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Subscribe to RSSA friend of "Forest Boy" Robin van Helsum, seen here, the Dutch man who hoaxed German authorities for nine months, has shed new light on the troubled background that may have led to his elaborate deceit in an interview with NBC News.
Robin van Helsum, the "Forest Boy" who hoaxed German authorities for nine months with a fantasy about living rough in the woods, was running away from a troubled background and financial concerns, a friend of his told NBC News.
Ray van Ravensberg, Robin's childhood friend, shed new light on the Dutchman whose story -- and supposed mystery identity -- flummoxed police in Berlin and attracted headlines around the world.
Van Helsum's scam was exposed last week after he was identified by his stepmother in The Netherlands following the distribution of a police photograph.
Van Ravensberg said van Helsum, who ran away from home in Hengelo, a Dutch town near the border with Germany in September, came from a broken home, did not get along with his stepmother and fought constantly with his father, who was very strict.
"He started to stop with school and stop with work, and the only thing he did was sitting on the computer and, yeah, just screwing around."
'Forest Boy' mystery solved: Man admits lies over identity
Van Ravensberg said van Helsum moved out of the house and went for "room training" -- a Dutch program in which teenagers with problems at home are put into a government care program and live with groups of people their own age from similar backgrounds -- a type of youth hostel.
But then van Helsum got into more trouble, becoming a loner, spending hours on the computer and arguing with the owners of the hostel because he could no longer pay his bills.
"His life was really complicated," van Ravensberg said as he struggled to explain his friend. "He doesn’t have anything like I do -- he doesn’t have parents who will cover [him] if [he's] in financial debt, like I do. [My parents] will help me, I can talk to them."
Van Ravensberg went on to explain that a young woman whom van Helsum dated a few times, perhaps for some financial help, became pregnant.
"First she said she was a few weeks pregnant, but she was already pregnant for a longer period of time, and he didnt want to have the child, and she wanted to keep it."
That might have been the turning point for van Helsum. Shortly afterward, he ran away, determined to escape and start a new life somewhere, somehow.
'Forest boy' mystery: Stumped German police release photo
Van Ravensberg said van Helsum is really smart and proved it by staying nine months in Germany without getting caught.
When he arrived in Germany, van Helsum told the police his name was Ray and he was a 17-year-old orphan -- that’s all he could remember.
The act was convincing. The Germans were intrigued by his story and provided him with care. The fantasy about living rough for five years in the German forests was so heart-rending that he became an international sensation. No one thought he could have made it up. But he did.
Van Ravensberg defended his old friend. "It started with his own life. He already had complications, and it became more and more -- financial, girlfriend, child and, yeah, his bucket was way too full.
"He just wanted to have a new bucket."
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Let him spend a couple of days with Ol' Sandusky. He'll straighten him up alright!
If Sandusky doesn't turn him into a gay, first, you mean.
Fear and Nataliya - Both your comments are completely inappropriate. Do not slander gay people with your immature, un-educated comments.
You mean straighten his intestines out.
@ Joe Don't you mean bend him over????
Too old for Sandusky..
Keyser Soze was the master! He did not get caught.
i hope they arrest his ass for this and on top of this hoax they say he had a hard life the boy dont know the meaning of it try haveing an alcholic father who threw you against the wall starting at 3 months cuz you are crying and hungry try having a mother who couldnt afford an abortion so she tried killing you every way she could just not to succeed and on top of all that shes a crack head try being abused every day of your life with no sense of stability because they want to keep throwing you in and out of grouphomes and foster homes try being homeless ffor the first time at age 13 try being stabbed multiple times shot and beaten with all types of objects try being the person everyone wipes there ass with then tosses them out like yesterdays news try being the kid who while in these places was forced to take 42 pills a day and being shot up with thorazine constantly to see how it reacts try being there test dummy and no one can help you try being abused so much that at the age of 13 you start drinkin and doing drugs try being 23 yrs old struggling and doing his best to support his child and his fiance' and doing everything he can to make sure that 4 month old little boy can have a better life try waking up every morning at the age of 23 and in so much pain from back problems and arthritis from the @!$%# he endured as a child that he cant even pick his son up and hold him until an hour after i get moving !!!!!!!!! I AM SO SICK OF THE MEDIA PROJECTING PPL AS HAVING IT BAD OR HAVING IT HARD OR ROUGH THEY DONT KNOW JACK CRAP IT PISSES ME OFF TO HEAR THIS YALL NEED TO REALIZE THIS BOY AINT NOTHING BUT A CON ARTIST AND SOMEONE WHO DOESNT WANT TO EXCEPT RESPONSIBILITY HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED SEVERLY!!! MY NAME IS RYAN AND ITS THE TRUTH
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Nataliya - You are the epitome of a loser!
Ryan - You have my sincere sympathy and empathy for what you went through. No one, and I mean NO ONE should go through what you did. I am so, so sorry! Thank you for doing all you can to be a good father to your child. You had the kind of life that needed assistance, love, and a leg up! You are the kind of person assistance is made for! I admire your determination, strength and your courage!
I didn't go through what you have, and I also am angry at people looking for hand-outs, particularly when they are able bodied, and are simply con artists. I hope you realize that many people you don't even know are behind you.
