Jason Lopez

Jason was confined to a room by his parents between the ages of 4 and 9, when he was finally freed. In that time he was fed very little, so that by the time he was released he was about the size of a two-year-old and weighed 8 kg.

Jason can't speak, and can't walk. The room he was confined to was dark, and he was dressed only in a disposable nappy.

In the cases of Victor and Wild Peter - and probably other cases of feral children - it's not clear whether problems with development were caused by them being abandoned, or whether they were abandoned because their parents were struggling to cope with children with special needs. The same is true in this case. One report suggests that Jason Lopez was confined because he could not walk or talk.

Although a neighbour could hear the moans of a child over a period of several years, she has been assured by the parents that Jason was OK. About a year before Jason was freed, she said, the moaning had stopped.

People who knew about Jason didn't intervene because they were afraid that Jason's family would carry out some sort of revenge attack. In the end, Jason was rescued because (someone) knew that nobody else was in the house.