© 2024 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Can You ID Germany's 'Forest Boy'?

"Forest boy," who says his name is Ray.
Berlin police
"Forest boy," who says his name is Ray.

7 a.m. June 15. IMPORTANT UPDATE: 'Forest Boy' Is A Hoax, Police Say.

Our original post:

Take a look at the face.

If you've got any clue as to who this young man is, police in Berlin want to know.

All Things Considered today catches up on the story of Germany's "forest boy," the young man of about 17 who showed up in Berlin last September saying that his name was "Ray" and that he had been living in the wild with his father for the previous five years.

According to Ray, who says he doesn't know his family name or where he's from, his father died last August and his mother was killed in a car accident about five years earlier.

Ray speaks English. And as Global Post adds:

"Investigators told NBC News that it's most likely that Ray is from a neighboring country, rather than the US, at least according to DNA evidence. The authorities also believe English may not be his native tongue."

Hannah Cleaver is editor of the English-language German news site The Local, which has been following Ray's story since last year. She tells NPR's Audie Cornish that Germans have been captivated by the story of "the boy who walked out of the forest," even though investigators can't figure out whether his story is true or not.

This week, authorities released his picture in the hope it will help them solve the mystery. The Berlin police department's website, with more about Ray's story, is here (scroll down on the page for English).

Someone must know who he is.

Copyright 2022 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.