A genealogy expert has weighed in on the ‘fake Maddies’ who are claiming to be missing toddler Madeleine McCann.
Julia Wandelt first rose to prominence in 2022 when she launched social media accounts with the username @iammadeleinemccann.
She even appeared on US talk show Dr Phil to publicise her claims – and it was after watching that episode that Eugenea Collins started to believe that she could in fact be Madeleine.
Madeleine went missing from a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Both of these young women say they believe they are the missing toddler – and have both claimed to have DNA evidence to back them up.
Metro spoke to Professor Turi King, director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and an expert in genetic genealogy.
Best known for doing the DNA analysis for the Richard III discovery in Leicester, she also provides DNA analysis for the Stacey Dooley BBC programme DNA Family Secrets.
She told Metro how ancestry DNA tests work – and how accurate they are when it comes to finding familial matches.
Questions about the validity of Julia Wandelt’s claims have been asked, after apparently receiving different results.
One DNA test with celebrity psychic Dr Fia Johansson in 2024 concluded she was ‘100% Polish’ – but she claims new results show a familial relation between her and Gerry McCann.
Eugenea, who was brought up in Arkansas, took an ancestry DNA test which she says confirms she is ‘68% English and north western European’ – and ‘proves’ she is Madeleine.
Explaining how ancestry DNA sites work, and how people can get different results from different companies, Professor Turi said: ‘Depending on which company she went with, she will get different results. Ancestry testing looks at hundreds of thousands of tiny genetic differences in your DNA.
‘They use a computer algorithm to find out who else is sharing these chunks of DNA with you.
‘They look for genetic matches in their databases, but every testing company has its own database, so you will get different results with each company.’
The main issue, Turi said, is that ancestry DNA companies and forensic DNA companies are not comparable in terms of accuracy.
‘Ancestry DNA is not specific enough to be able to say that Julia or Eugenia is Madeleine McCann, not by a long stretch,’ she said.
‘For that, you would want to do proper forensic testing.
‘In theory you could use ancestry sites, but Madeleine’s parents would need to be on the databases and I don’t know if they would want to do that sort of testing.
‘I do feel for them [the McCann’s], it must be incredibly traumatic to have this brought up, and if there was enough information to suggest anyone was their daughter they would go through forensic DNA testing.
‘To have these claims based on ancestry DNA is not robust.’
Eugenea claims that her English and European ancestry proves she could be Madeleine McCann – but Turi also says this is not the case.
The US is a nation of immigrants, with varying genetic backgrounds represented across the country, which means she ‘wouldn’t be remotely surprised’ to find someone in the US with European ancestry.
During her latest revelations, Julia has claimed new DNA results were compared to DNA from the crime scene of Maddie’s disappearance, and proved a relationship between her and Gerry McCann.
When asked about the likelihood of Julia accessing crime scene DNA, Turi simply said: ‘My first question is how did she get hold of that information, what DNA testing was carried out, and how can they make any sort of match?
‘I would be surprised if that data was publicly available.
‘This is a forensic case and should be treated forensically.’
So how could the issue of these ‘Fake Maddies’ be solved once and for all?
Turi says there’s a very simple answer: ‘This could be solved extremely quickly with these two women having DNA tests with the people they think are their parents.’
All Eugenea and Julia would have to do is compare their results with the results of their birth parents, and assuming that they match, it will instantly become obvious that they are in fact not Madeleine McCann.
But this opens up a wider question: could it be possible to find the real Madeleine through ancestry DNA websites?
Turi explained: ‘If any of Gerry and Kate’s extended family members have done an ancestry test, then somebody taking a DNA test thinking they’re Madeleine would get genetic matches to members of the McCann’s extended family.
‘That’s where you would start to build family trees.
‘If Madeleine had survived, grown up, taken an ancestry test and got DNA matches to Kate and Gerry’s more distant family, that would be extraordinary.
‘In DNA Family Secrets I have so easily found a sibling or parent for people, but it depends on who is on the database.
‘I’m a mum, I can’t imagine what it must be like. For a child to go missing, and then have people claiming to be Maddie, particularly if they’re making claims based on inappropriate DNA testing.’
Who is Eugenea Collins?
Eugenea Collins is 22 years old and is from the US state of Arkansas.
She says she started to question her identity when she was unable to get a copy of her birth certificate when trying to apply for a new ID.
She also believes the man she has been told is her biological father, Eugene Collins, is in fact Christian Brueckner, the main suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
Who is Julia Wandelt?
Julia Wandelt is an aspiring musician and model from the town of Wroclaw, nearly 200 miles from the Polish capital Warsaw.
She is believed to be 23 years old – so older than Madeleine would be – but she claims she is unsure 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 a hot place where there is a beach and white or very light coloured buildings with apartments,’ she has said.
‘I don’t see my family in this memory.’
Her Polish parents have denied the claims.
Julia has appeared in court accused of of stalking causing serious alarm or distress against Kate and Gerry McCann between May 2 last year and February 15 this year.
She is also accused of sending Amelie and Sean McCann Instagram messages between January 3 and December 29 last year.
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