Madeleine McCann: Polish police dispute woman’s claims she is missing girl – National

Polish police have reportedly disputed the young woman’s claim that she could be Madeleine McCann.

Julia Wendell, also known as Julia Faustyna or Julia Wendlet, gained a lot of attention after she posted a video on social media in 2007 in which she attempted to identify herself as a 3-year-old girl who went missing while on vacation. I was. Her British family in Portugal.

One Wendell shared that the core of Wendell’s “evidence” of physical similarity revolved around McCann’s rare eye disorder. When McCann went missing, a coloboma abnormality in her right eye was used as a primary identifying feature. I have.)

She also noted similarities between dimples and some moles and freckles.

Now, Pavel Noga of Wroclaw’s regional police headquarters told Polish Gazeta late last week that they have “exclude” a connectionaccording to a translation verified by Global News.

They did not explain how they reached their conclusions, but said the investigation was ongoing.

Wendell, who claims to have a sound mind, says he is unsure of his identity and does not have many memories of his childhood.

she video It has tens of thousands of followers.

In response, Wendell’s family released a statement last week saying they were “devastated” by the allegations and the worldwide media attention it has garnered.

“It’s clear that Julia is not Maddie,” they wrote in a statement. “Missing Many Years Ago” Facebook Pageadded that their daughter had been treated by psychologists and psychiatrists in the past, but suggested they may have stopped doing it recently.

“She has refused treatment and is not taking her medication regularly…we are devastated by the current situation.”

Wendell last week claimed that McCann’s parents, Kate and Jerry, agreed to the DNA test but spoke for the family. not confirm the claim To Fox News Digital.

“Due to an active police investigation, Jerry and Kate have not issued a statement or given an interview unless requested to do so by the Metropolitan Police.” Statement to Fox.

If Madeleine were alive, she would be 19. Wendell says she’s 21, but she’s worried she’s the wrong age.

Reaction to Wendell’s allegations online has been wildly polarized. Many have called on the Metropolitan Police to investigate her allegations, while others have accused Wendell of being a malicious fraudster.

On May 3, 2007, three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from her hotel room in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while vacationing with her parents. Her parents were dining with her friends at a nearby tapas bar, but Madeleine and her two siblings were asleep in her bedroom the night she disappeared.

Her disappearance launched an international investigation and created an international media frenzy.

For more than a decade, Portuguese, British and German police have worked together to locate McCann and his kidnappers.

Last year, German officials said “new evidence” linked German-born Christian Bruckner to McCann’s murder. Bruckner is a convicted rapist but has not yet been charged in the case. He lived in the Praia da Luz neighborhood from his 1995 to his 2007.

Bruckner is serving a seven-year prison sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005 in the same neighborhood where Madeleine went missing. He has also been convicted on drug charges.

It was the first time formal suspects had been named in the McCann case since Madeleine’s parents were so declared in 2007. The two were later cleared of charges in 2008.

In June 2020, German police announced that Madeleine was presumed dead, but British authorities continue to treat her disappearance as a missing person.

— Using files from Global News by Sarah Do Couto and Kathryn Mannie

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