The 25-year-old Dutch man who told investigatorshe’d been held captive in a farmhouse basementfor nine years before escaping to a bar had been to that bar three times before, the owner of the business said.
“I had a chat with him” during that fourth visit “and he revealed he had run away and needed help … then we called the police,” Westerbeek said, according to the outlet. “He had long hair, a dirty beard, wore old clothes and looked confused. He said he’d never been to school and hadn’t been to the barber for nine years.”
“He said he had brothers and sisters who lived at the farm,” Westerbeek said. “He said he was the oldest and wanted to end the way they were living.”
The Guardian/Youtube
The youngest sibling is said to be 18, according to police.
Nevertheless, the 58-year-old man who was renting the property is in custody, detained on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty, the statements read.
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The statement continues: “We understand that everyone still has many questions. We have that, too. That is why we want to do our research thoroughly and carefully. This means that we may not be able to answer everything immediately. Simply because sometimes we don’t have answers yet.”
On Thursday, the suspect appeared in court in North Holland and was ordered held for 14 days as the investigation proceeds.
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Despite earlier reports, it remains unclear if the family believed the end of the world was nearing, and were awaiting the apocalypse.
source: people.com
