Mysterious young woman who was seen sleeping rough in Rome identified

SIGHTINGS of this mysterious woman living rough on the streets of Rome led to speculation she could be Madeleine McCann. Now we know the truth.

The girl who was seen sleeping rough in Rome. Picture: Missing Persons of America.

A YOUNG woman seen sleeping rough on the streets of Rome has been identified as a 21-year-old Swedish student with Asperger syndrome.

Before that revelation, the mystery over her identity had led to speculation she could be missing Brit Madeleine McCann or Australian Leela McDougall.

Embla Jauhojarvi started living on the streets around six months ago after she abruptly stopped contacting her family in Stockholm, The Sun reports. Her father has revealed she left Sweden to study Italian in May.

“She had been missing for six months at least now. I knew she went to Italy to study the Italian language several months ago,” her father told The Sun.

The young woman was spotted sleeping rough. Picture: Missing Persons of America.

“She stopped contacting everyone, any family, she just wanted to break away and start her own life because she has Asperger’s as well.

“I have contacted the Swedish police and they have contacted Interpol and they have contacted the Swedish embassy in Rome so I can get her home – and I hope she’ll want to go home.

“She’s looking like a bag lady, homeless, and she doesn’t have any belongings, no clothes, any cellphone.

“She could have been in some kind of shock, I don’t know what she’s done there or what has happened to her. I don’t want to think about this.”

The presence of the young woman, seen in the Italian capital, was first reported on the Missing Persons of America website by local woman Lorena Kollobani, who said she had seen a young woman on the streets who was sleeping rough, did not accept money and did not speak any Italian.

“She doesn’t accept nothing. I always see her alone but just these 3 weeks,” (sic) she wrote on Facebook. “Before I never saw her around Rome centre.”

The post quickly went viral as locals scrambled to find the woman’s identity. Facebook users suggested it could be missing girls Sky Budnick, Ali Lowitzer, or Australian girl Leela McDougall, who went missing with her mother, cult leader father and a family friend from Western Australia in 2007.

Leela McDougall has been missing since 2007 after she disappeared from WA with her mother and cult leader father.

The case was picked up by Italian Television show Chi l’ha Visto prompting others to come forward saying they had seen her outside the Pantheon.

Online users claimed her name was Maria and she could be Eastern European or from the UK.

Missing Persons of America wrote: “There have been several people that think it may be Madeleine McCann who would be 13 now. Madeline had a distinctive mark on her eye and it would be easy to tell if it was her by that identification.”

She was also linked to another missing girl, Amanda Adlai, who went missing in Michigan in 2008, and Maria-Brigitte Henselman, who was last seen in Germany in 2008.

Despite years of police investigations Madeline McCann has not been seen since she disappeared from her bed during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

The official Find Madeline Campaign said they passed the picture on to Detectives at Operation Grange — the UK Metropolitan police’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

“They do not believe this is Madeleine. This is someone’s child, so if you know who this child is, please contact the authorities in your country. Please keep sharing too,” the webmaster said.

The police said any potential sightings are “assessed accordingly”.

Madeline McCann has been missing since 2007 when she disappeared age 3. Picture: Supplied

Real Madrid supporters display a banner reading "all with Madeline," in support of finding the girl. Picture: AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza.

Gerald and Kate McCann have never given up searching for their daughter who disappeared from their apartment while they were out to dinner.

Private Investigator Amber Cammack, who had been hired by the family of another missing girl, Ali Lowitzer, said Italian police took Ms Jauhojarvi’s fingerprints and she is believed to be responding in English.

“She does not appear to be mentally ill, but there is a language barrier, and she is clearly traumatised”, Cammack told Victims News Online.