A 70-year-old woman has been arrested in Sweden’s capital on suspicion of holding her son captive at home for up to three decades, police and a prosecutor said.
The man in his 40s was found in the apartment by a relative on Sunday, Stockholm prosecutor Emma Olsson said, adding he may have been held for nearly 30 years.
Various Swedish media, citing the relative who found him, said the man was discovered lying on a blanket on the floor, unable to speak, and covered in sores and injuries and with almost no teeth.
“He’s now in hospital … I know that he needed surgery,”said Ms Olsson, who gave no more details of his condition.
Expressen newspaper and others said the son was taken out of school aged about 12. He was found next to two almanacs from 1995 and 1996 on the wall in the apartment packed with clutter.
The relative said the apartment looked like it had not been cleaned in years.
“There was urine, dirt and dust. It smelled rotten,” she told Expressen, adding that she had to wade through piles of junk to get through the hallways.
“No one could have cleaned that home for many years.”
“I’m in shock, brokenhearted, but at the same time relieved. I’ve been waiting for this day for 20 years because I figured out that she was totally controlling his life, but I never imagined the extent of it,” she said.
“I’m just thankful that he got help and is going to survive.”
The mother is denying charges of false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm, Ms Olsson said in a statement.
There was no immediate explanation of why the son had been held.
Alerted to the case by hospital staff treating the man, police cordoned off the apartment in the southern Stockholm district of Haninge for investigations.
“We are looking into how long the son may have been imprisoned, but we assume it’s been a long period of time,” a police spokesman said.
