Credit: Julia Wandelt via Facebook & Alamy
Woman Says New DNA Results ‘Strongly Support’ Claims She’s Madeleine McCann
A Polish woman who previously apologized for claiming to be Madeleine McCann has renewed her assertions with what she claims is new DNA evidence.
Julia Wandelt, who first gained international attention in February 2023 through Instagram posts under the account @IAmMadeleineMcCann, has released what she calls new genetic test results that she alleges support her controversial theory.
Wandelt, posting under a new social media handle @AmIJuliaWandelt, shared results from DNA testing that she says were analyzed by Dr. Monte Miller, who holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Loma Linda University.
According to the 23-year-old, these results ‘strongly support’ her claims she’s the missing girl.
Previously, a MailOnline investigation revealed Wandelt’s middle-class upbringing in Wroclaw, a historic Polish city rated among the world’s top 100 places to live.
Her mother, Dorota Wandelt-Cholewinski, runs successful clothing stores, while her stepfather, Piotr Cholewinski, works in finance.
The family relocated to Wroclaw from northern Poland in 2009, following Dorota’s separation from Wandelt’s father, who moved to Germany.
Wandelt attended private school initially but transferred to a local primary school due to difficulty adjusting.
A former classmate reported that Wandelt’s identity questions began in her mid-teens when she first claimed Dorota wasn’t her mother.
Before the McCann claims, Wandelt contacted Polish missing persons charity Zaginieni przed Laty claiming to be Inga Gehricke, a German girl who vanished from Stendal in 2015, and later Acacia Bishop, an American toddler who disappeared from Utah in 2003.
Both claims were dismissed, with charity representatives noting Wandelt’s pattern of claiming to be various missing persons.
Wandelt maintains she cannot remember much of her childhood, citing her earliest memory as being in a hot location with a beach and light-colored apartment buildings.
She claims she began suspecting she was Madeleine in June 2022, though she provides no supporting evidence.
During her appearance on Dr. Phil, Wandelt pointed to alleged physical similarities with Madeleine, including a rare eye defect she claimed had ‘faded.’ She also cited similar laughs and dimples.
When questioned about the lack of evidence, Wandelt claimed her mother avoided discussions about her birth and refused to show proof of her early years.
The woman’s Polish parents have strongly refuted her claims, stating: “For us as a family it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin, and step-niece. We have memories, we have pictures.”
They note that Wandelt took these photos from their family home, along with her birth certificate and hospital records.
The family describes a history of trying to help Wandelt, offering therapy, medication, and support at a specialized treatment center in Poland, which she declined.
They attribute her actions to a longtime desire for fame, noting she previously aspired to be a singer and model.
The Metropolitan Police continues its investigation into the McCann case through Operation Grange, launched on May 12, 2011, working in conjunction with Portuguese and German authorities.
The operation remains funded by the Home Office as efforts continue to resolve one of Britain’s most high-profile missing person cases.
Through her media representative Surjit Singh Clair, Wandelt continues to challenge both her Polish parents and the McCanns to undergo DNA testing.
Clair questions why authorities won’t conduct a simple DNA test costing £60 after investing £20 million in the investigation, noting Wandelt has offered to cover the cost herself.
The timing of Wandelt’s claims presents a notable discrepancy: Madeleine, who disappeared at age three in 2007, would be approximately 20 years old today, while Wandelt is 23.
This age difference, along with substantial evidence supporting her Polish parentage, continues to cast doubt on her claims despite her latest DNA test assertions.
However, in recent social media posts, Wandelt claims a ‘world expert’ compared her DNA to samples from the crime scene following Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance, the Mirror reports.
The analysis allegedly included comparisons of eyes, teeth, and voice patterns.
Wandelt’s ‘source’ claims the genetic evidence ‘strongly supports that Gerry McCann could be Julia Wandelt’s biological father.’
The results also indicate she has British and Irish ancestry, contradicting earlier tests that showed her fully Polish.
The new test results directly challenge findings from 2023, when private investigator Dr. Fia Johansson, a self-styled psychic and medium, released DNA results indicating Wandelt was 100% Polish.
Wandelt now says she had been ‘struggling to understand’ those earlier results and suggests Dr. Johansson was not truthful – a claim the investigator firmly denies.
According to an email Wandelt shared from Dr. Miller, while the suspect’s DNA doesn’t fully match the evidence, there are more similarities than expected at random, suggesting ‘an almost certain family connection.’
Wandelt’s anonymous source claims analysis of hair and saliva samples from the crime scene showed a 69.23 percent match with Wandelt’s DNA, ‘suggesting a biological connection between the two individuals.’
Related Article: What Happened To Infamous Apartment Where Madeleine McCann Went Missing
Related Article: Madeleine McCann’s Parents Make Heartbreaking Confession 17 Years After She Disappeared
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