Today marks one year since Oviedo's Local Police freed three brothers aged 8 and 10 who had been secluded in their family home due to their parents' fear of Covid. The children are now under the care of the Principality of Asturias, while their parents remain in prison awaiting sentencing. A recent trial highlighted conflicting views on the case.
On April 28, 2025, coinciding with a national power blackout, Oviedo Local Police entered a rural home in the Asturian capital at 14:30. They found Christian S., 53, German, and his wife Melissa A.S., 48, American with German nationality, with their three sons: 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old boy. The family lived in deplorable hygienic-sanitary conditions, with the minors unschooled and all wearing three superimposed masks. Upon going to the garden, the children touched the grass and breathed deeply, police sources said.
The parents, suffering long Covid sequelae, had kept the children secluded for four years to avoid infection. Following the intervention, the parents were arrested and jailed. The minors, with no close family available, were placed under the Principality of Asturias' care and are adapting in a center.
In the Asturias Provincial Court trial, ended March 19, the parents stated in final remarks that they “only wanted the best for the children.” Prosecutors and minor's counsel Patricia Arce seek 25 years and four months in prison, while defenses by Javier Guillermo Muñoz Pereira and Elena González request acquittal, calling it a “normal family with anomalous, non-criminal behavior.” Police dubbed the house the “house of horrors.”
The pending sentence will decide the family's future. Defenses push for future family reunification through social services.
