Major update as 'pale and malnourished' boy found curled up naked – caged since 2024

A nine-year-old boy has been rescued after being locked inside a van for more than a year by his own father in a village in France. Police were alerted by a neighbour who reported “sounds of a child” coming from the van last Monday, April 6, in the Alsace village of Hagenbach. When authorities arrived, they made a shocking discovery.

Local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said the boy was found “lying in a foetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement.” The 43-year-old father has now been placed in pre-trial detention for a year, the prosecutor announced in a statement on Monday, April 13.

The prosecutor said in his statement on Monday: “Following a hearing held today today before the Judge of Liberties and Detention of the Mulhouse Judicial Court, the individual charged with aggravated kidnapping and deprivation of care has been placed in pre-trial detention for a period of one year, in accordance with the prosecution’s requests.”

Due to prolonged confinement in a cramped position, the child, who was “pale and clearly malnourished” was no longer able to walk, he added.

The boy was immediately taken to hospital, where he remains under medical care. The boy hadn’t showered since late 2024, had a bundle of clothes and had to urinate into plastic bottles and defecate into bin bags, Le Monde reports.

Living with his 37-year-old partner and two other children, aged 10 and 12, the father admitted to having confined the boy and deprived him of care.

During questioning, the father said he put his son in the van in November 2024, claiming he was trying to stop his partner from having the child placed in psychiatric care.

Mr Heitz said there was no evidence the boy had any prior psychiatric issues.

The father’s partner has been “mise en examen” (placed under formal investigation) for two specific offenses: non-assistance to a minor in danger: Failing to help a child under the age of 15 who is in a life-threatening or dangerous situation and non-denunciation of mistreatment: Failing to report the abuse, deprivation, or ill-treatment of a minor to the authorities.

She was released under judicial supervision and has denied all charges and said she was unaware he was in the van. She claimed she believed the boy had been placed in a psychiatric facility, which is what the father had allegedly told relatives and neighbours to explain the child’s “disappearance” in late 2024, 20 minutes reports.

Meanwhile, the boy’s biological mother has filed a complaint against the father. All three children from the household have now been placed under protective care.

Authorities are now examining how the situation went unnoticed for so long.