Update in case after ‘Covid syndrome’ parents were arrested for keeping kids in ‘house of horrors’
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
In April last year, police rescued two eight-year-old twins and a 10-year-old from what was described by officials as a ‘house of horrors’ in Oviedo, Spain.
Their ‘Covid syndrome’ parents, German Christian Steffen, 54, and American-born Melissa Ann Steffen, 49, were arrested while they were placed in government custody.
And an update has now came through, as the couple have been jailed for nearly three years.
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The children were believed to have been kept inside the home from December 2021 as the parents reportedly feared the spread of Covid-19. At the time, Oviedo Police Chief Javier Lozano said they had given the kids ‘back their lives’ and ‘dismantled the house of horrors’.
The investigation reportedly began when a neighbour filed a complaint on 14 April 2025 about children in the home not going to school.
When officers arrived, they found the place ‘quite full’ of rubbish with ‘boxes everywhere’ of medications and face masks.
Images showed small cribs that the children slept in, covered with scrawls by them of monsters with sharp teeth.
Christian and Melissa were found guilty of domestic violence with habitual psychological abuse and child abandonment as the Provincial Court of Asturias today (11 May) sentenced them each to two years and 10 months in prison.
The children were found to have motor difficulties and health issues and are receiving treatment from psychologists while they are under the care of child protective services.
The parents have reportedly been prevented from exercising parental rights over the kids for three years and four months and are barred from communicating with them.
Prosecutors reportedly said ahead of the trial that the children were ‘isolated completely from the rest of the world’.
“The children didn't even know their relatives or any other people that weren't their parents,” they said.
“They never went outside, not even to the garden of their home, for almost four years because of the unfounded fear the accused had, and they had instilled in their children, that they might be infected with something.”
It was claimed that the two eight-year-olds did not know how to read or write when they were found, and the children did not receive any health monitoring.
It is also added that the children had ‘problems with bladder and bowel control’ due to the use of nappies.
"As a result of these events, the children suffer from social dystocia, which will delay their incorporation into social relationships appropriate for their age,” prosecutors added.
The defence lawyers said the parents had taken a series of ‘probably wrong but not criminal decisions’ and rejected the ‘house of horrors’ description of the property.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Jess Battison