Who is Julia Faustyna, the Polish woman who claims she is Madeleine McCann?

Julia Faustyna

Julia Faustyna became an internet sensation earlier this month when she said she was Madeleine McCann, a British girl who was taken from her bed in Portugal while on vacation in May 2007. She was only three.

Madeleine, who would be 19 now, is thought to have died.

Here’s what we know about Faustyna and how much evidence she has to back up her claim.

Who is Julia Faustyna?
Faustyna, who is 21 and wants to be a musician and model, said on Instagram that she is missing Madeleine McCann, a British girl.

She has briefly talked about her personal life, saying that her boyfriend “wants to leave me because of this case” and that she went to school irregularly as a child.


In some stories, she is called Julia Wendell or Julia Wandelt.


Faustyna says can’t remember large chunks of her early childhood, isn’t sure of her age and has never seen her birth certificate.

“I don’t remember most of my childhood but my earliest memory is very strong and it’s about holidays in hot place where there was a beach and white or very light colored buildings with apartments,” she said.

“I don’t see my family in this memory.”

Where does Julia Faustyna live now?
Faustyna is from Poland and is currently living in Germany.

What evidence does she have that she’s Madeleine?

The 21-year-old currently lives in Germany.
There is very little hard evidence that Faustina is the British girl who went missing. The 21-year-old says that her grandmother told her a few months ago that her name was Madeleine.
On social media, she has documented apparent physical similarities between herself and Madeleine — including a distinct brown smudge on each girl’s right iris.
“I have the same eyes, shape of face, ears, lips, and space between my teeth as Madeleine,” she wrote in one post, along with photos of herself and the missing girl next to each other.

Faustyna also said that she doesn’t trust her parents because she has never seen a picture of her mom when she was pregnant.

She has also posted on Instagram a sketch of a man who witnesses said they saw carrying a child in the Portugal resort the night Madeleine went missing. “I know this person. This person looks a lot like my abuser,” she wrote.


Faustyna claims to have the same smudge on her right iris as McCann.
Faustyna said that a “German paedophile” had been after her, but she didn’t say more.

Francisco Marco, a private detective who was involved in the Madeleine McCann case, said, “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

What have Madeleine’s parents said about Faustyna’s claims?

Gerry and Kate McCann have agreed to take a DNA test to determine if Faustyna is related to them.
Sources told the Daily Beast that Gerry and Kate McCann, the parents of the missing girl, have agreed to take a DNA test to see if they are really related to Faustyna.

On May 3, 2007, when they were on vacation in Praia de Luz, their daughter was last seen sleeping next to her twin brothers, who were 2 years old.


Madeleine went missing while on vacation in Portugal in May 2007.
She first said this on Instagram, and then she said it again in a series of TikTok videos. She has more than 1 million people who follow her on Instagram now.

She wrote in a post, “I started doing my own research, found out what happened to Madeleine McCann, and put the pieces together.”

According to reports, the family of a Polish woman who says she is missing toddler Madeleine McCann has refused to take a DNA test that could prove or disprove her claim.

The mother of Julia Faustyna, 21, won’t hand over a genetic sample but insists she has documents proving Faustyna is her birth daughter, a private detective told the the UK Sun.

Fia Johansson, who is Faustyna’s lawyer, told the outlet that she has talked to Faustyna’s mother and told her that she will be safe and secure in any way she needs. However, Faustyna is still refusing to take the test.

She says that she has Julia’s birth certificate, but we’re worried that this is easy to make up. “I think we should force Julia’s mother or another family member to take the DNA test,” said Johansson, who is also a psychic medium and psychologist.

If any of Faustyna’s direct family members agree to take a DNA test, it could immediately shed light on whether her claims are true, Johansson said.

McCann’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have previously agreed to take a DNA test.

“We could figure it out. But they won’t,” she told the news outlet. The names of Faustyna’s family members were not given.

Faustyna, who also goes by the names Julia Wendell and Julia Wandelt, has posted online evidence that she and Madeleine look alike, such as facial moles and a brown smudge on the right iris of each girl.

She claims to be distrustful of her parents, in part, because she has never seen photographs of her mother during her pregnancy.

Gerry and Kate McCann had previously consented to take a DNA test, but Johansson claims that it is “not necessary” to disrupt their decision.

She stated that if Faustyna’s parents merely took a DNA test, it could prove that she is related to them, ruling out the possibility that she is the abducted girl.

In her social media posts, the Polish woman also said she was abused by a German pedophile, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, a second private investigator associated with the case, Francisco Marco, has cast doubt on her claims, which, according to sources, may be causing Kate and Gerry McCann distress.

“It causes Kate and Gerry unnecessary anguish,” a source told the Sun. There have been so many erroneous claims over the years that they don’t need any more.

Johansson stated that she became entangled in the McCann case after a detective contacted her in 2019, and again after Faustyna claimed to be the missing girl.

“I have been personally talking to Julia’s mother and told her we will make her safe and secure in any way she needs but she is still refusing to take the test,” said Fia Johansson, who is representing Faustyna.

“They said they didn’t know if Julia was legitimate or not yet but that it was worth looking into,” she said.

Madeleine vanished from her bed while on vacation in Portugal in May 2007. She was 3 years old.

The missing girl, who would be 19 years old now, has been presumed dead.