In a harrowing case that has stunned Oviedo, a city in northwest Spain, three young siblings were rescued on Monday after allegedly being confined to their home for nearly three years under extreme, self-imposed lockdown measures enforced by their parents. The children—8-year-old twins and their 10-year-old brother, all of German nationality—had reportedly lived in near-total isolation since 2021, long after the world moved on from the peak of the COVID pandemic.
According to reports from the New York Post, their parents, a 48-year-old German-American woman and her 53-year-old German husband, have been arrested on charges of domestic abuse and child abandonment. Authorities say the couple was suffering from what investigators described as “COVID syndrome,” a psychological condition marked by irrational fears related to the virus, which led them to impose strict and prolonged isolation on their children.
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The rescue took place after neighbours alerted officials that the children hadn’t been seen attending school or playing outside in years. Once inside the home, investigators found the children in an alarming condition.
“The children were in terrible shape. It was absolutely outrageous,” one investigator told El Mundo.
When officers finally led the children outside, the moment was both heartbreaking and surreal. “As soon as we got them out, all three children began to breathe deeply, as if they had never been outside before,” an investigator told local media.
Spanish outlets released photographs showing the children wearing face masks as they exited the house. Witnesses reported that the kids were visibly overwhelmed, with some reaching down to touch the grass, their first experience with the outside world in years.
The case has sparked outrage and sorrow across Spain, raising troubling questions about undetected abuse and the long-term psychological effects of pandemic-era trauma. Authorities continue to investigate how the family managed to remain isolated for so long without intervention, the report said.
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