British missing child The parents of Madeleine McCann have consented to a DNA test for a Polish woman who claims to be their daughter, despite the fact that advocates for the young woman who has made the shocking allegations concede that her background is “messy.”
A source told The Daily Beast this week that Gerry and Kate McCann are investigating Julia Faustyna’s claims that she is the missing 3-year-old Madeleine McCann. The McCanns’ daughter, Madeleine, vanished during a holiday in Portugal over 15 years ago.
This month, Faustyna, 21, became an internet sensation after she began posting on social media with the account @iammadeleinemccann. This Monday, she altered her Instagram account to read, “Kate and Gerry McCann consented to a DNA test!”
In one of her earliest Instagram photos, Faustyna states that she does not recall much of her early life other than “holidays in a hot place with a beach and white or very light-colored apartment buildings.”
Several of Faustyna’s posts describe significant physical similarities between herself and Madeleine, including a noticeable dark smudge on the right irises of both girls.
“I have identical eyes, facial shape, ears, lips, and I had the same gap between my teeth [as Madeleine],” she wrote alongside many images of herself and the child.
“I must learn the truth. I must conduct a DNA test and speak with Madeleine’s parents. Help me!”
In additional posts, Faustyna discusses similarities between herself and Gerry and Kate McCann.
Madeleine, from Leicestershire, was last seen sleeping with her infant siblings on May 3, 2007 in the family’s Praia de Luz holiday apartment. At 10 p.m., when Kate McCann checked on her children, she discovered the bedroom door and window open and Madeleine missing.
In her posts, Faustyna also included a sketch of the man who many witnesses reported taking a child around the resort on the night Madeleine vanished.
She wrote, “I recognise this person…it looks quite similar to my abuser.”
Faustyna makes references in her posts to being victimised by a “German paedophile,” however it is unknown what type of abuse she may have endured.
Yet, the news that the McCanns are apparently following Faustyna’s claims coincides with a rise in concern regarding the young woman’s mental health.
“[Julia’s] mental health at this moment is not good,” spokesperson Dr. Fia Johansson, also known as “Persian Medium,” shared in a video update to Faustyna’s Instagram profile on Monday.
“She needs help,” Johansson continued, noting that Faustyna’s background is “challenging and messy.”
Johansson did not reply to The Post’s request for a comment. A representative for Gerry and Kate McCann could also not be immediately reached.
Despite local authorities first suspected Gerry and Kate of murdering their daughter and disposing of her body, investigations later concluded that German sex offender Christian Brückner may have abducted Madeleine.
According to reports, authorities continue to investigate 45-year-old Brückner, who was formally recognised as a suspect in the McCann case in April 2022.
Brückner was a handyman in Praia de Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, according to the Daily Beast. He is receiving a seven-year term for the September 2005 rape of a 72-year-old lady at the resort.
Following Brückner’s official identification last year, the McCanns wrote on their website, “We welcome the news that Portuguese authorities have named a German man as a “arguido” [suspect] in connection with the disappearance of our precious daughter Madeleine.”
We have not given up hope that Madeleine is alive and that we will be reunited with her, despite the remote probability that she is.