Raised in the forest

Abducted Swiss girl (17) discovered in Spain

(Bild: AFP)

A 17-year-old girl from Switzerland, who had disappeared from the face of the earth for some time, has now been found by chance in Spain: The neglected appearance of the teenager, who was traveling with her father, made a witness suspicious. He alerted the authorities. As it turned out, the abducted teenager had grown up in a forest, isolated from society. 

The girl appeared dirty, disheveled and nervous when she was discovered by police officers from Coin in the south of Spain in mid-March, reported the Swiss newspaper "Blick". The teenager had been hiding behind a broken-down car with a man who later turned out to be her father.

Authorities determined "high risk of abduction" by father
When the police took the two of them to establish their identities, it turned out that there was an urgent risk report for the Swiss-born woman. The notice stated that her whereabouts were unknown and that there was a "high risk of abduction" by her father. When the Spanish public prosecutor's office contacted the Swiss authorities, they found out that the teenager and her sisters had grown up in a forest in Switzerland - completely isolated from civilization and society.

In this article, you can see what it looked like in the suspect father's car:

The father had strictly rejected all social institutions and structures and was therefore classified as a danger to his children. The man himself was under the guardianship of the Swiss authorities, yet he managed to flee to Spain in a previously unknown way. Even there he lived with his 17-year-old daughter, apparently isolated from the rest of society.

Both parents had mental health problems
According to the Swiss authorities, the girl was in a dangerous situation due to her "extreme vulnerability". Like the father, the mother also suffered from mental health problems. She had not seen the 17-year-old for six years. 

When the Swiss man went to a car repair shop for a technical problem, the mechanic noticed the girl when she got out of the car. "When she comes out scared, alone and dirty, you have to recognize it," the attentive witness told "La Vanguardia". 

Teenager now back in Switzerland
The minor was initially taken to a child protection center in Málaga by the Spanish authorities. Her carers were concerned about her health: she had probably lived without medical care for a very long time, they feared. The 17-year-old was finally brought back to Switzerland at the beginning of May. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not want to release any further details for data protection reasons.