In October 2019, 67-year-old Gerrit-Jan van Dorsten and his six adult children were discovered in
Ruinerwold, a village in the Dutch province of
Drenthe
Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...
, where they had lived after March 2009 for nine years after in
seclusion
Seclusion is the act of secluding (i.e. isolating from society), the state of being secluded, or a place that facilitates it (a secluded place). A person, couple, or larger group may go to a secluded place for privacy or peace and quiet. The se ...
in a farm house where only the 58-year-old man who rented the house had been seen around.
Details about discovery
The adult children were thought to be aged 18 to 25. The family was found after the oldest child Israel, who has also called himself Jan, 25, left the house and spoke to local people in Ruinerwold. He had already become active on social media for a few months. His pictures show that he sometimes left the house after dark to go to the village. One of the children stated that they had never been to school. None of the six adult children were in official records of births and citizens.
The 67-year-old man has four more children, a total of ten children as of 2019. His eldest son was never a part of the same cult and the three eldest children of the nine he had with his second wife, fled the family home in 2011. Only the six youngest children remained in seclusion until 2019.
The 67-year-old man has extensive
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
pages and his own website, but does not mention his children. He tried to create an
ecological utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
.
According to a court judgment in 2021, the father had suffered a
cerebrovascular accident in 2016, rendering him incapable of making coherent communication.
Aftermath
On 17 October, the father appeared at court having been arrested and charged with unlawful
deprivation of liberty
Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...
, harming other people's health, and
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
.
In 2021, his prosecution was terminated because of his medical condition.
The 58-year-old man who rents the house, and was often around, but slept elsewhere, has also been arrested, initially for obstructing the police investigation, and later also suspected of
complicity
Complicity is the participation in a completed criminal act of an accomplice, a partner in the crime who aids or encourages ( abets) other perpetrators of that crime, and who shared with them an intent to act to complete the crime.''Criminal Law ...
. They are not allowed any contact with the adult children, to avoid influencing them as witnesses and possible victims.
[ ]
See also
*
List of solved missing person cases
*
List of child abuse cases featuring long-term detention
References
External links
Vader Gerrit Jan van D. en zijn kinderen in de schuilboerderij in Ruinerwold: de feiten op een rij
2010s missing person cases
Apocalyptic groups
Formerly missing people
Hermits
Living people
Missing person cases in Europe
Year of birth missing (living people)
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