Dutch police have found six people in a remote farm in the northeast of the country who may have stayed indoors for nine years. They are a father and his five now adult children. Another man, who rented the farm, has been arrested. An investigation is underway to determine whether this man, originally from Austria, kept the family locked up all those years. The family was reportedly waiting for “the end of times.”
The police were alerted after a tip from a café owner who had spoken with a 25-year-old “strange customer” who said he was one of the residents of the property, that he had not been outside for nine years, and that he and his family needed help.
The police searched the farm. Behind a cabinet in the living room, they found a staircase leading to a locked room where six adults were found. It turned out to be a father and five children aged 18 to 25. The father had suffered a stroke several years ago and was bedridden. The family had cut itself off from the outside world and lived completely self-sufficiently, thanks to a large vegetable garden and a goat.
In the case, the 58-year-old tenant of the property was also arrested for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. According to Dutch media, he is a man of Austrian origin who worked as a handyman and occasionally did groceries. What his exact relationship was with the family is now being investigated.
The mother of the family reportedly died long ago and did not move with them nine years ago to the remote house on the farm in Drenthe. The family is temporarily housed at a recreational park. Many questions remain for the authorities. For example, it is still unclear whether the family was held against their will or voluntarily stayed on the farm.