Julia Wandelt falsely claimed to be Madeleine McCann and was sentenced to to six months in prison last month, after a court heard she sent the family sinister letters and asked for a DNA test
An expert who spent time with the fake Madeleine McCann imposter said she spotted four tell-tale signs she wasn’t the missing British tot.
Julia Wandelt was just “fame hungry” and switched her personality to match her audience, forensic investigator and medium Dr Fia Johansson said today. The expert spent dozens of hours with Wandelt, 24, investigating if what she was saying — she was Madeleine McCann — was true.
A court heard the young woman was lying and she was jailed for six months in November for harassing Madeleine’s family. However, Dr Johansson said Wandelt displayed a number of suspicious signs, including during her trial, which made the medium believe Wandelt was guilty.
Dr Johansson, 41, was in touch with Wandelt in February 2023 shortly after she launched her “I Am Madeleine McCann” instagram account, which racked up one million followers at its peak. A subsequent police investigation found the young woman, from Poland, bombarded Madeleine’s family with calls, messages and confronted them in person.
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Sentencing Wandelt at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said: “It has been confirmed in this case you are not Madeleine McCann. There was not proper or logical basis for this. What you should not have done is behave as you did to the McCanns.”
But Dr Johansson has today lifted the lid on the disturbing behaviour she saw. There were, she said, four telltale signs Wandelt displayed that led to her suspicions. She claims these tell-tale traits helped give Wandelt away as a fake before a DNA test ultimately did;
Insisting on a DNA test
According to Dr Johansson, Wandelt pushed aggressively for a DNA test before anyone even questioned her publicly. Dr Johansson, from Orange County, California, US, said: “People who genuinely believe they are a missing child don’t lead with a DNA demand.
“Her insistence felt rehearsed” like she was planting the idea in people’s minds that she ‘must’ be Madeleine because she wanted a DNA test so badly.
“She said she needed a DNA test and no-one wanted to give her one. She was putting it in people’s minds that she is this person but that people were too scared to give her a DNA test.”
Emotional overreactions
Dr Johansson said: “Another sign was her emotional overreactions. One moment she would cry and the next she would laugh. Every time you would catch her out with something she would scream and cry like an animal.”
Dr Johansson described these emotional spikes as appearing “performative” to her. She said: “These aren’t the usual reactions of someone telling the truth.”
Eye twitching
Dr Johansson said she noticed consistent upper-face twitching when Wandelt was confronted with logical inconsistencies in her story.
She said: “There was also eye twitching. She said hers started when she experienced abuse, but I found no evidence of that. Studies have shown muscles in the upper face may reveal when people aren’t telling the truth, people often twitch when they’re not being truthful.”
Switching personalities to match the audience
Dr Johansson said Wandelt’s behaviour shifted dramatically depending on who she was speaking to. She said: “When she was with other people who knew who she was, she was funny and talkative.
“The moment people believed this conspiracy that she was Madeleine McCann she would act differently, saying she was abused and that her life was a disaster.
“I saw how easily she could switch. Expressing all kinds of emotions convincingly, which belie a person’s true emotions, is also a sign of not telling the truth. These four signs together made me extremely suspicious of her story, and led me to believe she was a fake.”
Despite observing all four of these warning signs, Dr Johansson says she did not confront Wandelt immediately. Dr Johansson said: “Despite knowing the opposite, I kept telling her ‘I know you’re Madeleine McCann’.
“As a forensic professional, you cannot break rapport. If I told her I didn’t believe her, she would have disappeared and we would have lost access to crucial information.
“She had no job, no routine. All she did was wake up, go online and claim to be that person. All these things pointed towards her not being Maddie. I believe she was just looking for fame and Instagram followers. I believe she owes the McCann family an apology.”
