A Polish lady who claimed to be British schoolgirl Madeleine McCann has persisted in making ludicrous claims about the girl’s disappearance, claiming DNA tests may have been misleading.
Julia Wendell, 21, gained notoriety earlier this year after opening an Instagram account and claiming to be Madeleine, who disappeared from a vacation apartment in Portugal in 2007. Madeleine vanished in 2007.
Julia, who occasionally goes by the name Faustyna, claimed she had similar facial features, had experienced abuse as a child, and had begun to wonder if she was actually one of her parents.
DNA tests, however, disproved her claim this week. One test, a 23andMe-style test that looked into Julia’s ancestry, revealed that she was from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian ancestors, rather than the McCanns’ British ancestors.
Julia has now claimed that those tests were invalid before finally accepting their results.
Fia Johansson, Julia’s long-time spokesperson, stated that she returned the young girl to Earth after informing her of the test results.
“At first, she didn’t believe the DNA results, saying, ‘What if someone changed the results?’ but I told her, ‘Stop this now,'” Dr Johansson said to The Sun.
“As a psychologist, I understand why she didn’t want to believe her mother was her biological mother.
“But I told her she needed to let go of this fixation now that she knows she’s Madeleine McCann, accept the results of the DNA test, and move on with her life.”
Julia was “very upset,” according to Dr. Johannson, after previously confirming the news on her Instagram page.
“Although it is impossible to say for certain without the parent’s DNA results on either side,” she wrote, “the test results speak to the origins of Julia’s root.”
“The test results show that she has a 100% Polish heart.”
After receiving death threats and vile messages from online trolls, Dr. Johannson took up Julia’s case and flew her from Poland to Los Angeles.
Dr. Johansson arranged for Julia to provide DNA samples in the United States for detailed DNA tests, including a 23andMe-style DNA test that proved she is not Madeleine.
Julia’s family, who are said to have refused to take a DNA test to confirm her identity, have blamed her claims on her poor mental health and a lifelong desire to be in the spotlight.
“There isn’t anything to report at this time,” a spokesman for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann said in response to the results. If and when there is one, it will be provided by The Metropolitan Police.”
Julia is also anxiously awaiting the results of additional health tests because doctors suspect she has leukaemia, according to Dr Johansson, who spoke to The Sun with Julia’s permission.
“Her health is very poor; she has bad asthma and she has a lot of bone pain,” she explained.
“She is booked in for a CT and MRI scan because of the pain in her bones.
“Her blood work is also abnormal so my doctor here in the US is investigating whether she could have leukaemia so we are awaiting the results of that.
“And if she needs any treatment we will make sure she gets that.”