Authorities have secured a cell phone linked to a woman who alleged that she is Madeleine McCann, the British girl who vanished in Portugal in 2007.
Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Woodroof said law enforcement recently obtained the phone, but he declined to disclose additional information or reveal the nature of the investigation, RadarOnline reports.
“We are not going to make any comments about the case,” Woodroof told the news outlet. “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.”
The phone is reportedly connected to Julia Faustyna, a 21-year-old Polish woman who has posted on social media that she believes she is McCann.
Faustyna, also known as Julia Wendell, arrived in California last month and appeared on “Dr. Phil” about her claims. She has reportedly been the subject of various death threats, according to the New York Post.
Dr. Fia Johansson, who invited Faustyna to the United States, told RadarOnline that the phone was given voluntarily to police. California authorities subsequently alerted Polish investigators about the device.
Earlier this month, a DNA test determined that Faustyna is not McCann and she later apologized to McCann’s parents. The test reportedly found that Faustyna is entirely Polish, ruling out the possibility that she could be the missing girl.
McCann was 3 years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007, in Praia da Luz, Portugal. She and her siblings were left asleep while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.
Sex offender Christian Brueckner has been identified as a suspect in McCann’s disappearance, although he has not been formally charged in connection with the case. Brueckner is behind bars serving a prison sentence for sex crimes involving adults and minors in Portugal.
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[Featured image: Julia Wendell/Instagram; Madeleine McCann/Family Handout]
