Huge twist as cops ‘seize phone of Julia Wandelt’ – who believes she’s Madeleine McCann – and launch probe
POLICE have allegedly seized a phone claimed to belong to the woman who believes she is Madeleine McCann.
Julia Wandelt, who also goes by the surnames Wendell and , claimed on social media in recent months that she was missing Maddie.
But DNA test results earlier this month revealed that the 21-year-old is not the youngster, who vanished from her family's Portuguese holiday flat in 2007.
Her case was picked up by private detective Dr Fia Johansson, who flew Julia from Poland to Los Angeles after she started receiving threats online.
Dr Johansson has now told when Julia was in Poland, her phone was seized by US police.
The private detective claimed this was part of a search and seizure, and the device was handed over voluntarily.
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There is now said to be a global probe into the case, with Orange County Sheriff's Department contacting Polish police.
Department Spokesman Sgt. Mike Woodroof told RadarOnline.com: “We are not going to make any comments about the case.
“Our investigation is taking a deep look into it and we’re going to let them do their investigative duties and then from that point let the judicial system take over – if it needs to.”
It comes after the 21-year-old revealed she planned to take another DNA test after the last confirmed she was not missing Maddie.
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Julia claimed earlier this year she had similar facial features, suffered an abusive childhood and had started to question her parentage.
The Polish woman also said she couldn't remember the early parts of her childhood and claimed she .
When she was in the US Dr Johansson arranged for Julia to give samples for detailed DNA tests.
It was those tests that revealed her heritage - and that she was not Maddie.
In the hours after Julia received her results she was on a plane back home, with Dr Johansson releasing a statement on her behalf.
In it she claimed Julia had faced "nagging questions".
She then told The Sun that the 21-year-old did not believe the results, and revealed how she was struggling with the findings.
Last week Julia apologised to the McCanns in a 17-page statement.
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She reiterated that she couldn't remember parts of her childhood, and claimed she never said she was Maddie - just that she believed she was.
She apologised for creating an Instagram account with the nickname "I Am Madeleine McCann" and says she should have said "Am I?"