'What is the truth?' Woman who claimed to be Madeleine McCann now asks if she is indeed Julia Wandelt
WARSAW, POLAND: Polish woman Julia Wandelt, who claimed to be Madeleine McCann, has raised new questions about her identity after DNA test results confirmed that she was not the missing British toddler. The 21-year-old Wandelt, who also uses the surnames Wendell and Faustyna, dominated headlines in February when she launched an Instagram account where she posted a slew of photos and videos as evidence to suggest she is McCann, who went missing during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
However, Wandelt's DNA test results, which examined her family history, confirmed that she is not the missing girl, instead showing that she is from Poland, with some Lithuanian and Romanian ancestry. Dr Fia Johannson, the private investigator who helped Wandelt in her case, told RadarOnline, “Julia is absolutely 100 percent from Poland. She is a small percentage of Lithuanian and Russian but the test results show she is Polish.” Following the test results, Wandelt returned to Poland, where she is living with her father, who raised her.
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'What is the real truth?'
Wandelt has since launched a new account called "Am I Julia Wandelt," where she alleged that she initially thought Fia “wanted to help me,” but has since come to realize “she wants only new followers, new clients.” “I have to say I never said I am Madeleine. I always said that I believe I could be Madeleine,” she said in a post, according to Mirror. Regardless of the DNA results, Wandelt still continues to contest the evidence. "We made an Ancestry DNA test, a few hours ago Fia sent me results but not from Ancestry, she sent results from another platform. I found out what type of blood group I have,” she added.
"And it doesn’t match to my parents’ blood group. My family from mother said many times when I was younger that we have roots in Germany and Holland,” Julia noted. “I don’t understand anything now. Fia said that I am Polish with Russian and Lithuanian but my family said that I am Polish with German and Holland so what is the real truth?” Claiming not to be "delusional or crazy," Julia said, “You can judge all of these things again and try to create another new opinion. I never wanted publicity. I didn’t do all of this for attention or a music career."
'The spotlight may fade away'
Responding to the accusations, Dr Johannson said she supplied Julia with all the DNA results “to check for herself”. “Although Julia is disappointed about this revelation and the spotlight may fade away, the truth as represented in the results speaks to perhaps an unwelcomed new reality,” she noted. “I tried to help her find her true identity as she wished, and through this journey, I was hoping to provide her comfort with her new reality. Despite her recent postings, I wish her a well and happy life.”
