Overview

• The German-American couple confined their three children, aged 8 and 10, in a chalet outside Oviedo since late 2021 under unsanitary conditions, citing COVID-19 fears.
• Police discovered the children living in a house filled with garbage, waste, and excessive ozone machines, despite obsessive hygiene measures like high water usage.
• The children, found physically healthy, are now in state care undergoing psychological evaluation, while authorities seek eligible relatives for long-term guardianship.
• The parents, charged with illegal detention, abandonment, and psychological maltreatment, are in pretrial detention at the Centro Penitenciario de Asturias.
• Investigators are probing the parents' possible Munchausen syndrome by proxy and their COVID-related obsessions, which may have driven the prolonged isolation.