Police in Oviedo, Spain, recently rescued three young children who had been isolated in a house for over three years by their parents, who seemed obsessed with keeping them from getting infected with the coronavirus.
People usually complain about nosy neighbors who can’t seem to mind their own business, but one woman in Oviedo, Spain, has been hailed as a hero after alerting police about unusual things going on in the house across the street from her property. The woman, referred to only as Silvia by Spanish media, had been keeping records about the activity in her neighbors’ house ever since they moved in, during the COVID pandemic. She had noticed that only the patriarch of the family was allowed to leave the house, mostly just to pick up groceries delivered at the front door, and that the family’s three kids only had their window blinds raised for short periods of time. However, the thing that prompted her to notify the authorities was the constant purchase of diapers, even though the children were eight and ten.
Photo: Spanish National Police
German philosopher Christian Steffen, 53, his German-American wife Melissa Ann Steffen, 48, and their three children moved from Germany to the Spanish city of Oviedo in 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The family was reclusive from the very start, isolating themselves in their spacious villa, but they didn’t bother anyone, so most neighbors simply ignored them. But one woman didn’t. Observing the Steffens’ home for years, she noticed disturbing patterns, such as only the father opening the front door of the house and interacting with grocery deliverers, and the window blinds of the children’s bedroom always lowered at the same time every day (5:10 pm). After spotting the children peeking through the windows on a couple of occasions and seeing that they were obviously too old for the diapers she saw delivered to the house constantly, she contacted the local police.
After analyzing the evidence presented by Silvia, authorities decided that there was something strange about the Steffen family, so they decided to investigate. What they found there was shocking. Described as a “house of horrors” by Spanish media, the rented property was full of the children’s dirty diapers and their mother’s sanitary pads. The windows were all shut, and the air was purified 24/7 by dozens of ozone machines. The children – two eight-year-old twins and a ten-year-old – were all in diapers and spent all of their time indoors.
Medical examinations showed that the children suffered from severe constipation because they were not allowed to use the bathroom. Their parents insisted that they go in their diapers like babies, so the children refrained from defecating for as long as they could. Christian and Melissa Ann Steffen seemed convinced that their children suffered from serious health problems and believed that they would die if they got infected with the coronavirus. To prevent this from happening, they isolated them from the world for more than three years, made them wear three face masks at once, and made them wear only pajamas and hygienic socks.
Photo: Spanish National Police
While investigating the family, police found that they had unusually high electricity bills, most likely because of running at least 6 air purifiers day and night, but also a high running water bill, which suggests that they showered compulsively, to avoid pathogens, because they certainly weren’t using the water to clean the house. Psychologists have suggested that the Steffen couple could be suffering from “COVID Syndrome.”
As for the Steffen family’s presence in Oviedo, police learned that while still in Germany, the parents asked their children’s school to allow them to continue their education without attending classes, but their request was denied. Furthermore, the school informed the Steffens that the children would be excluded from the education system, which would force the institution to notify social services. Seeing this as a threat to their way of life, the German couple decided to move to Spain.
While searching the “house of horrors,” police found books that the Steffens used to homeschool their children, various board games, and drawings the children did to pass the time, including some disturbing ones, like monsters on their wooden beds. The children are currently being evaluated medically and psychologically, but police officers were shocked to see the three children heavily the first time they were taken to their back garden, a clear sign of panic, seeing as they hadn’t been allowed outside in more than three years.
Spanish police confirmed that Christian and Melissa Ann Steffen’s reign of terror came to an end thanks to their neighbor’s involvement. Without her, they could have traumatized those children for who knows how many years. They now risk between five and seven years in prison, but those sentences could increase if new charges are brought against them.
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