@@@ Madeleine McCann possibly found?

[whattheheck]

Anybody else following this?

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/woman-shares-evidence-shes-missing-madeleine-mccann/news-story/473af82dd58b22b8696ce07b37ce36c4?amp

[lust2hart]

Wow, what a story if she ends up being Maddie! Those poor parents. I would assume they’ve done those computer sketches to show what Maddie might look like now; I wonder how those compare to Julia.

[basilosaurus]

Yes, I saw the headline but internet access was super spotty so I couldn't pull up the article and forgot all about it

[underwaterrhymes]

I think this woman had a traumatic childhood, is desperate for answers and genuinely believes that she’s Madeleine, but I don’t think that she really is. I hope they’re able to get a DNA test soon.

[mcsangel2]

I truly do not think this woman is Maddie, who even at three years old was a clone of her mother. Julia looks nothing like either of the McCanns.

[VillainV]

It would be amazing if she is, but unfortunately I think it’s unlikely.

[krystee]

I don’t think it’s her either. But why haven’t her own parents either done a DNA test with her to get her to stop the nonsense if it’s not true, or told her the real reason why there are no early photos if she isn’t biologically theirs? I would never let my kid amass a giant following on Instagram and give false hope to other parents if I could do anything at all to show the truth. Maybe there is other shadiness that occurred?

[magma]

I feel bad for this woman, but I am not seeing the resemblance at all. MM’s lips were thinner, nose a little wider, and eyes further apart.

[kershnic]

Oh wow, I have been fascinated by this case for years. It's probably not. But if I was the parents I would absolutely want a DNA test. I really hope we get more about this woman's story. That childhood picture really does look strikingly like Madeline.

[Pilsy]

I'm not even seeing a resemblance, so I can't imagine that's her. I suppose running a DNA test won't hurt and can put the idea to rest.

I wonder what's happened to this young woman to make her so persistent.

[gretchenindisguise]

I agree with others, it sounds like this young woman has been through a traumatic childhood, but I don't believe she is Madeline. I would hope a quick dna test would be able to clear this up.

In her pictures, only her hair color is similar.

[moonpie]

I looked through the Instagram and I don’t think this is her. She has some features that are much different.

From what I remember Madeline looked very similar to her younger sister. I wonder what her sister looks like as an adult.

[VillainV]

Feb 20, 2023 11:12:24 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

I'm not even seeing a resemblance, so I can't imagine that's her. I suppose running a DNA test won't hurt and can put the idea to rest.

I wonder what's happened to this young woman to make her so persistent.

It kind of reminds me of an older woman who was local-ish to me who was convinced that she was Princess Anastasia Romanov (and she convinced quite a lot of other people too). Several years after she died, right as DNA technology was emerging, it proved that she wasn’t. I don’t think this woman had any bad intentions, but clearly there were things about her past that she must have tried very hard to forget about.

[pinkly]

I really think the McCanns are likely doing the DNA test more for the sake of this young lady than for themselves. It seems like she has had a really incredibly difficult life.

[loira]

I've been following this too. Agree that she is likely not Maddie. I hope this young woman finds some sort of closure either way.

[joy]

Maddie’s coloboma is slightly off to the left while this woman’s is straight down.

I, too, thought of the woman who claimed to be Anastasia. I am glad DNA technology exists to put an end to speculation quickly.

[MixedBerryJam]

This is the first I’ve heard of this so I don’t have an opinion. I was not seeing a resemblance between Instagram girl today and 3yo Maddie, but the side by side childhood photos are pretty remarkable if they’re un-shopped.

[cattledogkisses]

I have to be honest, I don't see more than a very slight superficial resemblance, even in the childhood photos. Julia's face shape looks longer, her nose is narrower, and her lips are fuller than Madeleine.

I hope the results of the DNA test bring peace and closure to everyone.

[cous0226]

They don’t look alike. I’ve always thought that Madeleine is alive. Imagine if it was how incredible it would be. This girl and the Mccanns have been through so much. So sad.

[heygrey]

The photos look similar in the same way actors playing an aging child look similar. Believable for TV, but not real life.

[pixy0stix]

I'm glad modern science has given us an easy way to determine if her claim is true or not.

[DarcyLongfellow]

Julia's evidence that she's Maddie reminds me so much of the evidence of the main character in the Netflix show Requiem.

