Police investigate mystery of son who stayed indoors for 30 years

Police are investigating the parents of a man who was kept inside his home for three decades. They say the 43-year-old man lived in isolation at his elderly parents’ home in Bavaria but are not sure if he was held prisoner or wanted it that way. He was found, looking “unkempt, unwashed, but well nourished” after a tip-off and has now been taken to a psychiatric hospital. “We’re investigating whether he stayed inside for all those years of his own will,” said Jürgen Stadter, a spokesman for police in the city of Bayreuth.

We do not know exactly since when the man lived there without regular contact with the outside world, nor do we know what the situation really looked like - for example, whether or not he had the opportunity to leave the premises

Police spokesman Juergen Stadter

The man stopped going to school when he was 13 and had rarely been seen since. He wasn’t constrained and had several rooms to himself so police are reluctant to talk of him being rescued. “Maybe the man himself wanted it that way,” said Mr Stadter. The man’s mother insisted nobody shut him up inside the house in the village of Freienfels and that she and her husband only wanted to protect him. He was also registered with the authorities, she said, adding: “He didn’t want to go out any more.”