9YO Boy Found Locked In A Van Since 2024, Malnourished & Unable To Walk In France

[Sugar Cookie]

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.

The 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.

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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...

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[cubby]

So "dad" would rather lock his son in a van for 2 years than get rid of his woman. And besides that, going to a psychiatric hospital would be a hell of a lot better than locking his son in a van, by himself, filthy, hungry, and scared. She knew all about it. I'm hoping they don't get a slap on the wrist.

 

[Rebooto]

It's so sad the boy is thinking his so called father didn't have a choice. He would be dead soon. I really hope someone tells this poor guy his father is a piece of trash who doesn't care about him and wants him to be dead.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

I hope there are interventions that can help this boy live a normal life going forward.

The boy probably did not qualify t go to a psychiatric hospital and that it why the sperm donor kept him in the van.

Where is the biological mother of the boy and was the father getting any benefits for the child? Did his school question his absence? These are questions I want to know.

 

[runninfawn]

me thinks that maybe the older sister was tolerated as a "companion/playmate" for her 10 y.o. daughter but the boy being younger and a boy didn't fit in her world of caregiver so invent that the boy need to go to a psychiatric hospital anything to make his father take action go somehow get rid of his son... she didn't know he was in the vehicle for the last 2 years my butt like was she blind and deaf too? was she so uncaring that she never questioned why the father never went to visit his son or brought his sister to visit him or even asked where he had taken him?? i wonder the tales those girls could tell especially the 12 y.o. bio sister ... also this "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" and what child that only went to school till he was 7 would use "big difficulties" to explain that he had problems with someone unless those words were coached by an adult... also where was that van parked at?? how far from the house or neighbours ?? so many questions ... hope there is a follow-up on this story ...

 

[Sugar Cookie]

me thinks that maybe the older sister was tolerated as a "companion/playmate" for her 10 y.o. daughter but the boy being younger and a boy didn't fit in her world of caregiver so invent that the boy need to go to a psychiatric hospital anything to make his father take action go somehow get rid of his son... she didn't know he was in the vehicle for the last 2 years my butt like was she blind and deaf too? was she so uncaring that she never questioned why the father never went to visit his son or brought his sister to visit him or even asked where he had taken him?? i wonder the tales those girls could tell especially the 12 y.o. bio sister ... also this "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" and what child that only went to school till he was 7 would use "big difficulties" to explain that he had problems with someone unless those words were coached by an adult... also where was that van parked at?? how far from the house or neighbours ?? so many questions ... hope there is a follow-up on this story ...

It will be very difficult to get updates because France loves to protect their criminals more than the liberal states here.