Police Saved A Girl Who Was Held Captive In A House For Years & She'd Never Seen Outside
A young girl is getting her first real taste of the outside world after spending nearly her entire life locked inside a home in Germany.
The girl, 8, was rescued from a home in the German town of Attendorn, North Rhine-Westphalia, in September, thanks to an anonymous tip, according to Sauerland Kurier. Details are only now emerging about the case, and the circumstances have shocked people around the world.
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Police told the paper that the girl had been locked up inside since she was 1 year old and that she has no memory of riding in a car or even seeing a forest.
The girl's mother and grandparents are now under investigation for allegedly holding her captive for about seven years.
A local prosecutor says the girl showed no signs of abuse or malnutrition when child services found her. However, she could barely walk up stairs or across on uneven ground, he told German media including Deutsche Welle.
The prosecutor said the girl "cannot have consciously been aware of much of the outside world."
Michael Färber, the local head of social services, says the girl had never been to school but she did have some basic education.
"The girl can read and do arithmetic," he told German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk. "There are still deficits in some everyday skills. For example, she has problems climbing stairs. We'll have to see how that develops."
Färber added that "she was happy to see something different" when she was rescued.
The mom reportedly told authorities that she'd moved to Italy with the girl in 2015, around the time the girl was 1 year old. However, the dad got suspicious when he spotted the mom around town after she'd "moved," although the grandparents backed up her Italy story and did not let child welfare services, nor the police, into the house.
The girl has now been placed in a foster home and the investigation is still underway. Authorities are also trying to figure out how the girl could have gone undiscovered for this long, despite various tips from suspicious neighbours in the area over years.
It's unclear why the mothe might have hidden the girl away for so long.
The mother and grandparents have not yet commented on the case in German media.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
