Heather McCord, an American woman who says she is the missing British toddler Katrice Lee, is due to arrive at London Gatwick Airport on Thursday to undergo a DNA test that she believes will prove her identity. Katrice vanished on her second birthday from a NAAFI supermarket in Paderborn, West Germany, in 1981. McCord's assertion has been publicly denounced by Katrice's family, who view her as a hoaxer motivated by attention and financial gain, according to the Daily Mail.

The £217 GoFundMe and the Unresolved Identity Quest

McCord, from New York, launched a GoFundMe page to raise travel funds for her UK trip, but the campaign was taken down after complaints from Katrice's loved ones.. The page had raised £217, which McCord says she spent entirely on a flight booked in January.. She told the Daily Mail she has no further arrangements in England and that she simply wants to know who she is. The family,however,sees the fundraising as part of a pattern of exploitation around their tragedy.

A 44-Year-Old Case Blighted by Previous Hoaxers: Donna Wright and Heidi Robinson

This is not the first time the Lee family has faced false claims. according to the Daily Mail, Katrice's sister Natasha Walker recalled being tormented by Donna Wright, of County Durham, who repeatedly harassed them with phone calls in 2014 while on a suspended sentence for the same offence.. Another woman,Heidi Robinson, pleaded guilty to a malicious communications offence in 2019 and was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, with a mental health treatment order. the family's past trauma makes McCord's arrival particularly fraught.

The Eye Condition Claim: Exophoria vs. Strabismus

McCord argues that her identity is supported by a medical similarity: she claims to have exophoria, a condition where one eye drifts outward. Katrice suffered from strabismus, a related eye misalignment that was severe enough to require two corrective surgeries. McCord also says she has a birthmark on her lower back resembling a rash, which she says matches Katrice's. The family has not accepted these claims as credible, given the prior hoaxers and McCord's reliance on a closed GoFundMe.

What the Royal Military Police's Initial Failures Mean for McCord's DNA Test

The Royal Military Police (RMP) has previously admitted failures in its initial investigation into Katrice's disappearance, according to reports. rMP failed to question checkout workers for six weeks after Katrice vanished, and no national borders were closed, leaving the case cold for 44 years. Natasha Walker has reported her concerns about McCord to the RMP, which is the investigating force. The family worries that McCord's actions could put them at risk, even as she promises a DNA test to settle the matter definitively.