Parents Said Teen Daughter Had Been Missing for 27 Years, Neighbors Say. She Was Just Found Emaciated in Their Home By Samira Asma-Sadeque

Neighbors and well-wishers in southern Poland are raising funds for a 42-year-old woman who was allegedly held in her parents’ home for 27 years while the parents told everyone she was missing.

The woman, identified in local media outlets only as Mirella, was rescued from the alleged captivity in her parents’ home in Świętochłowice, about 180 miles from the Polish capital of Warsaw, according to police, local outlets TVP3, Super Express and Fakt reported.

She was rescued in July, but the case became public in Poland this month.

Neighbors who heard a commotion in her parents’ apartment called police, who then found Mirella at the residence, Fakt, Polska Agencja Prasowa and Super Express reported.

“It all started with voices coming from that apartment. It was very late at night when we called the police,” Luiza, a neighbor in the building, told Fakt.

Police said Mirella and her mother both told authorities that there were no issues in the apartment, but Mirella’s physical condition — “like an old lady,” Luiza alleged to Fakt — prompted police to transfer her to a hospital, the authorities told Super Express.

Photos shared by Fakt show law enforcement officials escorting a stooped woman, one of her emaciated arms dangling on her side.

According to neighbors, Mirella’s parents allegedly said she went missing at the age of 15, multiple outlets reported. That was 27 years ago.

In response to those who were more inquisitive, the parents allegedly said Mirella had been reunited with her biological parents, per Fakt and TVP3.

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Now, friends and neighbors caring for Mirella have revealed horrific details of the life she was allegedly made to live for nearly three decades.

In a fundraiser that has been set up to assist with her physical and mental treatment, as well as her upcoming living costs, Mirella’s friends claim the woman was confined to a small room and did not have access to basic hygiene, including underwear and menstrual pads.

Her friends say her legs have been “suffering increasingly” over the years, so much so that “even a gust of wind caused her excruciating pain.”

“I remember her from childhood. She was a normal, healthy child; we ran around the yard, climbing trees, and nothing ever happened to her. She was a healthy teenager,” Luiza, who is involved with the fundraiser, told Fakt.

Luiza and other friends of Mirella are hopeful she can have a future ahead that is healthy and free. Since her rescue, she has tasted espresso for the first time, and her friends say she loves it.

“Let’s show her a world she’s never experienced. No one can give her back the most beautiful years of her life, but we can build beautiful memories of the life still ahead of her,” read part of the fundraiser.

It wasn’t immediately clear if there will be charges against Mirella’s parents. No charges have been brought so far, authorities told the Polish media. Police are investigating the case as potential abuse, local prosecutor Agnieszka Kwatera said, per Super Express.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.