Polish girl claiming to be Madeleine McCann gets negative DNA test

March 2024 · 3 minute read

Explore More

A Polish woman who believes she’s the missing British girl Madeleine McCann is not the same person who was abducted in Portugal in 2007, results of a DNA test concluded.

Julia Faustyna, 21, had been claiming on Instagram and TikTok that she may be McCann, who disappeared from a family holiday more than a decade ago, because of their shared age and appearance.

The results were revealed late Monday by Fia Johansson, a private investigator working with Faustyna.

“She is absolutely 100 percent from Poland,” Johansson told RadarOnline.com.

“She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian but the test results show she is Polish.”

Faustyna went to great lengths in an attempt to prove she’s Madeleine, including submitting samples for three different forensic examinations to outline her DNA sequence and a 23andMe-style genetic test to establish her ancestry.

DNA results prove Julia Faustyna, also known as listed in some reports as Julia Wendell or Julia Wandelt, is not Madeleine McCann. Instagram / @iammadeleinemccan

She doubled down during a recent appearance on “Dr. Phil,” denying her parents’ claims that she stole her own birth certificate and childhood photos to hide her true identity.

In a written statement aired during the show, Faustyna’s parents — who insist they are the woman’s biological kin — said it was “obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie.”

“For us as a family it is obvious Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and step niece. We have memories, we have pictures,” they said. “Julia also has these photos because she took them from the family home with the birth certificate, as well as numerous hospital discharges.”

A photo of Madeleine McCann prior to her disappearance on May 3, 2007. METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett
A photo of a young Julia Faustyna. Instagram / @iammadeleinemccan

Faustyna, who first made her claims on Instagram and TikTok, denied her family’s narrative and accused her mother of always changing the subject whenever Faustyna questioned her ancestry or birth.

She told Dr. Phil that she’s never seen a photo of her mother pregnant and has few childhood memories.

The first six pages of her Polish child health book — issued to every child in the country — is also mysteriously blank, she recounted.

On social media, Faustyna has attempted to prove her case by pointing out physical similarities between herself and Madeleine — including a brown smudge on each girl’s right eye.

Kate and Gerry McCann pose with a computer-generated image of how their missing daughter Madeleine might look now, during a news conference in London May 2, 2012. REUTERS
Faustyna on “Dr. Phil” on March 27, 2023. Dr. Phil

Police investigating Madeleine’s disappearance have spent about $16 million on Operation Grange since 2011, and are expected to receive $370,000 in new funding for the probe into what happened to the adducted little girl, according to recent reports.

Faustyna, who is also listed is some reports as Julia Wendell or Julia Wandelt, previously said if the ancestry and DNA results proved she isn’t Madeleine, she still wouldn’t want contact with her Polish family.

“If she is my mother, I don’t want to have contact with her that’s all, but I believe she isn’t my mother,” she said.

Madeleine’s parents have not publicly commented on Faustyna’s claims.

Their 3-year-old McCann daughter disappeared from her bed while the family was vacationing in Portugal in May 2007.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j21maWxfpbyttdKhZKChoqF6pLjAoqSippdiwbB5wZ5kppmUmrmmtc2eZKabk5a7r3nGnqusZZ6atKLAyK%2BcZpyelnq1sdKtZg%3D%3D