Polish woman who claims to be Madeleine McCann releases bombshell new DNA test results
A Polish woman has doubled down on her claim that she is Madeleine McCann.
Julia Wandelt — who also goes by Julia Wendell or Julia Faustyna — has alleged that a new set of DNA test results “strongly support” her theory that she is related to the missing British child’s father, Gerry McCann.
The 23-year-old garnered global attention in 2023 after she created the “@IamMadeleineMcCann” Instagram account where she questioned whether she was the 3-year-old who vanished on a family vacation in Portugal in 2007.
However, her case weakened in April 2023 after a DNA test determined she wasn’t actually the missing daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann.
The 2023 test found she was of Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian heritage, which debunked theories that she could be Madeleine. She later apologized to Kate and Gerry for the ordeal.
However, Wandelt earlier this month returned to Instagram with a new account, , where she shared new DNA results that she claims were submitted to a “world expert” in the field.
Wandelt claimed that the expert, whom she did not name, said her DNA matched some of the toddler’s key features, including eyes, teeth and voice.
In a series of posts on the platform, in which she referred to Kate and Gerry McCann as “my parents,” Wandelt claimed that her “actual DNA results show that I am part British, part Irish.”
She added that genetic evidence “strongly supports that Gerry McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father.”
The McCanns, for their part, have “refused” to participate in the tests.
The Polish woman said her “source” allegedly analyzed “hair obtained from the floor of the crime scene in Portugal” and “saliva obtained from the bed quilt at the scene” — resulting in a 69.23% match, she claims.
“The genetic evidence strongly supports that (Gerry) McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father, as the data aligns perfectly with a parent-child relationship,” they claimed.
“If this analysis is accurate and properly derived from their DNA samples, the relationship between McCann and Julia Wandelt is biologically consistent with that of a father and daughter.”
Wandelt had previously gone to great lengths to prove she was the missing girl, including by submitting samples for three different forensic examinations to outline her DNA and a 23andMe-style genetic test to establish her ancestry.
On social media, she attempted to prove her case by pointing out physical similarities between herself and Madeleine.
She even appeared on “Dr. Phil,” where she doubled down and denied her biological parents’ claim that she stole her own birth certificate and childhood photos to hide her true identity.
Wandelt’s spokesperson, Surjit Singh Clair, told that she’s determined to have the McCanns and her Polish parents take a DNA test.
However, Clair adds that both parties refuse to get involved.
“Despite indicators she is related to Gerry McCann, neither he nor Kate will take a DNA test,” Clair told the outlet.
“Police have denied organizing a DNA test after hearing Julia was Polish on the BBC, but even if she was just ‘a random Polish person,’ how can they possibly explain her DNA being linked to the crime scene?”
“They have spent $39.7 million on this investigation and now won’t spend $119 on a DNA test, even thought she offered to pay for it.”
The Post has reached out to the McCanns for comment.
While on vacation in 2007, Madeleine’s parents had left their three children sleeping in the apartment while they went to a restaurant nearby, returning regularly to check on the toddler and her siblings.
But when Kate checked on the kids at 10 p.m., she was horrified to find the door and window to their bedroom wide open and the little girl nowhere to be found.
