Photo released of Ray, the "forest boy" of Germany

Last year, this young fellow showed up at Berlin's City Hall and said that he's been living the forest for the last five years with his dad who died last summer. He claims not to know anything about himself beyond his birthday (June 20, 1994) and that his name is Ray. He speaks English and very little German. Ray has been in an assisted living facility since showing up in Berlin, and police have now released his photo to seek information about the boy. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Ray told police he had buried his father "in a hole in the forest underneath some stones" but, after "walking north for five days" to Berlin, could not explain how he had died or where authorities could find his body.
"A corresponding dead body has still not been found," police said. Ray said his mother Doreen had died in a car accident, which he also did not remember, when he was 12 and that he assumed scars on his face were incurred in the crash.
He was carrying a tent, a sleeping bag, a new-looking backpack and clean clothes when he turned up in Berlin. The chain around his neck had a pendant with the letter D, which Ray said was for his mother, Doreen.

"Who is Ray, the boy with the 'adventurous story'?"

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Drabula

Obviously, it’s the “Buddha Boy” who has transcended and re-appeared as a sandy-haired white boy in Germany. DUH!
http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli

Hopefuly, he’ll turn out better than Kaspar Hauser did…

http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/05/the-kaspar-hauser-mystery1.html

http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/06/the-kaspar-hauser-mystery-part-2.html
- niktemadur
  
  The Herzog film with Bruno S in the role of Kaspar is a masterpiece.
  “The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser” has a peculiar secondary title, “Every Man for Himself and God Against All”.
  
  http://85.214.56.41/movieman/Images/Film/00009928_KasparHauser_005-1.jpg
http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Lee/100001074475538 Christopher Lee

That’s weird – I expected antlers.
- bluest_one
  
  Not shown in this photo: his satyr-like lower-half.
bjacques

Simplicius!:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjacques/3716896633/
CSBD

Sounds to me like he is a runaway who watched the movie Hanna one time too many.

Though who wouldn’t want Eric Bana (with a put on accent) as a “father”?
- freshyill
  
  Agreed. This kid’s story is total bullshit.
Ryan_T_H

It’s unlikely to be as simple as a runaway. Over the last few years they have compared him to every missing child report in Europe. The only reason they are releasing the photo is that the normal channels have come up dry.
- mappo
  
  If he’s a native english speaker, they should probably check the missing child reports in the UK or US, depending on his accent.
  - ffabian
    
    “compared him to every missing child report in Europe.”
    “check the missing child reports in the UK”
    
    The UK IS in Europe.
    - Jer_00
      
      Not if you ask people who live in the UK…
      - ffabian
        
        That only proves that the british educational system is quite a mess.
      - Daneel
        
        Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off
  - blueelm
    
    It seems like it would have occurred to them to check the US, and also New Zealand or Australia perhaps? One would hope. But English is spoken in a lot of places, and having good English skills doesn’t mean he couldn’t be from pretty much anywhere.
    
    Perhaps he’s another one like the local girl here in TX who got herself deported under the assumed name of an immigrant. Now that is one crazy way to run away. But I could see it being pulled off, as the only way that girl was found was that she was posting about it on facebook.
- chgoliz
  
  Yeah, I’m wondering how much of the story is what his ‘father’ told him over the years. He may find out everything he thinks he knows about himself is a lie.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

John Titor’s son?
http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1

Are there also wild barbers living in the woods?
- Warren_Terra
  
  The picture was presumably taken some time after he was taken into custody, explaining his general cleanliness and his hair (which isn’t exactly Grizzly Adams but also isn’t a remarkable coiffure). A better question would be about laundromats, given that he claims to have been living five yeas in the woods and was found with clean clothes.
SomeGuyNamedMark

It’s a shame about Ray…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFYFj5q8_Qk
Ryan Lenethen

Sounds like the kid they found in BC, Canada. Very similar story. Reported all over media. Turned out to be a complete fabrication. I believe he ended up just being a runaway. Probably the same thing here.
theophrastvs

Check the mormons to see if one of their “missionaries” is missing (kid looks just like one of the mormon missionaries that came up to me in Bonn and couldn’t even speak a word of German) one good taste of a proper currywurst would probably convince him not to return to the “inland empire”
- Warren_Terra
  
  There are better options than pulling this nonsense, if that’s all you want. You can get currywurst in Seattle nowadays.
  - theophrastvs
    
    where? where?? [looks up/down Roosevelt way sees only Feierabend in distance]
    - Warren_Terra
      
      50th and Brooklyn in the U district
      - theophrastvs
        
        Those are ….o..k. Their bockwurst is better there (and the owner is a wonderful guy). But they just aren’t quite the currywurst of Berlin somehow.
http://anaraug.blogspot.com/ Walker Shurlds

I really really hope that this is performance art. We have been trolled?
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Pfft, fake.

Teeth were good, nails were clean, clothes were clean and his tent and other equipment appeared new and the tent unused even once when he first showed up.

I don’t care, but I disrespect his attitude toward fraud. He should have worked harder at it. A better backstory, believable props and physicality, it’s like he woke up a drunk, privileged backpacker and headed to City Hall for lack of anything better to do.

If he had worked at it then at least the challenge for the police and the amusement afforded the public would be equal or greater than the cost of his room and board and whatever else he has received.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW2vrPpmJOA
rogerwilco1

The boy has been identified as the Dutch buy Robin van Helsum.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/12358786/___Bosjongen__is_Nederlander__.html
http://www.elgervanderwel.nl/ Elger van der Wel

The boy is a Dutch boy, named Robin, who has been missing since september. His whole story was a lie, he just wanted to start a new life. The Dutch police found out after my colleagues received an e-mail from a friend of his at the newsroom where I work (NOS op 3). The whole story (in Dutch) can be found here: http://nos.nl/op3/artikel/383976-mysterieuze-bosjongen-is-nederlander.html
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  The boy is a Dutch boy
  
  You’d think that haircut would have been a hint.
  - Culturedropout
    
    That, and the fact that he kept sticking his finger in a dyke…
    - Anon_Mahna
      
      and was found holding a can of paint…
registradus

Why is the article linked the Sydney Morning Herald? Was he found in Sydney? from Sydney?
http://twitter.com/imazagi Ezra Igor Imazagi

Aaaaand he’s been identified. His name’s Robin, the story with the dead parents and living in the forest was a lie, he came to Berlin from the Netherlands a few days before he contacted the police and obviously wanted to start a new life after personal problems:
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120615-43167.html