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STOCKHOLM (AFP) – A woman in Sweden suspected of holding her son captive inside her apartment for decades was arrested, police said on Tuesday (December 1), with reports claiming the man was found malnourished with infected sores on the body and almost no teeth.
Stockholm police spokesman Ola Osterling told AFP that the man had been “locked up for a long time” in the apartment in a southern suburb of Stockholm, but declined to comment on local reports that he had been detained. for 28 years.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen the son, now 41, in years, or never.
Tove Boman, a 24-year-old who lives next door, told AFP that she had only seen the mother.
“I grew up here, so I always knew who she is and I recognized her. It’s kind of weird,” he said.
The Expressen and Aftonbladet newspapers reported that the woman took her son out of school when he was 12 years old and kept him locked inside the apartment ever since.
An unidentified relative found the man Sunday after the mother was taken to the hospital, Expressen reported.
The man had infected sores on his legs, was barely able to walk and had almost no teeth, limiting his ability to speak, according to reports.
Osterling declined to comment on those details, saying only: “The man is in the hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.”
The woman is suspected of illegal deprivation of liberty and causing bodily harm, allegations that she denies.
‘Urine, dirt and dust’
Media reports suggested the mother was overly protective after losing her first-born son when she was three years old.
The relative said that the mother had convinced the boy that everyone was willing to catch them and that she was the only one who could protect them.
The relative also told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper that she had contacted social services several times over the years, but was told that no crime had been committed because the man was not physically confined.
Police tape was stretched across the apartment door Tuesday and officers were seen leaving the scene around noon, an AFP photographer said.
The relative said the apartment, in an unspeakable gray and yellow low-rise building in the working-class suburb of Handen, looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years.
“There was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten,” he told Expressen, adding that he had to wade through piles of garbage to get through the hallways.
“I am in shock, heartbroken, but at the same time relieved. I have been waiting for this day for 20 years.”
Police must question the man and his mother in the next few days to determine what happened.
How is it possible that nobody has noticed?
Neighbors contacted by AFP expressed shock that the man could have been in hiding for so long.
Kenth Svedberg said that he had noticed an “unpleasant smell” coming from the apartment, but that it was “nothing that he thought much about.”
“What is so scary is that it has lasted so many, many years,” he told AFP.
Many neighbors wondered why neither the social services, the school nor any other authority took care of the child over the years.
One woman told Aftonbladet that she found it strange that her window was never open and that the same chandelier had been in the window for 30 years.
“But what can you do? How do you know what’s going on behind closed doors? It’s all so horrible you can’t believe it’s true,” he said.
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