THREE children who were trapped in a “House of Horrors” by their parents were rescued thanks to one tiny clue uncovered by a neighbour.
Christian Steffen, aged 53, and his wife Melissa Ann Steffen, aged 48, were taken into custody following suspicions of child abuse when the police conducted a raid at their residence in Spain.
The couple is alleged to have confined their two eight-year-old twins and 10-year-old son within their home since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has now been revealed that the youngsters were saved thanks to a university professor’s secret diary.
A female neighbor known as Silvia provided the authorities with a detailed diary documenting evidence that revealed the children were being kept against their will at the Steffen family’s residence.
German-born Christian was registered as the only resident in the affluent home after he started to rent the property in October 2021.
Silvia, who lives just 65ft away from the home, first jotted down claims that she witnessed a little girl playing in the garden.
This later evolved into a slew of evidence as Silvia continued to note what she saw going on in the home.
They included details of the days and times the curtains on the second floor moved and even when the blinds were opened or lowered.
Notes even kept tabs on every occasion the man believed to be Christian left the house to meet delivery drivers or collected food deliveries.
She never saw a child leave the home or playing around in the time since making the diary.
Her suspicions continued to grow after she saw the amount and size of supermarket deliveries which the homeowner was receiving.
Despite only one person appearing to live in the house, SIlvia noted that there was enough food and drink to feed a whole family each time.
At one point, Silvia even claims she started to hear children’s voices coming from across the street.
After collecting the detailed dossier, the professor handed her notes over to the cops on April 14.
They started to investigate the serious accusations and soon discovered nappies were being purchased.
Without that neighbour, the children would almost certainly have gone undetected in that house for many more years
City hall source
This sparked a major search inside the property so police could see what was going on inside shortly before Spain’s historic blackout.
Police would go on to thank Silvia for noticing the peculiar shopping list as they labelled the spot as the key clue which helped them arrest the parents.
A city hall source told respected Spanish daily El Mundo: “The neighbour had collected evidence that during school hours no-one left the house and expressed with certainty there had to be children living there, and even claimed to have seen them.
“The shopping list was the clue that set it all off.
“It was the list of a family, not a single person, and there was something that didn’t fit at all which was the striking amount of nappies.”
The source added: “Without that neighbour, the children would almost certainly have gone undetected in that house for many more years.”
It was also revealed that many of the neighbours didn’t even realise that the house was being lived in at all due to how secretive the dad had been.
Since the arrests, cops have spoken out about the horrors inside the home as well as the treatment of the young children.
Police who raided the property told local press the youngsters were made to wear nappies and told when and how many times they could use the toilet.
The three boys were reportedly told they could only lower the blinds in their bedrooms at 5.10pm each day after being allowed to raise them exactly halfway up the windows during daylight hours.
Prosecutors say filthy diapers were even piled up in one of the bedrooms.
A shocking paediatric report on the kids later identified they were suffering from “severe constipation”, El Español reports.
This is reportedly due to them only being allowed to go to the toilet at specific times.
An unnamed investigator Spanish media quoted said: “The children’s parents claimed the youngsters didn’t know how to control their bowel movements but the paediatric report has shown that to be false.”
Police say once the children were freed one of them knelt down on the grass and “touched it with amazement”.
We have given three children back their lives
Francisco Javier Lozano
Oviedo Police Chief Inspector Francisco Javier Lozano said: “We have given three children back their lives.”
German freelance tech recruiter Christian and his US-born wife are both now facing between five ad seven years behind bars if found guilty.
They are currently being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence, psychological mistreatment and child abandonment.
Overnight it emerged officials were still trying to locate relatives of the three boys currently in social service care.
Regional government vice-president Gimena Llamedo said work will continue this week to try to track down other family members.
She said: “We will carry on working towards trying to locate relatives who could and would meet the criteria to take care of the children, whose welfare is our utmost priority.”
