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Anorak News | How Robin van Helsum became ‘Forest Boy’ (photos)

How Robin van Helsum became ‘Forest Boy’ (photos)

by | 15th, June 2012

MEET Robin van Helsum from the Dutch city of Hengelo. It’s near to the German border. Robin van Helsum is 20. You might know him better as “Forest Boy”, who on September 5 2011, arrived at Berlin city hall telling local officials his name was Ray.

He said he’d been born on June 20, 1994. The only other details he shared were that his mother Doreen had died in a car crash, and that for the past five years he’d been living in the woods with Ryan, his father who had recently died. Ryan was buried “in a hole in the forest underneath some stones”. After burying Ryan, Ray just walked. And after five days he had arrived in Berlin.

Ray was soon housed in an institution.

Meanwhile, across the border in the Netherlands, Robin van Helsum was missing. His family had launched an appeal for information. But  had Ray would not let the Germans issue photographs of him.

Now the mystery of Forest Boy is solved. Michael Maass, a police spokesman, told the German newspaper Die Welt:

“It’s no longer a joke…he could be liable for the costs.”

Ha-ha.

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Posted: 15th, June 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink