Police: Man kept wife locked in basement for 16 years

Police in Brazil say the've arrested a man suspected of keeping his wife locked in a basement for 16 years, during which time he was living with another woman in the house.

Sebastiana Aparecida Groppo, 64, was found by police after they received a tip, Reuters reported.

Police said the floor of the 130-square-foot basement was littered with dead cockroaches and feces, police told Reuters.  She exhibited mental problems consistent with having been confined for a long time, police said.

"She was found without clothes wrapped up in a blanket," Sorocaba police inspector Ana Luiza Salomone said. The windows had been shuttered and were covered in mold, Reuters reported.

-- Lance Murray

Comments

[Amon]

This is shallow and Cheesy

[dr oral pavlor, dirctor]

perhaps the woman was mentally unstable BEFORE her confinement and the husband was merely protecting her from an inefficient mental health system. lets not jump to conclusions and always defend a victim who may in reality be the criminal. lets get tough on crime, TEXAS! dr pavlov

[stuart2]

Dr. Pavlor sounds like a quack. Even if she was mentally troubled before her imprisonment - yes imprisonment - he should have committed her to an institution that could offer help "doctor", not took it upon himself to be her judge and jury - since you mentioned crime.

[Notch Johnson]

All I want to know is, did it work? I mean did it shut her up?

[TJ Harrell]

Dr. Pavlov mabe you should move to Brazil and live in confinement for 16 years becuase obviously you are already mentaly unstable.