French Police Free Boy Locked in Van Since 2024

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, the AP reports. Police were alerted by a neighbor to the "sounds of a child'" coming from a van on Monday in the village of Hagenbach, near the borders with Switzerland and Germany, 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 he put the child in the truck in November 2024 "to protect him" because his partner wanted to send the boy, then 7, to a psychiatric hospital, the prosecutor said. Heitz said there's no medical record that the boy had psychiatric problems before he disappeared and that he 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.

His partner denied knowing the boy was in the van, the prosecutor said. 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. The prosecutor's office is investigating whether others were aware of the boy's detention. Friends and family told investigators they thought the boy was in a psychiatric institution; his teachers were told he had transferred schools, according to the prosecutor's office. Hagenbach residents said Saturday they were unaware of the boy's whereabouts, but they didn't want to discuss details.