Is Julia Faustyna a 21 year old Polish woman also going by the names, Julia Wendell and Julia Wandelt, missing 3yr old British girl, Madeleine McCann last seen in 2007? Parents of missing child agree to DNA test.
A cry for attention? The parents of missing British child, Madeleine McCann have agreed to a DNA test for a Polish woman who believes she’s their daughter — this despite reps for the young woman saying that her background is ‘messy.’
Gerry and Kate McCann, whose 3-year-old daughter, Madeleine, disappeared while on vacation in Portugal on the evening of May 3, 2007, are following up on Julia Faustyna’s claims that she is the kidnapped toddler, according to the Daily Beast.
Gerry and Kate McCann left Maddie and her younger twin siblings alone while going out for dinner. When they returned to their holiday home, the parents told of the three year old toddler vanishing – raising the delicate question, is a Polish 21 year old woman the parents missing daughter?
Faustyna who also goes by the names of Julia Wendell and Julia Wandelt, became an internet sensation this month after she started posting on social media under the handle @iammadeleinemccann. Earlier this week, she updated her Instagram bio with ‘Kate and Gerry McCann agreed for DNA test!’
Despite claiming she is 21 years old, the Polish girl concedes she isn’t sure of her real age. Maddie would be 19 years old right now, turning 20 on May 12 were she still alive.
A Polish woman’s quest to find out who exactly she is
Some reports online say Julia was adopted as a child, but Julia herself has said one reason she is suspicious of her parents is because she’s never seen photos of her mother pregnant.
In one of her first Instagram posts, Faustyna writes that she does not remember most of her early life except ‘holidays in a hot place where was [a] beach and White or very light couloured [sic] buildings with apartaments [sic].’
Many of Faustyna’s posts document apparent physical similarities between herself and Madeleine, including a distinctive brown smudge on both girls’ right irises.
‘I have similar eyes, shape of face, ears, lips, I had the gap between the teeths [as Madeleine],’ she wrote in one post alongside several photos of both herself and the missing toddler.
‘I need to know the truth. I need [a] dna test and I need to talk with Madeleine’s parents. Help me!’
In other posts, Faustyna points out perceived resemblances between herself and Gerry and Kate McCann.
In her posts, Faustyna also shared the police sketch of the man multiple witnesses saw carrying a child in the resort the night Madeleine disappeared.
A cry for attention? A desire to insert herself in an unsolved mystery greater than her own?
‘I recognise this person..it looks very similar to my abbuser [sic],’ she wrote.
While it is unclear what kind of abuse Faustyna may have suffered, she makes references in her posts to being victimized by a German man.
The developments come amid growing concern about the young woman’s mental state.
‘[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.’
Though local authorities initially suspected Gerry and Kate of killing their daughter and disposing of her body, while holidaying in Praia de Luz, investigators later surmised that Madeleine was possibly kidnapped by German sex offender Christian Brückner.
Social media debates similarity
The man was convicted of molesting a 10 year old girl on beach near the resort where McCann vanished weeks later. Brückner who was working as a handyman in Praia de Luz at the time was charged with string of sex crimes. Despite being formally identified as a suspect in the McCann case in April 2022, Brückner was never charged with Madeleine’s disappearance.
The man is now serving a seven-year sentence for a string of sex crime charges, including the rape of a 72-year-old woman at the resort in September 2005.
‘We welcome the news that the Portuguese authorities have declared a German man an ‘arguido’ [suspect] in relation to the disappearance of our beloved daughter Madeleine,’ the McCanns wrote on their website following Brückner’s official identification last year.
‘Even though the possibility may be slim, we have not given up hope that Madeleine is still alive and we will be reunited with her.’
Despite the parents’s signing off on Julia having a DNA test to see if she is indeed their daughter, many on social media have openly denied the 21 year old resembling the then missing 3 year old, even with side by side photos of Julia as a toddler against Madeleine.
Wrote one person: ‘Am I the only one who sees ZERO resemblance for the girl claiming to be Madeleine McCann????’
‘It is difficult for me to see how this could be Madeleine McCann, but I suppose anything is possible,’ posted another.
While a third person added: ‘Am I the only one who doesn’t think that Polish girl looks anything even remotely close to Madeleine McCann??’
According to a Facebook page under the name Julia Faustyna, which appears to belong to Julia, she is a singer and songwriter, and a piano and ukulele player. Her page says she is managed by a Swedish music management company. Other reports claim she has done some modelling, too.
Nevertheless Julia’s biggest audition is finding out once and for all whether she is the missing daughter of a British couple and some inches closer to the ever changing identity she holds of herself.
