Three young children have been rescued from what’s been described as a “house of horrors” in Oviedo, Spain — after reportedly being locked inside for over three years by their own parents.
The story has shocked people around the world, with disturbing details emerging of how the kids were forced to live under extreme COVID-style rules long after the pandemic ended.
Here’s everything we know so far about the case...
When were the children discovered — and how?
The children were rescued on Monday, April 28, after a neighbour raised concerns with local authorities two weeks earlier. According to reports, the neighbour had noticed that the children had not been attending school and hadn’t been seen in public for an extended period of time.
While there was nothing suspicious at first glance, police began monitoring the home and soon realized something was seriously wrong. Surveillance showed only the father ever left the house — to pick up mail and groceries — while the rest of the family remained completely out of sight, per PEOPLE.
That, paired with further complaints from other neighbours who hadn’t seen the family since late 2021, was enough for police to intervene.
How long were the children kept inside?
Authorities now believe the children — 10 years old and 8-year-old twins — had been locked inside the home since around December 2021, the New York Post reports.
That’s more than three years of complete confinement. Despite Spain’s COVID restrictions having lifted years earlier, the parents reportedly continued to enforce strict lockdown-style conditions within their own home.
During that time, the children had no access to school, no interaction with anyone outside their household, and no experience of the outside world — even their garden was off-limits.
What did police find when they entered the home?
When officers arrived at the house, the father reportedly allowed them inside, but only after the mother — a 48-year-old German-American woman — placed three surgical masks on each child and warned police to “be careful,” claiming her children were “very sick.”
The home was filled with piles of garbage, large quantities of unused medication, and surgical masks scattered throughout. It was described as a “clearly unsanitary situation” by police, while Councilor for Citizen Security José Ramón Prado labelled it a “pathogenic environment", per El Mundo.
The children, despite their ages, were sleeping in cribs. Their rooms were reportedly filled with defaced dolls and other unsettling items. One police officer said the conditions weren’t just unhygienic — they were “absolutely outrageous.”
How did the children respond to the outside world?
The most heartbreaking part of the entire case might be how the children reacted once they were finally brought outside.
According to one investigator, the moment they stepped into fresh air, the kids began breathing deeply “as if they had never been outside before.”
Another officer described how the children “went crazy” when they saw a snail in the garden, and were visibly overwhelmed just by feeling grass beneath their feet.
It was clear to police that the children weren’t just physically confined, but mentally and emotionally stunted from years of forced isolation.
Were the children sick, as the mother claimed?
Despite the mother’s insistence that her children were “very sick” and needed to be protected, medical evaluations have revealed no signs of illness. The children were reportedly fed and not malnourished — but they were dirty and completely detached from reality.
One officer put it bluntly: “Not malnourished, because they were fed. But they were also dirty… [and] completely cut off from reality, and not just because they didn't go to school.”
Who are the parents — and what are the charges?
The children’s parents have been identified as a 53-year-old German man and his 48-year-old German-American wife, who also holds a German passport. The couple had rented the property in Oviedo in October 2021, with only the father’s name on the lease.
Both parents have been arrested and charged with domestic violence involving habitual psychological abuse, as well as child abandonment. They are currently being held in pretrial detention without bail.
What is ‘COVID syndrome’?
The term “COVID syndrome” was used by Oviedo Police Chief Javier Lozano to explain what might have led to such extreme behaviour. It refers to the lingering psychological effects of the pandemic — including anxiety, paranoia, and obsessive health fears — that have persisted in some people long after restrictions were lifted.
Lozano told reporters: “We've all been affected by Covid syndrome and what the pandemic has brought, and we can speculate about what led a family to live locked up for so long.”
In this case, investigators believe the parents’ actions may have been driven by an intense and irrational fear of infection — one so powerful it convinced them to isolate their family from the outside world for years, even as society returned to normal.
Experts have pointed to a broader post-pandemic mental health crisis, including spikes in agoraphobia, social withdrawal, and anxiety disorders — but this appears to be one of the most extreme and damaging examples to date.
Where are the children now?
Following their rescue, the children were taken to the National Human Rights Center for evaluation and have since been placed in a juvenile care facility under the supervision of Spain’s Ministry of Welfare.
Authorities say they are now safe and beginning the long process of rehabilitation.
If you want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child or you have been affected by this story, you can contact the 24/7 Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline on 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).