Mother accused of holding son captive for decades
A grim discovery has been made in Stockholm, Sweden: A man in his forties found wounded in an apartment -- and may have been held captive there by his own mother for nearly 30 years.
The mother -- a 70-year-old woman whom neighbors thought lived alone -- has been arrested.
The man was reportedly found by a relative on Sunday (November 29).
Swedish media say he was found lying on a blanket on the floor, toothless, unable to speak, and covered in sores and injuries.
One of the neighbors spoke to Swedish television:
"We haven't lived here that long. We moved in June this year. But she's been very nice and sweet. We had a baby in the summer so she was like 'oh, have you had a baby' and she told us that she had a child that was born prematurely and so on. But we've felt that she been a nice, elderly neighbor."
Swedish news outlets are reporting that the son was taken out of school aged about 12, and that he was found next to two almanacs from the nineties in the apartment, packed with clutter.
Stockholm prosecutor Emma Olsson says the mother is denying charges of false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm.
There was no immediate explanation of why the son had been held.