That's pretty rough, bro., but I do think the part at the end when you said the media shouldn't portray certain people as having a hard life is a little unfair. True, some people's lives may not be as hard as someone else's, but that doesn't make them any less difficult. I've seen some people even use the fact that someone else in the world may have it harder then their neighbor as an excuse not to help their neighbor out. Now, I'm not trying to say that what you are saying is wrong and that you are being mean, I do understand that people who go through bad times get a bit offended over people thinking they have it hard and I do not blame them, regardless of how they react. I'm also not saying this kid had a hard life, as my previous comments stated that this article gave less than enough info. to make such judgements. I also want you to know that if anyone that has gone through what you went through does something bad because of it, I will not be angry at them, no matter what it is that they do.
homeless ppl have a hard life to. i don't see to much of that in the news world.
There are MANY homeless people, here in the USA.
They rarely make the news, either: it seems that they are an embarrassment, to our gov.
Oh Nataliya S on the Idiot Bandwagon. You have it backwards, honey. OUR GOVERNMENT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO OUR HOMELESS.
I STILL say that he looks like McCauley Culkin, at that age.
A nice "kid" who got "tangled with a girl", on top of other problems, with a MEAN STEP-MOTHER.
I have a grandson who is almost Robin's age.
P.S: I didn't think that "Robin" was a Dutch name...or, either RAY (the phony name), for that matter.
Forest Boy seems like the troubled kid of kid Jerry Sandusky would have recruited for his Second Mile Foundation.
Shower anyone...
He's just a genius!...."work smarter, not harder!".......we could all learn a thing or two from a pixie like shyster!
Why do you keep reporting on this crap.. ?
Who gives a damn anyway?
It was Bush's fault
You know WWII, that was Bush's fault... (NOT SERIOUS)
The fact that you're not serious is also Bush's fault.
Good one.
Well, I still hope they pass along the cost of all this to him somehow. It was very expensive and irresponsible of him to have so many people worried (including his family), and spending all these man hours looking for him and trying to find out who he was and where he came from all because he didn't want to face his problems.
Life is what you make it.
hahahaha, stupid huh. Now nobody will hire him because of the big lie he spun. Nobody will know whether to take at his word or not. Looks like more trouble ahead for "forest boy". Guess now he will have to move up to "Jungle Man" position.
I'll bet his name is really Bill, and that he's 61, been unemployed for over 3 years, too lazy to find another job as a "craps" dealer, and wants to play, drink and enjoy life in Las Vegas before it's time for him to grow up.
I would have had a little more sympathy for this young man, if he did not overly sensationalize his story, or bluntly said ... lie. He is like the boy who yelled wolf. Maybe its the picture, but he definably does not appear to be in his early twenties.
Well he has a good friend for a start; lets hope he stands by him. Sounds as though he is a very unhappy individual, so dont criticise; you really dont know the kid.
Looser -- big time. Probably will grow up to be a serial killer.
HE CAME FROM A BROKEN HOME! HAD TO DEAL WITH A STEPMOMMY. Poor kid. I was a stepchild and it was h ell on earth! If people would have the BRAINS to stay married and raise their children in a warm loving home, GUESS WHAT this would not happen. BLAME THE PARENTS
LOL marilee! Blame the parents, eh? When you grow up you will realize things just aren't all that easy. Kids and young adults need to GROW UP, take responsibility for themselves and QUIT blaming everyone else! Can we say, "Grow up?"
Cry me a river! Nothing can justify the BS he put people through. He just wants attention. He needs a good a**-kicking!
Now, Forest Boy becomes baby Daddy - not so innocent after all. He could use this to write a book and pay for his baby's food and diapers maybe. If those kartrashians can make $60 million from their fake show....
...Put a bucket on his head, hit it with a baseball bat half dozen times
and send him to the "FUUNY-FARM"...
God Bless America... AGAIN...
"'Forest Boy' hoaxer had troubled life, friend says".
No kidding.
Has anyone tested this kid for cognitive disabilities? Sounds like he needs some coping skills. Where's his Mom in all this? Is Dad an ahzhole or just out of patience, compassion, understanding. That being said, DNA test for the baby.
Dad is dead! Couldn't take anymore of junior's BS!
That girlfriend of his is a first class bitch. She was already pregnant by another douche bag before she tried to pin it on him. I would have ran also if someone was tring to pin a out of wed lock baby on me when i know that we were not having sex.
Where does it say that they didn't have sex?
When I was this kid's age, I left home too. I got a job and lived in my car. I washed up in my employer's bathroom and cashed my paychecks at their bank. I was running too, from a mentally abusive boyfriend who threatened my life when I tried to move out with our son. I was too proud or scared...not sure... to ask my parents for help right away. I needed to heal. Maybe this young man needed to have time to figure things out and the German Government was all too eager to help. I finally told my parents where I was and asked for help. I regained custody of my son and raised him, he is now 22 and is a productive member of society, not to mention, a great friend to his friends and younger siblings.
In most countries if you don't want to work, and life gets too hard, you just run off into the forest, and people say, "what a hard life he had." In the United States, if you are too lazy to work and you can't pay your bills, you just make up a back injury and live off the government for the rest of your life. What hard life does he have? He just doesn't want to do anything. That's what's hard. He doesn't like anybody telling him what to do. That's what life is for most of us. Get used to it kid.
Haven't we all wanted a new bucket at some point in our lives? Haven't we all wanted our debts paid; a new start in life; a second chance to not make that poor choice we made the first time? Unfortunately, life doesn't give us a "do-over." Forest Boy will have to do what the rest of us had to do--suck it up and deal with the consequences of our actions and move on with our lives. Life isn't fair. Get over it. Welcome to the jungle.