It is claimed that the four alleged assailants stole a car, and from Streamwood - a suburb of Chicago, where the man was reported to local police as missing - and took their victim to an apartment on the West Side of the city. Streamwood police said that, during their investigation into the missing person, his parents started “receiving text messages from persons claiming to be holding him captive.”

On Tuesday evening police in the West Side came across the victim wandering the streets in obvious distress, wearing shorts despite the freezing cold.

“They saw clearly that this individual was in distress and he was in crisis. And they cared enough to do something about it,” said Captain Steven Sesso of the Harrison District.

A little while later they were called to a fight in progress, about half a block away from where the victim was picked up. At the scene, “they discovered signs of a struggle and damage to property and were able to link this evidence to the disoriented male,” according to a statement from police.