Everyone Thought This Guy Ran Away At 16, But Cops Just Found Him Inside His Home

At the age of 16, family and friends of Armando de Andrade were left to believe that he had simply moved away without telling anyone.

When asked about Armando’s whereabouts, his father and stepmother always proclaimed that he was doing well and had moved to the northeast part of Brazil to live on his own. The family were always consistent with their story, and it seemed to many that their son just wanted to spread his wings and make a name for himself.

Unfortunately, the reality of Armando’s “years away” were much more gruesome.

While going house-to-house searching for gang members, Brazilian police stumbled upon a truly terrifying sight.

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In the windowless basement of the Andrade family home, cops discovered Armando, now 36 years old, strapped to a bed, appearing noticeably malnourished.

Armando’s fingernails and toenails had long overgrown normal lengths and the man’s beard reached all the way down to his knees. The room was reportedly covered in feces.

It is widely speculated that the teen’s parents locked him away in total darkness after he began experimenting with alcohol.

After being liberated, Armando was interviewed by a close friend and appeared disoriented, only able to shake his head during questioning.

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Take a look inside the very basement that Armando allegedly called his personal prison cell:

Despite the evidence found at Armando’s parent’s home, the couple adamantly denies they are responsible for the man’s captivity. According to his father, Armando had remained out of touch for years and only came home to his parent’s house last week. Supposedly, it was Armando who asked to be housed in the basement and even went so far as to ask his parents to lock him inside as the man recovered from a drug addiction.

Armando’s father and stepmother have yet to be arrested for holding their son captive, but have since fled the scene after the neighborhood turned against them (understandably). Armando is currently under evaluation at a local psychiatric hospital.

This is absolutely horrifying, but I can’t help but wonder how they were able to hide Armando from the world for over 20 years.