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More than 20 years have passed since the relative last closed the door of the apartment in the south of Stockholm. Last Sunday night he was out again. She understood that something was seriously wrong, but she still couldn’t guess what she would face when she opened the door and walked in.
– It was like walking from reality to a horror movie, he says.
Few outsiders seem to have been in the apartment for many years. Behind the door, two people lived in total seclusion. A 70-year-old woman and her 41-year-old son. Police now suspect that the woman held him captive, and that she did so for 28 years, since he moved to the seventh grade.
Police and prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into the illegal detention. The woman was arrested Monday and is now in custody.
– She stole his life and manipulated his entire environment to keep his secret, says the relative.
I tried to sound the alarm
She says that a long time ago she tried to raise the alarm about the mother’s control over her son, but according to her everything must have been silenced by other relatives.
– Then I was young and finally I gave up, he says.
But on Sunday they told him that the man’s mother was in the hospital. So he decided to go to the apartment.
– I understood that he was there and that he must have been afraid because his mother was his only safety and now she was gone.
The woman arrived at the apartment on Sunday night. He says that he hesitated to enter and that he let his partner wait on the stairs.
– I felt like the door was open, so I opened it and yelled hello.
She received no reply. From the darkness inside, the stench hit her.
– It was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten, he says.
“Absolutely silent”
Through piles of rubble, he made his way to the hallways of the house.
– No one can have cleaned the house for many years. It was completely silent except for a thick old television that was on.
The woman says that she finally heard a sound coming from the kitchen. There, in a dark corner, the man sat.
– I saw it by the light of a streetlight outside. At first I only discovered her legs. When he saw me, he stood up and whispered my name over and over.
How could he recognize you after all these years?
– I don’t know, but he must have done it somehow.
The relative says that the man is missing most of his teeth and that he speaks badly.
– He spoke very fast and a little incoherent, but he was not afraid of me.
Where they were facing each other, the woman saw the legs of the 41-year-old man.
– I can hardly describe them. They looked terrible. Everything up to the knees were just sores. Part of a calf was dark gray in color and there were pools of water under it.
Alarmed ambulance
The relative must have explained to the man that he should go to a hospital.
After calling the medical information, he called an ambulance.
– I could not go there for the crown and when he understood that he got so much anxiety. He collapsed to the ground and was unable to get up.
Ambulance personnel wrapped the man’s legs and loaded him onto a stretcher. He was taken to Nya Karolinska and, according to information from Expressen, he underwent emergency surgery on Monday.
It was a doctor from Karolinska who raised the alarm to the police after seeing the man’s condition, hearing the relative’s story and seeing his photos from inside the apartment.
– I am shocked, desperate but at the same time relieved. I have been waiting for this day for 20 years because I understand that she totally controlled her life, but I still never knew the scope. I am thankful that he has received help and will survive.
Crime Statistics 2019 from the Crime Prevention Council.
