Boy From the Woods

[For The Kids]

It's 1,100 miles between Athens and Berlin. To walk that distance in 2 weeks, one would have to walk almost 80 miles per day.

20 miles per day is probably the maximum distance a trained walker can achieve day after day. (And that assumes a well-equipped walker who doesn't have to spend time to foraging for food and water.)

http://walking.about.com/b/2007/03/19/how-far-can-a-healthy-person-walk.htm

Not just that..it would be harder to walk in a forest I would think

 

[For The Kids]

This may have been mentioned elsewhere, but Ray and Doreen are names that would have been common in native English speakers probably no later than the mid-20th century. Ryan is an Irish surname that became popular as a first name from around 1970 onwards, at least in mainstream English-speaking communities. So the boy and his mother have quite "old" first names whereas his father's is quite "young."

One possible explanation is that the boy is from the Irish "traveler" community - according to Wikipedia "are a traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin, who maintain a separate language and set of traditions."

This might explain the lack of a connected missing persons report and the odd set of names in the family.

Incidentally, Andrea and others, Tschechien in German translates to "The Czech Republic" in English. I do think that the non-EU boy who's wandered across the border and wants to settle is also plausible. I'd love to hear the boy speak; this would help pinpoint his origins although it wouldn't necessarily be conclusive.

Hmm...from what i have seen the Irish Travellers speak the same as we do over in England ..just have a heck of a accent which admittedly i find hard to understand lol but it is our language though.

 

[~n/t~]

http://ie.missingkids.com/missingki...&caseNum=MK12&orgPrefix=IRGS&searchLang=en_IE

The age could be wrong, just looking to see who it could or might be. Note the picture of Ray is a computer composite

Good find!

 

[Nova]

You may be right but all three names are VERY common names here in England

Doreen is a bit archaic (but not unknown) here in the States; Ray and especially Ryan remain quite common.

 

[andrea]

BBM: I am not picking on Andrea, because she is by no means the first to posit a soldier gone AWOL from the "local wars." However, the former Yugoslavia was 600 miles from Berlin; Chechnya is well over 1,000 miles from Berlin.

There have been no "local wars" anywhere near Berlin in the past 20 years. Officially, Germany hasn't been at war since 1945 (though there were military intrusions by the Soviets into East Germany and Prague and Hungary in the 1950s and 1960s).

So while an AWOL father isn't impossible, he didn't come from a "local" war.

No offense taken, but I will take the hint and be more careful with my words! Writing here on websleuths I always think I'm communicating mostly with US people, thus thinking in bigger terms - all "Europe" would be called "local" by me. (Not EU-Europe, but geographical Europe, for those who understand the difference).

Anyway, before I have to leave for a business trip (and will be mostly without Internet access until Tuesday), here is a bit of info I haven't seen reported in this thread: According to wikipedia, his fingerprints have been checked against Eurodac (Joint European fingerprint database of immigrants and asylum seekers*), with no results. So, whoever he is, he hasn't tried to enter Eurpoean territory before. Or if he did, he wasn't caught.

*I never knew there was such a database. I find it cynical and dehumanizing to maintain a db like this. But then, I am getting old, and so are my opinions.

 

[For The Kids]

So, let's see....let's say he is indeed a Czech and, like many, has learned English as a lingua franca - a second language, taught in many schools. He has no reason to learn German as he's not German, and German is not English - a language one learns in order to communicate widely with others for whom it is also a second language. How to escape his bleak existence, have adventure, see the world? What about walking to Germany - not that far - and, somehow (he thinks), use what he does know - his English - in order eventually to obtain a still prestigious British passport, his ticket to travel and adventure? He gives the whole thing a fascinating backstory as he is a clever young man and knows this will draw attention, and that something - something good - just might happen for him.

Thinking about it..theres a possibility his parents arent dead at all - he could just be saying that they are so that people dont bother looking for them at all.

