DNA test results have officially shown that Julia Wandelt, a 24-year-old woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann, is not actually the missing girl. Madeleine disappeared nearly 20 years ago at age three from the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while on holiday with her family in 2007.
Kate and Gerry McCann were dining with friends that night when Madeleine vanished from the apartment where she was staying with her younger twin siblings. Since then, the case has been one of the most widely followed missing child investigations. About three years ago, Wandelt began claiming she was Madeleine, leading to her arrest in February 2025 for stalking the McCann family along with another woman, Karen Spragg. DNA was collected from Wandelt at that time.
During a recent trial, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell told jurors the DNA test conclusively proved Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann. He explained that normally DNA testing wouldn’t be done unless there was strong reason to believe a person was Madeleine, but in Wandelt’s case, the test was done in the hope it might stop her harassment of the McCann family.
Wandelt disputed the results when first informed but the McCanns were confident after seeing her photo that she was not their daughter. Despite this, Wandelt allegedly continued to send messages, make calls, and even visit the family demanding her own DNA test. Prosecutors say Spragg, from Cardiff, Wales, supported Wandelt’s claims and has also denied the charges against her.
Wandelt is originally from Jana Kochanowskiego in Lubin, Poland. Both women deny the stalking allegations. The DNA results offer some clarity but the tragic mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance remains unresolved.
