An adopted woman in Poland with few childhood memories claims she’s the kidnapped British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing from Portugal in 2007. The child’s parents agreed to a DNA test – and the results are in.
Is a Polish woman missing toddler Madeleine McCann?
In February, a woman in Poland claimed that she believed she was kidnapped British toddler Madeleine McCann, who went missing from Portugal on May 3, 2007. The missing child’s parents agreed to a DNA test.
The woman, Julia Faustyna, said she was adopted at a young age and has very few memories of her childhood, the New York Post reported. Faustyna is now 21.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bed and an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where her family was staying on holiday. The couple’s two-year-old twins were also there, asleep in the ground-floor apartment, while their parents dined with friends in a restaurant only 180 feet away. Throughout the evening, the parents checked on the children. They discovered that Madeleine was missing around 10 PM.
The results of the DNA reveal…
The DNA results of 21-year-old Julia Faustyna revealed that she is not Madeleine McCann, Dr. Fia Johansson confirmed, People reported.
“We finally know the reality,” Johansson wrote on Instagram. “Although it is impossible to tell for sure without the parent’s DNA results on either side, the test results speak to the origins of Julia’s root. The test results revealed that she is 100 percent of Polish heart, with negligible influence from Lithuania, and Russia.”
Faustyna had submitted three different samples for forensic examinations to outline her DNA sequence, as well as a 23andMe-style genetic test to establish her ancestry, the New York Post reported.
Faustyna also appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil, where she denied claims by her parents that she stole her own birth certificate and childhood photos to hide her true identity.
Faustyna’s parents insisted they were her biological relatives in a statement aired during the show, saying it was “obvious that Julia isn’t Maddie.”
Where is Madeleine?
Madeleine’s whereabouts remain unknown. German prosecutors believe the child is dead. Portuguese police initially believed Madeleine died in an accident inside the apartment and that her parents covered it up.
In 2020, police from the German city of Braunschweig announced a new suspect – Christian Brueckner – who they were convinced had abducted and murdered the child. Authorities linked five sexual assault cases to the 45-year-old, who was already serving time for the rape of an American pensioner two years earlier at the same resort Madeleine disappeared from. Brueckner has a history of sexual offenses and is a convicted drug dealer, the Daily Mail reported.
