland.’
But Wandelt refuses to back down and continues to tell of the horrors of her alleged abduction as a child.
She told the Break The Ice podcast she was given an unknown substance injected into her and then handed over to a man with dark hair and tanned skin.
Wandelt, who claims she has a scar on her right cheek, which she says is the same as Madeleine McCann had before she disappeared, also claims that her parents are covering up the truth.
Poland woman who has been rejected by those she identifies as her parents in Poland, who have refused to take a DNA test.
Wandelt countered their refusal, saying, “They know I’m their child,” and she firmly believes her true identity is elsewhere.
On social media, Wandelt has continued to update followers who question her claims and the actions of her family and representatives.
When asked why she hasn’t tried DNA tests with her family again, Wandelt replied in an Instagram Stories post that they all refuse to do them.
Dr Johansson has been adamant that Wandelt’s mother is her biological mother but that there may be some uncertainty about the paternal side of her family.
The psychic also pored over nearly 500 pages of Wandelt’s medical records, including a traumatic skull fracture she suffered as an 8 year old, from which she was unable to walk or speak for more than a year.
The McCann family has yet to speak out about Wandelt’s claims or to request testing, as they gather steam.
“There isn’t anything to report at this time, said a family spokesperson through the Official Find Madeleine Campaign. It’ll be The Metropolitan Police if and when there is.”
For the last decade, Wandelt’s story has rekindled interest in Madeleine McCann’s case and sparked debates about memory, trauma and the lengths people are willing to go to find out the truth about themselves.
While Wandelt’s claims hold no link to Madeleine in DNA, they serve as a reminder of how deeply unresolved disappearances can weigh emotionally and a how much people want closure.
The search for Madeleine McCann goes on, but for now her family and the authorities hold out hope she will be found and the mystery of her disappearance solved.
