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A 70-year-old woman was arrested in Sweden’s capital on suspicion of holding her son captive in her home for up to three decades, police and a prosecutor said.
Stockholm prosecutor Emma Olsson said the man in his 40s was found in the apartment by a relative on Sunday after his mother was taken to hospital, adding that he may have been detained for nearly 30 years.
Several Swedish media, citing the relative who found him, said the man was discovered lying on a blanket on the floor, unable to speak, covered in sores and wounds and with almost no teeth.
“Now he’s in the hospital … I know he needed surgery,” said Ms. Olsson, who did not elaborate on her condition.
The Expressen newspaper and others said they took the son out of school when he was about 12 years old. They found it along with two almanacs from 1995 and 1996 on the wall of the cluttered apartment.
The relative said the apartment appeared to have not been cleaned in years.
“There was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten,” he told Expressen, adding that he had to fight his way through piles of garbage to get through the hallways.
“No one could have cleaned that house for many years.”
“I am in shock, heartbroken, but at the same time relieved.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for 20 years because I realized that she was completely in control of her life, but I never imagined the scope,” he said.
“I am grateful that he has received help and that he will survive.”
The mother denies the false imprisonment and serious bodily harm charges, Ms. Olsson said in a statement.
There was no immediate explanation why the son had been detained.
Alerted to the case by hospital staff treating the man, police cordoned off the apartment in the Haninge district of southern Stockholm for investigations.
“We are investigating how long the son may have been incarcerated, but we assume it has been a long period,” said a police spokesman.
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