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Berlin Police via AFP / Getty Images
A boy who calls himself "Ray" is seen after arriving in Berlin in September 2011.
MAINZ, Germany -- Berlin police on Wednesday released a photograph of the so-called "forest boy," an English-speaking youth who wandered into the German capital nine months ago saying he had lived in the woods for five years with his father.
Investigators have failed to identify him and police are now hoping the image will prompt leads from the public.
The boy has told authorities his father called him "Ray" and that he was born June 20, 1994. However, he claims not to know his last name or where he's from.
"We have checked his DNA against all missing person reports, sent the data to Interpol so that they could check it internationally, but unfortunately without any success," police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said.
Investigators told NBC News that DNA evidence suggests Ray is most likely from a neighboring country, as opposed to the United States. Authorities also believe that English might not be his native language.
The boy was unable or refused to give his family name or any other biographical information when he showed up at the German capital's City Hall on September 5.
English-speaking teen: I lived five years in woods
He said his mother, Doreen, died in a car accident when he was 12 and after that he and his father, Ryan, took to the forest. He said they wandered using maps and a compass, staying in tents or caves overnight.
'Many question marks'
He told authorities that after his father died in August, 2011, he buried him in the forest and then walked five days north before ending up in Berlin. Police told NBC News that they have not been able to find a corresponding dead body.
"There are many question marks," Neuendorf added.
Ray has also quickly adapted to city life and technology, using a laptop and his cell phone with no problems.
"Everything gives the impression that he was not far away from civilization for years," Neuendorf told The Associated Press.
The boy is being taken care of by youth services and has been assigned a legal guardian.
Ray is described as being somewhere between 16-20 years old and about 5-foot 11-inches tall. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and three small scars on his forehead, three small scars on his chin and a small scar on his right arm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Hanna!
He's a Spy!!!
Sounds like he is scamming everyone. He doesn't want anyone to know who he is. He is probably a criminal and just found a "cute" way to work the system. I hope they find out who he is. He probably needs to be in jail for something!
Right. He found a way to hide his DNA, because everyone can do that.
Or not.
Peridot...
a criminal minus fingerprint records & DNA links
guess again
He looks Kenyan to me.....
Obviously one of Dr Mengele's cloning experiments. There must be others!!
Really simple. Drop him off in the woods again. You'll find out lickity split if he spent five years there because he will adapt easily.
If not, he dies. Either way, no sweat off my back.
I'm curious about his condition when he actually walked into the police station. In this photo he is well-groomed, of average build, and dressed in a clean and casual manner, as if he just got done shopping at a clothing store. What did he look like on day one? Was he scruffy, dirty, malnourished, etc.? Few people could live in the woods for that many years and walk out looking as he does in the photo. The small scars don't seem to say much either way. He could have those from any minor injury such as falling off a bike, a skateboard, or playing sports.
I guess if he was, say, 18, he would probably be familiar with cellphones and laptops if he had used them prior to his 5-year forest stay.
The other posters make good points - 1. Why is a linguist not pinning down his native language? 2. Why can't he remember his mother's name? 3. Why can't he remember his last name? 4. Why can't he lead anyone to his late father's body?
Most kids who are spotted and rescued from long-term kidnapping are not reported as looking this good or happy or well-adjusted.
Hopefully this turns out to be some sort of prank, except a prank on this scale is no longer harmless. Too many people are involved.
Still wonder what he looked like on day one. I'm guessing he appeared on the dirty, scruffy side to get the authrities' attention.
His mother's name was Doreen. They're pretty sure his native language was English. He wandered in the woods, perhaps he's lost the location where his father's body was buried?
Reading comprehension fail for you, SSavage.
@ Peridot: Your reading skills are a little lacking as well. Please re-ride the entire story above. Savage is correct with the all points made.
Rob....I think you and Savage need to reread the story. He said his mothers name was Doreen....not that he's telling the truth, but the story explicitly indicates by all accounts his mother's name is known.
Peridot/Out:
I guess I should have been more specific - he can't remember his own last name or his parents' last names which COULD have been different if he were a step-child OR if the mother kept her maiden name.
"Authorities also believe that English might not be his native language." I stand by my statement above about getting a linguist to find out.
"He said they wandered using maps and a compass, staying in tents or caves overnight." After 5 years of that, I find it hard to believe he would not have any rudimentary navigation skills. He knew enough to walk 5 days north and arrive in Berlin, so he can't be that ferral. If he had the sociological skills to care enough to bury his father's body, it's just not that hard to retrace and map out the possible land area a person could cover. Homemade graves in the wilderness will leave a mark. He was the one who stated he buried his father and the walked north for 5 days. Obviously the authorities were smart enough to retrace 5 days' of distance to the south and then work off how much area a person could cover in a day.
I don't think this guy is necessarily an evil criminal, but I do think there is a chance that he started this out as a prank and suddenly realized he was in way over his head, or he was involved in a con game that went bad in some way. You have to admit, as long as his history remains a mystery, he could not be in safer hands. He's got a legal guardian and the police are treating him as a victim.
From the AP article:
"He has a complete set of teeth and no obvious dental work, and his hands, fingernails and teeth appear "well kept." "
Curious...
