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'Forest Boy' Is A Hoax, Police Say

He wasn't really a "forest boy," police say.
Berlin police
He wasn't really a "forest boy," police say.

We won't pretend to be surprised:

"The forest boy known previously as 'Ray' has been identified as Robin van Helsum. from the Dutch town of Hengelo, Dutch police confirmed Friday morning." ( Germany's The Local)

It took only about two days from the time that police in Berlin released a photo of "Ray" for him to be identified by friends.

It turns out he's not a 17-year-old boy who was living in the woods with his father until dad died — the story he told police. He's a 20-year-old Dutch man with personal problems.

As we said Thursday, the tale of "forest boy" had captivated many Germans.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.