A 9-year-old boy has been rescued after living locked in his father’s utility van in eastern France since 2024, according to the local prosecutor. The child has been hospitalized, and his father detained.
Police were alerted by a neighbor to the “sounds of a child” coming from a van on Monday in the village of Hagenbach, according to a statement on Saturday from prosecutor Nicolas Heitz.
After forcing the van open, officers found the child “lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement,″ Heitz said.
The boy was clearly malnourished and could no longer walk after being in a seated position for so long, according to the statement.
The boy’s father told investigators that he put the child in the truck in November 2024 “to protect him” because his partner wanted to send the then 7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital, the prosecutor said.
Heitz said there was no medical record that the boy had any psychiatric problems before he disappeared and that he had had good grades in school.
The boy told investigators that he had “big difficulties” with his father’s partner and thought his father “had no choice” but to lock him up, according to the prosecutor. He said he hadn’t showered since 2024.
Continue readingThe father was handed preliminary kidnapping and other charges and kept in custody. His partner denied knowledge that the boy was in the van, according to the prosecutor. She was handed preliminary charges, including for failure to help a minor in danger, and released under judicial supervision.
The boy’s 12-year-old sister and the 10-year-old daughter of his father’s partner were placed in the care of social services.
A 9-year-old in France was found locked in a van since 2024, malnourished and unable to walk
A 9-year-old boy has been rescued after living locked in his father’s utility van in eastern France since 2024, according to the local prosecutor. The child has been hospitalized, and his father detai...