Obviously B S
Me and mine actually lived in the woods for 2yrs ......Living a self sustaining lifestyle. It was tough on everybody.....life lessons. This does not look like a boy who lived in the woods for 5 yrs.
that means his 18th birthday is next week. he has a legal guardian? eh.
let him go, tell him to get a job and leave the man alone.
something smells a little fishy hmmmm... Col. Klinks lost grandson??
He's a spy from outer space. Aliens came and abducted a young human boy, took him to their planet wiped his memory clean, implanted a new database of info, and sent him back to Earth to pick up later. It's the apocalpsye. The end of the world as we know it. Go run. Go hide.
Maybe the dingo ate his Daddy.
Fleaann...
sicko comment...makes me wonder what`s hidden in your trash
Does anyone else get the impression that this is a man so desperate for fame that even when it's revealed that it's a hoax, people are going to be after him asking why he did it..... either way he gets what he wants. this is pathetic, nothing about it makes since.
No, not really. BTW, he's a boy and won't legally be a man until his next birthday.
Again, Peridot == all your "facts" are based on his "story" -- You attack others for questioning his information or lack there of ---- like it is already proven. We really don't know his exact age or birth date (but by simple med exam can determine his age range is 16-23 -- which by most cultures makes him a 'man" ). Yes, he could have seen or used a cell phone before he went ino the woods @ the age of 12 -- but would he remember that skill easier than his last name or the "life -changing event' of seeing his fahter die and having to bury him? This has to be a hoax!
April - some of the other news services re-printing the article had comments that perhaps he was attempting a type of "performance art" by pulling this off.
I posted earlier that the full AP article mentioned that his teeth were clean and without damage, and that his nails and hands were in perfect condition when he was examined. That seems suspicious, given how our 11-year-old son's hands and nails look after a day outside playing in the local fields, not to mention keeping on him about brushing his teeth twice a day and taking him for twice-annual dental checkups! I find it hard to believe he could choose to live in the forest for at least 5 years and be "none the worse for the wear."
I still think this is either a hoax that he perpetrated and then realized he was in too deep on, or he may have been part of a con game gone wrong (not necessarily violent, just flubbed) and now he is hiding in plain sight.
I don't really have feelings one way or the other about him as a person. I just think it all looks very suspicious. Someone posted about a similar event in the 1800's. That child/young man would have had a much easier time pulling something like that off 120 or 130 years ago, and it also would have been far more plausible that that child/young man was REALLY orphaned.
I bet they are checking the browsing history on that laptop. Give people enough rope and they will hang themselves. If he is indeed lying all they have to do is watch him for a while and surely he will do something to out himself.
Something isn't right here...that kid knows a whole lot more than he's letting on. His mug shot tells the story.
Judgmental much? Have you forgotten, 'you can't tell the book by the cover'?
This whole thing is a "cover"
Hanna!
His cell and laptop knowledge don't matter - he was in the woods 5 years - not 50! These armchair detectives on the board are morons! Interesting story - his parents seem like they were pretty analog which is how you can beat the system today - there is more to the story but we'll likely never hear it.
The kid looks Russian.
I believe he is a scam artist. If he lived in the "woods" he would have had pets, pure an simple. But soon he will be spokesboy for JCrew
Pets? REALLY? Where did that come from? Oh, maybe he could talk to all the forest animals. I bet he had a pet bear and a pet fox. Sheesh, some people animate and sensationalize a story more than the media!
He just described the movie on netflix called Alabama Moon lol
There's gonna be one less lonely girl. one less lonely girl. one less lonely girl. one less lonely girl. oooohhhh
I remember reading the news story when the German police reported that he had made his way out of the woods. They did report that he was dirty and they believed at the time he had some sort of mental block, as if he had been through a horrible experience. My assumption then, as it is now still after reading the follow up story, he and his father were involved in the car accident with the mother. She was the only one to pass, the father blamed himself and popssibly lost all they had due to depression. Decided to head for the woods and over time stopped giving the boy answers to his questions. With something traumatic as being in an accident severe enough to kill your mother, its understandable that he wouldnt be able to remember much. I hope they are able to figure out who he is and where he belongs. Yes, the technology question that was brought up is iffy, but like someone else said, he has had 9 months to learn. He is under the care of an appointment guardian through youth services, so they most likely gave him a cell phone and the family probably has a laptop that everyone uses. Besides, it isn't like this technology wasn't available 5 years ago. The boy and his family were probably very modern and he probably already had all the skills to use technology before he and his father left for the woods. The one thing that gets me, like other commentators, why can he not show or explain where his father was buried? His father supposedly gave him very distinct directions to get to the embassy if anything were to happen to him. That's the only part I find strange. Yes, I realize that it could be a scam from a very youthful looking scam artist looking for a free ride, but he may be telling the truth. I cannot say that I believe him, but I don't completely doubt his story either.
Maybe they are looking at this from the wrong angle. Maybe they should be searching adults that have gone missing recently. Maybe he killed his parents or guardians and is using this story as a cover up. Possibly couldn't find a DNA match if he were adopted or a foster child?
Yeah, that's probably a stretch. Ha....