Horror as boy, 9, rescued after living naked locked in his father’s van since 2024

Stunned rescuers in France have found a nine-year-old boy who had been locked naked inside his father’s van since 2024. Police were alerted by a neighbour who reported “sounds of a child” coming from a van on Monday in the French village of Hagenbach, near the border with Switzerland and Germany.

According to a statement from local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz on Saturday the malnourished boy has been taken to hospital and his father has been detained. 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 seven-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. 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 to a different school, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The authorities have not released the names of the victim or his relatives.

According to the AP news agency, Hagenbach residents contacted by expressed shock over the case and said they were unaware of the boy’s whereabouts, but didn’t want to discuss details.

The prosecutor declined to comment further to AP pending further investigation.