The kidnapper’s home was just 300 feet from that of the Algerian man who was kidnapped as a teenager and held in a cellar for nearly thirty years. On Sunday, May 12, Omar Bin Omran was released from his long-term captor’s home—that of his own neighbor—near his family’s Djelfa, Algeria home. Following Omar’s discovery alive in the 61-year-old homeowner’s basement, beneath a hay-covered floor in what seemed to be a sheep corral, footage of the now 45-year-old victim being rescued spread quickly. After 27 years lost since the age of 17, a man was found held hostage in his neighbor’s basement.

According to The Sun, public prosecutors in Djelfa issued a statement saying, “The Djelfa Attorney General’s Office informs the public that on May 12 at 8pm local time it found victim Omar B, aged 45, in the case of his neighbour, B.A., aged 61.” The victim disappeared without a trace while on his way to a vocational school, purportedly at the age of 17. Then, it is believed, he was hidden on his neighbor’s property, just a short distance from his family’s home.

It is believed that the kidnapper worked for the government and lived alone on the property. According to local legend, the cellar that was obscured by haystacks when Omar was discovered was actually a well on a sheep farm. Omar, the eldest of nine siblings, vanished and was assumed to have died. After conducting a search for him, the family concluded that the then-teenager died during Algeria’s civil war between the government and other Islamist rebel forces.

When the adolescent vanished, his family noticed that his dog would stay out in front of the suspected neighbor’s house, despite the fact that they had no idea Omar was imprisoned within. About a month after the dog walked around the property, the abductor is thought to have killed Omar’s dog pal. It is believed that the cat was poisoned before his lifeless body arrived on the family’s doorstep.

The victim’s mother refused to acknowledge that her son died in the civil war, despite the fact that she had seen no evidence of Omar for years. She was positive that he was still alive somewhere, but she died before witnessing his amazing rescue from the house where she had raised him, barely a few yards away. When the mother died in 2013, she left behind one final request: “Please do not stop looking for Omar.” “I’m sure he’s still alive,” she remarked, according to the New York Post.

According to some accounts, the person who kidnapped the victim was notified about his mother’s death by the person keeping him captive. Although Omar’s mother did not live to see him return to his family in his own country, she believed her son was still alive.

The 45-year-old son’s whereabouts were discovered more than ten years after his mother died, following a social media post by the suspect’s sibling outlining the kidnapping.Due to a personal inheritance issue, the suspect and his brother coerced their sibling into posting about the homeowner’s involvement in Omar’s abduction. As a result, the victim’s relatives contacted the police.

According to a court official in Djelfa, the Public Prosecutor’s Office received a complaint about Omar being at a neighbor’s home.”Please do not stop looking for Omar. “I am certain he is still alive,” the victim’s mother remarked about her missing son before she died.

The prosecutor said, “Following this report the General Prosecutor of the Court of Idrisiya in the province of Djelfa ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and officers went to the house in question.”

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered that the victim receive medical and psychological treatment, and the suspect will be presented to the Public Prosecutor’s Office immediately after the completion of the investigation,” he stated.Investigators eventually discovered the astonished inmate imprisoned in a neighbor’s 61-year-old home.

Officials guaranteed that the “perpetrator of this heinous crime” will face a “severe” trial. Many people were angry that Omar’s mother had closed her eyes permanently before seeing her son return home. According to a neighbor who spoke with Algerian TV station Bilad, “(Omar’s) poor mum died while he was in captivity, without knowing what had happened to him, without knowing that all this time he was really right beside her.”

After being saved, the victim was taken to a hospital to have his physical and mental health evaluated.Omar told his family that he occasionally saw them passing through a window at the suspect’s house. But he felt as if he was under a spell, and he was powerless to call out to them. Following his rescue, the 61-year-old homeowner was brought into prison.