An 8-year-old girl is said to have been held in a house in Germany's Sauerland region for almost her entire life.
The public prosecutor's office in the western city of Siegen is investigating the child's mother and grandparents, spokesman Patrick Baron von Grotthuss said at the weekend.
It is assumed that these individuals did not allow the girl to "participate in life" - not in kindergarten, not in school and not in playing with other children.
The girl had allegedly lived in her grandparents' house in the town of Attendorn for almost seven years without being allowed to leave.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the mother had once told the youth welfare office that she was moving to Italy with her child. The father lived separately from the family.
However, the youth welfare office then received information that the girl was not in Italy at all. Italian authorities subsequently confirmed that mother and child were not there - and had probably never been there.
The youth welfare office and the police then went to the house in September. "They had to go in with a court order," explained senior public prosecutor Baron von Grotthuss. Officials had said that the child - who was now almost 9 years old - had then met them on the stairs.
The background is still completely unclear. According to the investigators, the mother and grandparents are exercising their right to remain silent. Therefore, it is still unknown "what may have been going on in people's minds," Baron von Grotthuss said.
The questioning of witnesses in the surrounding area has not yet been completed. Baron von Grotthuss said on Sunday that they were trying to "somehow shed light on the motives." The mother and grandparents are accused of depriving their children of their liberty and abusing their charges.
Attendorn is a country town, the prosecution spokesman said. One might expect people in such a close-knit community to have noticed something, he said, but even the neighbours had not known that mother and child had been in the house.
The girl is now in a foster family. There are no indications of physical abuse or malnutrition at the moment, he said. "However, we have the situation that she has not seen the outside world," said Baron von Grotthuss.
An application has already been made to appoint a court-appointed guardian for the child. "The parents can no longer decide for the child, at least not the mother now," he explained. For that, a family court would have to appoint someone to look after the girl's interests.
The next step would then be an assessment of the child, Baron von Grotthuss said. It is "highly probable" that the mother will also be examined - and, if necessary, all the accused.
