The first information in Expressen had a huge impact.
A lonely and sick man had been found in an apartment in Haninge.
It was the sister, who had long been worried and trying to alert about misconduct, who had finally entered the apartment and found her brother in misery.
At first, one got the impression that the man had been locked up in the apartment for several decades, although the sister was careful to describe that it might not be a purely physical lock - the brother had been out from time to time, even if the mother and above all the brother had very limited contacts with the outside world.
Massive media impact
The impact in the media was massive.
The news went global - the case was reported across large parts of the world.
As a local news communicator in Stockholm, it naturally became a very big news with us as well.
Mom grabbed.
She had brought home the man, then a boy, from school already 28 years ago and according to the sister, it is she who is behind the fact that they have since separated themselves from the outside world, and lived a life of misery together in the apartment.
The mother has now been released.
The prosecutor states that one can not find anything that supports that the man was physically limited against his will.
A family tragedy
It seems to be more about misery, a family tragedy and mental illness.
Although the interest may be greater for the bestial, the completely incomprehensible, the sensational, it may be worth stopping and reflecting on what it still says about the society we live in.
Social control in parts of our society is not very strong, for better or for worse.
Especially in the big cities, we can suspect that there is quite a lot of isolation, loneliness and mental illness that can go undetected.
And the sister also testifies that it can feel completely hopeless to try to get help, especially to someone who does not ask for it himself.
Care more about everyday misery
On the one hand, everyone must be free to live their lives the way they want.
Social control in a society can be terribly restrictive and inhibiting.
On the other hand, perhaps we as a collective could be better at seeing and paying attention to situations when everything does not seem to be right.
But perhaps all of us, including us news reporters, should care a little more about the everyday misery that surrounds us, and not just be interested in the most spectacular and sensational.