BERLIN (AP) — Police in southern Germany say a woman found by officers during an eviction may have been held captive by her mother for years.

Officers found the 26-year-old woman Tuesday morning inside a locked room of a "squalid" apartment in the Bavarian town of Rosenheim.

Police said in a statement that her 54-year-old mother was badly injured after falling down stairs in an apparent suicide attempt when officers arrived. They are investigating the possibility of unlawful imprisonment.

The statement said that "based on the situation of discovery and the initial information of the police it can be assumed that the daughter had been in the room for a long period of time, maybe even years."

The younger woman, who was described as "mentally disabled," has been taken to a specialist hospital.