Family of ‘leave me alone brother’ distressed by death

The brothers and sisters who left their brother alone at his request only to discover he was dead four years later, live an isolated life, the Parool reports on Thursday evening.


Rients Wolbers, 50, was discovered dead in his bed on Monday after one of his siblings warned him their landlord was going to carry out repairs on their terraced home in the Friesland village of Minnertsga.
He had gone to his attic room in 2006 after a family row, saying he wanted to be left alone.
The paper says the family, two brothers aged 61 and 67 and two sisters aged 44 and 71, kept very much to themselves. The men were sometimes seen outside their home and were always polite, neighbours said. But the women rarely left the house.
The family has its own orthodox Protestant religion, and holds services at home which include singing and organ playing. The family has no radio or television and rarely visits the doctor, the paper says.

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