Mystery Solved: 'Forest Boy' is Missing Dutch Man
Well that didn't take very long: Police in Berlin have solved the mystery of the so-called "Forest Boy" just days after releasing a photo of his face to the public.
The "boy" is actually a 20-year-old man from the Netherlands who went missing just days before he showed up in Berlin. Though he went by "Ray" since emerging out of the woods nine months ago, his real name is Robin van Helsum, and he hails from the town of Hengelo.
"We are 100 percent certain that he is this 20-year-old boy, because his stepmother positively identified him," a Dutch police spokeswoman said. A photo of Van Helsum wearing a chain with his name on it was his undoing.
It seems nothing he told police about himself was true. His father passed away earlier this year, not last year as "Ray" claimed, and certainly not in a forest outside Berlin.
"He had personal problems and this was his way of starting a new life," Van Helsum's friends told a local paper.
Van Helsum has been residing in an assisted living facility and was assigned a legal guardian. He now faces the possibility of being charged with fraud.
