Silvia Gomez Nason began keeping a meticulous diary after she spotted something odd at her neighbour’s house – where officers allegedly found three children being kept in filthy conditions
A woman who became suspicious of her neighbours found they were allegedly hiding inside a house of horrors. German Christian Steffen, 58, and his American wife Melissa Ann Steffen, 48, were tracked by diligent neighbour Silvia Gomez Nason in the quiet village of Toleo in Spain.
Silvia’s investigation, which was later handed over to the police, found the Steffen couple’s children, made up of one child aged 10 and two eight-year-old twins, were being kept in filthy conditions. The family, police said, had been living in extreme fear since the Covid-19 pandemic and the children were confined in the home since December 2021.
The couple were arrested and police described a “house of horrors” that met them when they investigated after receiving a report from Ms Gomez. They found grim conditions where the children were wearing masks as they allegedly slept in cages and wore nappies in a house that contained animal faeces, rubbish and old medicines.
The windows in the property were locked tight and neighbours did not know the children existed. After leaving the home, one officer said that one of the children fell to the ground touching grass “in amazement”.
“They were very scared and around the mother, who told us all the time that the little ones had serious pathologies and that we should not approach them,” an officer said to Spanish media. “They had three masks each on top of each other. They were oblivious to any contact with reality.”
Silvia kept a meticulous diary after first noticing that there may be children inside the property, which was only registered to Christian Steffen. She noted how deliveries – the father would only leave the house to collect them – seemed to be for a family.
Silvia handed in her findings on April 14 and police monitored the home and suspicions were further raised when a delivery for nappies turned up. Authorities then launched a raid on April 28.
“Without that neighbour, the children would almost certainly have gone undetected in that house for many more years,” a source told the Mail.
The Steffen couple are reported to have been denied bail, while the infamous case in the sleepy village has become something of a macabre attraction for people passing.
Also found in the property were 22 jars of vaseline by Melissa Ann Steffen’s bedside table. Reports indicate she weighed 22 stone when she was arrested.
Throughout the house, police found signs one room had been used as a classroom, blinds were closed except in the children’s bedrooms which were shut every afternoon. Also found were four oxygen-purifying ozone generators that were plugged in at all times.
Local Marino Guardado told the El Diario newspaper: “The news is a scandal. In four years I’ve never seen anyone, not a man, a woman, the children, a dog, or a cat. As far as I could see, there was no one there, and therefore, there was no activity.”
Flor Gonzalez Muñiz, spokesperson for the Professional Association of Social Education of the Principality of Asturias, said one of the children is hesitant about removing their mask. “The little ones took them off and were free, but the older one eats and puts it back on,” she said.
“It’s not so easy to break down the discourse they’ve received for so long from their parents… children are less aware of the risk the younger they are… so it’s normal that the eldest needs to check more than the other two that nothing (untoward) is happening and to gain trust.”
The spokesperson added the damage to the children is not “irreveersible”. “This is something they will carry with them forever, they will be able to reach adulthood with the guarantee of a full life,” she said.