 

[Nova]

No offense taken, but I will take the hint and be more careful with my words! Writing here on websleuths I always think I'm communicating mostly with US people, thus thinking in bigger terms - all "Europe" would be called "local" by me. (Not EU-Europe, but geographical Europe, for those who understand the difference).

Anyway, before I have to leave for a business trip (and will be mostly without Internet access until Tuesday), here is a bit of info I haven't seen reported in this thread: According to wikipedia, his fingerprints have been checked against Eurodac (Joint European fingerprint database of immigrants and asylum seekers*), with no results. So, whoever he is, he hasn't tried to enter Eurpoean territory before. Or if he did, he wasn't caught.

*I never knew there was such a database. I find it cynical and dehumanizing to maintain a db like this. But then, I am getting old, and so are my opinions.

andrea, my new internet friend, when I can read and write German (or French or Spanish or any second language) as well as you read and write English, then we can talk about apologies, not before.

In the meantime, I am grateful and glad you are posting here.

Now that I realize where you are, your use of the term "local war" makes perfect sense. (Geography is not well taught here in the States, so I thought I needed to point out that Berlin is nowhere near Sarajevo.)

 

[For The Kids]

Doreen is a bit archaic (but not unknown) here in the States; Ray and especially Ryan remain quite common.

Ha but you guys have different names to us anyhow I have many Americans on my facebook and many of the names ive never heard of before

 

[Nova]

Ha but you guys have different names to us anyhow I have many Americans on my facebook and many of the names ive never heard of before

Diversity is our strength.

Ryan is the 49th most popular name for a U.S. male as of the 1990 census. Ray was 132nd. For females, Doreen was 422nd.

http://names.mongabay.com/male_names.htm


Okay, this may be my TMI moment. Time to step away from keyboard...

 

[gitana1]

If so, one would assume the boy would know Portuguese since the father probably spoke it.

Does he know simple things, like using a toilet or how to take a shower? What about soap? In what condition were his shoes?

I wanted to clarify, Spanish is spoken in Argentina, not Portuguese. :innocent:

The thing is, if the boy had a "normal" existence prior to him going into the woods, why would he not remember who he was? As others have mentioned, major trauma and memory loss due to some event, or maybe he just knows there is something not right with his existance thus far? I mean, even if something major had happened to him, why wouldn't his father have told him "who he was?" :waitasec:

Troubling indeed.

Maybe he's like Steven Stayner, or Suzanne Davis, kidnapped by a sex predator, when young, told lies about his background and then they fled to the woods when the kidnapper felt threatened? I hope not.

Very interesting idea here, I have never heard of the Irish traveler community before. Thanks for the pointer!

Also, I didn't mean to be unrespectful by using "Czechia". I thought it was a valid shortcut, like "Tschechien" in German (where "Tschechische Republik" would be the full name of the nation).

Czechia is valid! It is alternative to the Czech Republic and often used.

The majority of Czechs speak Czech, of course, but English is spoken all over Europe. Not by everyone, of course, but he could have found somebody who spoke English in any city, town or village.

The same is true of Germany (except the majority speaks German, obviously).

True and many Czechs spoke German as well.

Hmm...from what i have seen the Irish Travellers speak the same as we do over in England ..just have a heck of a accent which admittedly i find hard to understand lol but it is our language though.

The Irish Travellers do have their own "brogue", although they all speak English as well. Their language stems from Gaelic, mostly and is used in a similar manner to how the Roma use Romani - to prevent outsiders from understanding what they are saying.

I happen to love the study of languages, (not necessarily linguisitcs), geography and different cultures, it's a hobby of mine, so please forgive me if I sound like a know it all!! I think I entered the wrong profession!

 

[Nova]

My cousin is the Army attache to the Czech Republic. Now that the Czechs are involved, I'll ask him if he has an opinion on this case. (I don't expect him to tell me classified info, of course, but this doesn't seem to be a U.S. Army matter.)

 

[mysteriew]

Maybe he can pick up on rumors and theories from the area also.

