A Polish woman who has claimed to be missing British girl Madeleine McCann is not the same person who vanished from a Portuguese resort nearly 16 years ago, DNA results have revealed.
Julia Faustyna, 21, also called Julia Wandelt and Julia Wendell, became an internet sensation in February after claiming on social media that she “could be Madeleine.”
Dr. Fia Johansson, a psychic medium and private investigator granted power of attorney to work with Faustyna, revealed Tuesday morning that Faustyna is 100 percent Polish and the outcome of the DNA test did not have the DNA of a person from another country.
“Julia’s test results are back. We finally know the reality,” Johansson, who has nearly 10 million followers, said on Instagram after spending weeks testing Faustyna’s family ancestry.
“Although it is impossible to tell for sure without the parent’s DNA results on either side, the test results speak to the origins of Julia’s root. The test results revealed that she is 100 percent of Polish heart, with negligible influence from Lithuania, and Russia,” she continued, noting that the results “did not show any connection to British or even German roots.”
Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, at the age of three, while on holiday with her family in Praia de Luz, Portugal. So far, detectives have spent about $16 million on “Operation Grange,” a case set up in 2011 to discover what happened to the little abducted girl.
Earlier this year, Faustyna created a firestorm on Instagram after sharing side-by-side comparisons between herself and Madeleine. The account, which went with the username “Iammadeleinemccann,” was removed from the platform after reaching over one million followers.
“I have similar eyes, shape of face, ears, lips, I had the gap between the teeth,” Faustyna wrote in one of many posts claiming she is the missing toddler. Faustyna also claimed that someone abducted her as a toddler, and details of her childhood do not add up.
Faustyna showed pictures of herself with the same eye imperfection that McCann had as seen in photos of her. When McCann went missing, a coloboma abnormality in her right eye was used as a significant identifying feature.
Faustyna had also shared a police sketch of the man witnesses saw carrying a child on the resort the night Madeleine disappeared. “I recognize this person. …. it looks very similar to my abuser [sic],” she wrote.
Investigation Reinvigorated
Johansson, meanwhile, told RadarOnline.com that although test results returned negative, the investigation has reinvigorated “Operation Grange” in both Portugal and the United Kingdom, where authorities are considering increasing funding to support the McCann search further.
“At least Julia got the investigators to move on the McCann case—she made things happen,” Johansson told the publication.
Johansson also said that the person who allegedly abused Faustyna might be linked to the McCann case—and investigators in Portugal have expressed an interest in looking into his background.
“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,” she said.
In Johansson’s post, the private investigator also said Faustyna’s story is “much more complicated than a simple girl from a small town in Poland making a claim to get attention.”
“She truly believed what she was saying, and with so many questions about her childhood, it is easy to understand where she was coming form [sic],” Johansson said.
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have not publicly commented on Faustyna’s claims.
Faustyna is one of several women who have claimed over the years to be Madeleine. In 2017, Manchester University student Harriet Brookes went viral after claiming she was Madeleine, insisting she had the same features as the missing girl, including a similar eye mark. She was later criticized after saying her post, shared thousands of times, was just a joke.
Madeleine McCann’s Disappearance
Meanwhile, the search for Madeleine continues. The missing girl’s parents publicly addressed the search for their daughter in a January statement, which said they would not forget nor give up but would be heading “into the new year with continued determination.”
At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, the young girl and her two siblings were sleeping in their bedroom while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.
When her mother checked on her later that evening, she found the bedroom door and window open and the young girl missing.
Police immediately suspected her parents were involved in her disappearance, but investigators later surmised that German sex offender Christian Brückner possibly kidnaped Madeleine.
Despite extensive searches over the years, Madeleine’s body has never been found.
Jane Nguyen contributed to this report.