An American woman from Arkansas has stunned the internet with an extraordinary claim — that she is missing British child Madeleine McCann.
Eugenea Collins, 22, insists she has DNA proof linking her to the McCann family, though experts strongly dispute her story. She says she began questioning her identity after seeing another woman, Julia Wandelt, appear on Dr. Phil in 2023, also claiming to be Madeleine. “If it wasn’t for seeing her, I’d never have known,” Collins told DailyMail.com. “In a way, her stupidity helped me find my family.”
Collins says she recognized herself in online age-progression photos of the missing girl, adding, “It was like looking in a mirror.” She even claims her supposed father resembles Christian Brückner — the convicted criminal suspected in Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance.
Critics, however, point out glaring inconsistencies. Unlike Madeleine, Collins lacks the child’s distinctive eye mark. Others say her DNA results only show she has English ancestry — nothing directly connecting her to the McCanns.
Still, Collins remains convinced. “I’ve always felt a deep loneliness, like someone was missing me,” she said quietly. “Now I know why.”
Seventeen years after the world’s most haunting missing-child case, her words reopen old wounds — and one painful question that refuses to fade: what really happened to Madeleine McCann?