I agree the parents are probably doing it for this young woman's peace of mind, not their own. The fact that Julia's parents haven't offered to do their own DNA test is certainly suspicious. I doubt she is Maddie, but there could be any number of other things that happened in her childhood.

[pixy0stix]

I disagree that the parents are doing it for her peace of mind. Would YOU want someone out there saying they're your daughter, garnering news attention and speculation for however long this person decides to do this for? Get it done and get it over with, one way or the other.

[cattledogkisses]

Feb 20, 2023 21:06:55 GMT -5 cous0226 said:

They don’t look alike. I’ve always thought that Madeleine is alive. Imagine if it was how incredible it would be. This girl and the Mccanns have been through so much. So sad.

Purely out of curiosity, what makes you think that she's still alive?  I've always assumed the opposite; that she's dead and was probably killed shortly after she was abducted. 

Either way, what hell for the McCanns to not have that closure of knowing. 

[icedcoffee]

Woah. What a crazy story. How long do DNA tests take?

My take is...Young Julia looks super Polish and Young Maddie does not.

If proven wrong I really feel for the McCanns who have to relive that hell again in public.

[mcmel]

Feb 21, 2023 11:14:16 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Woah. What a crazy story. How long do DNA tests take?

My take is...Young Julia looks super Polish and Young Maddie does not.

If proven wrong I really feel for the McCanns who have to relive that hell again in public.

The same day. Many times results will go out the following day or so but with such a high profile case it would be done within the same day. Our machines would take around 4 hours and then analyzing and report writing would take less than an hour on a simple comparison like this.

[cous0226]

Feb 21, 2023 10:54:44 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Feb 20, 2023 21:06:55 GMT -5 cous0226 said:

They don’t look alike. I’ve always thought that Madeleine is alive. Imagine if it was how incredible it would be. This girl and the Mccanns have been through so much. So sad.

Purely out of curiosity, what makes you think that she's still alive?  I've always assumed the opposite; that she's dead and was probably killed shortly after she was abducted. 

Either way, what hell for the McCanns to not have that closure of knowing. 

It’s just a feeling is all. Nothing more.

[Michelle]

Feb 20, 2023 20:00:07 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I have to be honest, I don't see more than a very slight superficial resemblance, even in the childhood photos. Julia's face shape looks longer, her nose is narrower, and her lips are fuller than Madeleine.

I hope the results of the DNA test bring peace and closure to everyone.

I thought this too, but if i look at my own kid's face, it has changed similarly to the face of Madeleine compared to Julia. My kid's lips are strangely fuller than either of her parents' and much fuller than when she was younger. She had a rounder face at age 3 and now it is much longer. Her nose has changed from a little button nose to a longer more prominent one. She basically went from looking just like my mom and me to just like her paternal grandmother.

I hope the results are already back and there is peace on both sides one way or the other. I can't imagine wondering if a kid out there might be mine, or if I think my child is no longer alive, how haunting it might feel to have someone publicly declaring herself to be her.

Devastating all the way around.

[sent]

Part of my job is to study pictures of faces that I have in my patients' charts and assess changes over time. There are differences that some of you already mentioned. The coloboma is not in the same place on the two pictures. The lips are fuller on Julia. Julia's upper lip is naturally slightly behind the lower lip in the photos as she ages. This is most clearly seen on the adult photo and is also evident on the photo with the veil. The noses are not similar at all. Since I'm looking at faces typically from age 7 onwards, I refreshed my memory on the growth of the nose and lips prior to age 7. This line from one of our journals makes me think it's a tiny bit possible that the toddler Madeline's face could have grown and changed into young Julia's face - "Rapid growth occurrs in the upper lip, nose height, and nasal tip protrusion between the ages of 1 and 4 years." This timeline would match up with the missing years between Madeline and Julia with the photos shown in the article.

However, the adult Julia doesn't look like the parents. Adult Julia has a long face. The mother has a face that is basically ideal proportions. The father's face is a bit shorter than ideal proportions. None of their facial features look similar. Also I don't think a coloboma moves. The eye colors look different but I'm not an expert on those and have read anecdotes that eye colors can change on young Caucasians.

I don't think this is Madeline.

[aprilsails]

sent I can confirm that eye colours can change drastically in caucasians based on my sample of one. My eyes were green/hazel as a child and deepened to brown at puberty. They also are very reactive to sunlight so will appear differently in pictures based on natural lighting conditions. I do not know about a coloboma seeming to move though.

However, along with everyone else, I also doubt this girl is Madeleine.