Recently, Forest Boy, as he is known to German locals, gained 15 minutes of worldwide attention when local police and Interpol circulated his image globally in a desperate attempt to locate any surviving family he might have.
His identity has now been confirmed by his stepmother and friends. Helsum, in reality, is a 20-year-old from Hengelo, a town in the Netherlands, and he has been missing for the past 9 months.
Identifying himself as “Ray,” Helsum made his way into Berlin approximately 9 months ago, with only a backpack, a tent, and a case of amnesia in tow. He recounted to authorities that he and his father had fled to the woods 5 years prior after the death of his mother in a car accident. Living off the land, Ray and his father roamed the German forests, moving from cave to cave, until the death of his father left Ray on his own. He claimed to have buried his father in the woods, gathered his possessions, and then set off on a 5-day trek north until arriving in Berlin. For 9 months, local police and Interpol sought to validate his narrative and locate any family members, during which time Helsum stayed in youth services accommodation and attended public schools in Berlin.
With the unraveling of Helsum’s tale, it has emerged that he likely ran away from home in a bid to forge a new life, eventually arriving in Berlin and concocting the entire tale regarding a woodland existence with his father.
“Without a doubt, he is this 20-year-old boy. His stepmother confirmed his identity,” stated a police spokeswoman. “We have established contact with his relatives and friends. An identification photo showing a chain around his neck with his name provided definitive proof. We are exceedingly relieved that he has been located.”
Although Helsum’s account appeared quite far-fetched, he does not seem to exhibit any mental or psychological issues. Authorities remain unclear about his motive for presenting this fabrication to the authorities, but an investigation is underway now that his real identity has been established.
Law enforcement had exhausted all avenues to locate any member of Helsum’s family, including matching his DNA against the international missing persons database and distributing his fingerprints globally. It was only after they released his photo internationally that they finally received a lead.
“This is no longer a joke,” commented a spokesman for Berlin police. “He has made complete fools of us. The costs may eventually fall on him.”
Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf expressed skepticism about Helsum’s claim to have survived in the woods for 5 years with the limited supplies he possessed.
“There were inconsistencies in his story…he was relatively clean, and the tent he carried didn’t seem to have been used for five years,” Neuendorf observed.
Furthermore, he noted, “It’s simply unimaginable that someone could exist near Berlin for such an extended period without being noticed.”
The most tragic twist in this tale, however, is that, while Helsum was away from his parents, his father did indeed pass away, just as Helsum had informed authorities.
by Sasha Dubronitz