German cops probing forest-boy mystery

2011-09-17 00:32

Berlin - Berlin police say they're investigating the story of an English-speaking teenager who appeared in the German capital last week saying he had lived the last five years in the woods with his father.

Spokesperson Michael Maass said the approximately 17-year-old boy appeared on September 5 at Berlin's city hall then taken in by a youth emergency centre.

Maass says the boy asserts that he and his father took to the woods about five years ago after his mother died and have been living in a tent and earth huts.

Police say the boy - who says he doesn't remember where the family came from - claims he followed his compass north after his father recently died, hitting Berlin after walking two weeks.

- AP