What happened to the Algerian man trapped for 26 years in his neighbor’s cellar?

Welcome to your daily reminder that the world is a terrible place and nightmares lurk around every corner. An Algerian man identified as Oman bin Omran, long thought to be dead by his family and friends after he went missing 26 years ago at the age of 19, has been discovered in a cellar concealed by haystacks just 200 meters from his family home.

Algerian media reports (via ABC) that Omran disappeared in 1998 during the Algerian Civil War, with his family assuming he’d been killed in the chaos. But, shockingly, he had in fact been kidnapped and imprisoned underground by a neighbor for over a quarter of a century.

In a heart-wrenching twist, Algerian newspaper El Khabar reports that Omran’s beloved dog had waited outside the cellar for at least a month after the disappearance, likely being able to smell his owner trapped inside.

His alleged captor is a 61-year-old doorman who lived alone. When cops arrived the suspect attempted to flee the scene but was quickly taken into custody. His motives for kidnapping and imprisoning Omran are unknown, though the justice ministry has, appropriately, described the crime as “heinous”.

Omran’s terrifying fate only came to light after authorities were tipped off after his brother raised grievances about family inheritance on social media. It’s unclear precisely what went down (did his brother know where he was the entire time?) but Omran having gone missing without a body or death certificate would have complicated a family inheritance, and this may have given someone with knowledge of his whereabouts reason to contact authorities.

There are obvious parallels to the Josef Fritzl case here, in which an Austrian man imprisoned his daughter in their home for 24 years, as well as other domestic cases where neighbors were shocked to discover people had been imprisoned and tortured mere meters from their homes.

As for how Omran was unable to escape or summon help? Well, the Algerian press indicates that Omran’s captor psychologically manipulated and controlled him, explaining that he felt unable to call for help “because of a spell that his captor had cast on him.” That’s chilling stuff, and we can’t imagine what his mental state will be after 26 years of living through hell.

Omran is currently receiving medical and psychological care as the investigation continues. Once the police report on the circumstances and motives behind this bizarre and terrifying case, we’ll update this article.