 

[~n/t~]

Berlin forest boy adapts quickly to city life

The English-speaking teenager who walked out of a German forest claiming to know little more than his first name has quickly adjusted to conventional city life, his carers said.

And despite several visits from so-called linguistic experts police were no closer to establishing his nationality.

"We just don't know if he's British or from elsewhere," said Mr Schubert. "He speaks English but it seems his accent is hard to pin down."

"The important thing is that he seems OK and is in good condition. The rest we will have to wait for. We are making inquiries but it could take some time," he added.

Interpol has so far failed to come up with any information that could lead to the boy being properly identified.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...n-forest-boy-adapts-quickly-to-city-life.html


Forest boy: Berlin authorities appeal to Britons for information

Berlin authorities have made a "heartfelt" appeal for information from anyone in Britain who might know the identity of the mystery boy who claims to have been living in a German forest for five years.

The head of social services for the district which is now caring for 17-year-old "Ray" said all possible leads to determine his origins had so far proved fruitless.


"I want to make a heartfelt request that if anyone thinks they know something to come forward with that information to help us in our work," Angelika Schottler, head of family services at the Templehof-Schoneberg district council, told The Daily Telegraph.

A request to Interpol to match his details against known missing persons has turned up nothing and linguistic experts have so far failed to pin down his accent, although he is believed to be a native English speaker.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...rities-appeal-to-Britons-for-information.html

 

[~n/t~]

Linguistic experts have interviewed him extensively and say they cannot establish whether he is native English speaker or simply learnt the language at some stage. All they can say, is that he speaks broken German

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...live-in-the-woods-for-five-years-2358793.html

 

[Lera213]

Well if anything we've learned that they are trying hard to find out who he is. Wonder if they thought of entering his DNA in the database. You never know, and I think that is worth a try.

If he is from a eastern based country like Czech or Russia, his mother did die in an accident, father was mental and took him in the woods, perhaps the country he is from there is no record of him missing. Suppose no other family members left to report him? If they lived in a very rural area I suppose the only person that might identify him would be if someone visited those rural areas with his picture. Perhaps a midwife could identify him.

Do countries have a data base list of all midwives?

 

[Trino]

If what the boy said is true and while I understand if he's Czech, he can move about freely, it's interesting that a 17 yr old boy can breech national security by going into the woods. The same is true with the US and our northern border.

 

[Lera213]

I don't think his real name is Ray, or his father is Ryan. My instinct tells me the father picked those names out of a hat because they are more geared towards English heritage.

I'm going to start searching for missing adults to see if any reveal anything.

 

[Lera213]

So I'm searching around the web for old 2004 news articles from overseas. Thinking what would cause a man to take his child and flee to live in the woods. I have no idea and this probably has no bearing but I thought it interesting so I'll post it.

http://database.statewatch.org/article.asp?aid=7078

Since July 2003, the Minister has been sending out letters to non-national parents of Irish children advising them that he intends to deport them.

From the link above

This could be one avenue for LE to investigate for there must be a database of those letters being sent out. Perhaps there is a fathers name of Ryan, and son Ray with mother Doreen. Or at least names very close. I'm thinking perhaps these names could be middle names.

 

[Lera213]

I'm a little puzzled and I'm typing out loud here:

The father told him to head north if something happens to him to go to Berlin. Why didn't he give a last name to this so called "Ray" I'm sure this so called father had to have had identification of some sort on his person. He had coins and I bet this is where Ray got the coins. Before he buried his father, wouldn't you check for his pockets for coins, money, something? If the father had money on him, wouldn't he also have something in his wallet heck even a library card or something?

I'm guessing they gave him a polygraph to see if he is telling the truth. I wonder if they asked him "Are you telling us everything you know about yourself"

 

[Lera213]

http://www.missingpeople.org.uk/stevenbell

Age is pretty far off however my son who is 22 years old looks 14 or 15 years old. The ears do not seem to match but the nose, mouth and eyebrows to me do.