A Dutch father and Spanish mother lived for years with their two children aged 18 and 24 completely isolated from the outside world in a farmhouse in Spain. After the daughter managed to escape on March 1, she went to the neighbors for help. The Spanish police are investigating the case.
The remote farm where the family lived is in the woods in Girona. The children aged 18 and 24 lived isolated from the outside world. They did not go to school and were not allowed to watch television. They were only allowed to leave the house sporadically to go shopping with their parents. They also sometimes went to the adjacent two houses of their uncles.
According to Spanish media the daughter told the neighbors that she was talking to someone outside her own family for the first time. The neighbors went to the local police together with the daughter.
When the police contacted the 58-year-old father, he said that his daughter has psychological problems. She would be treated by her uncle. He said that he did indeed treat the daughter, but he could not show the woman’s medical record.
The police conducted an investigation by order of the judge. The parents were suspected of assault and domestic violence. During police questioning, the parents refused to answer questions.
In the end, the whole family was allowed to go home. That’s because the kids are adults. They wanted to return to their home themselves and did not press charges against their parents.
The case resembles the situation in Ruinerwold. A family from Drenthe lived there for nine years, cut off from the outside world.
