Julie Wendell has captured the attention of millions over the last few months, with claims she believes she is Madeleine McCann.
Then-three-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 while on vacation with her family, and her case still remains unsolved almost 16 years later.
21 year-old Wendell from Poland blew up on social media, after claiming to be Madeleine on Instagram originally, calling attention to their physical similarities and urging for a DNA test to take place.
She drew attention to similar freckles and beauty marks, as well as the same distinct mark on her eye as Madeleine. Not only did she show similarities in appearance to the missing girl, but also with parents Gerry and Kate McCann.
Her shocking revelation and photographs to support her evidence soon gained Wendell over 1 million followers on Instagram. Her account has since been deactivated, and it seems that now, not everyone is convinced that Wendell is who she says she is.
She is working with private imvestigator Dr. Fia Johansson who is working alongside her to help uncover her case.
The pair both recently appeared on the Dr Phil show on Monday night, where they went over key evidence to support their claims.
Wendell recalled her childhood on the show, and said that she has no birth certificate or photographs of her mother pregnant.
Another key factor of her case that she discussed, is also some of her earliest memories, which even host, Dr Phil, said is ”eerily similar to the place where Madeleine McCann was last seen alive”.
She described it as: “It was the beach and water, like sea or ocean, and there were turtles and children…”
Despite lots of speculation, during the programme, Johansson reiterated that she feels that Wendell is telling the truth.
“I tried to ask her certain questions in a different way. Every single answer came back exactly the same,” she told Dr Phil.
“When we [make] up stories normally we may have some changes in the middle of it because that’s not a true story.
“All these stories that she said about those memories, those thoughts, those images, those visions, it was exactly the same. So to me, I don’t believe that she’s lying about the memories or visions.
“I believe she remembers things, she’s trying to connect with those thoughts, and she’s trying to navigate them, that, ‘is it really possible that I was there at that time’”.
Wendell is currently waiting for the results of DNA testing back.
What do you think?
