Francisco Marco – a private detective who led the hunt for Madeleine McCann after her disappearance – says he has carried out analysis which rules out the possibility of Julia Wendell being the missing girl
An investigator has said that biometric analysis indicates that the woman who said she was Madeleine McCann bears no resemblance to missing girl.
This week, a Polish woman named Julia Wendell went viral after she made an Instagram account named @iammadeleinemcann and said she started wondering “a few months ago” if she was Maddie after hearing “something” from her grandmother.
She said that the McCanns asked her to take a DNA test and that she had a freckle on her leg and a speck in her eye just like Maddie.
She is 21, but she thinks her age might be wrong. Maddie was born in May 2003, so she is now 19 years old.
But Francisco Marco, a private detective who led the search for Maddie after she went missing, says that he has done research that shows Ms. Wendell is not the missing girl.
He told Spanish network RAC1: “I have done a biometric search and there is no resemblance to Madeleine’s features.”
The former head of the Metodo 3 detective agency thought it was strange that Ms. Wendell posted the unproven claims on social media before contacting Maddie’s family.
He also said, “I think it’s a scam, but I can’t say for sure without proof.”
“This girl called the police, but no one paid attention to her. Later, she made an Instagram account, and now she has thousands of followers, when she used to have very few.”
In the past few months, it has become popular for people to show how much they look like Maddie.
In her most recent claims, made on TikTok and Instagram, Ms. Wendell compared her photos to those of Maddie as “proof” that they are the same person.
She also wrote on her Instagram story, “I talked to someone from Madeleine’s family, and I might be able to talk to Madeleine’s parents tomorrow. A DNA test will be done soon.”
In a post that was published on Friday, Ms. Wendell said that she had talked to someone who was said to be Madeleine’s cousin. This person told her that she could “possibly” talk to Kate and Gerry McCann about setting up a DNA test.
Madeleine’s family hasn’t said anything about these claims yet.
“I think I can be Madeleine,” it says in her Instagram bio, which now has more than 200,000 followers. I need a DNA test.
“Police detectives from the UK and Poland are trying to ignore me. I will write about my life in these posts. Help me.”
When some of her followers asked her questions, Ms. Wendell said she doesn’t remember being taken away and doesn’t remember most of her childhood.
She said: “I don’t remember being taken away. I don’t remember nearly all of my childhood.”
A person close to the McCanns told the Daily Star on Sunday that they are “willing to look into all leads.”
They said, “The family is not taking any chances, and they are willing to look at all leads.” It’s important that they look at everything, because the girl does look like her. There’s no doubt about it.
“There is a good chance it could be her if what she says is true. Everything adds up.”
But German police think that sex predator Christian Brueckner killed Maddie, who went missing while on vacation with her family in Portugal in 2007. Brueckner has denied having anything to do with the girl’s disappearance many times.
But the boy’s body has never been found, even though there have been many searches and many police investigations.
Even though Brueckner has been their main suspect for more than three years, the police don’t seem to be any closer to charging him because they don’t have enough proof that he is responsible for her disappearance and death.
A friend had told the Mirror that prosecutors have admitted they are having trouble getting enough evidence against him.
They have started talking to Brueckner’s friends and acquaintances again in an effort to solve the case for good.
In the past few months, a friend who knew the German man when they both lived in the Algarve spoke to police.
He said: “They believe Chris did it, they say they know he did it, but they told me they don’t have proof. That’s why they are going back over old interviews. When they spoke to me they were very open about what the situation is.
“It felt like they are struggling. They just asked the same questions again, there was nothing new.”
The McCanns could not be contacted for comment.