![\"\\u200bThe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/u200bthe-suspects-terrace-at-the-first-level-of-a-residential-building.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA nine-year-old boy has been rescued after being found locked in his father’s utility van for two years.<\/p>\n
Neighbours in the eastern French village of Hagenbach reported hearing “sounds of a child” coming from the vehicle on Monday.<\/p>\n
Officers who forced entry to the van discovered the youngster in a foetal position without clothing, lying beneath a blanket atop refuse and close to human waste, according to a statement from prosecutor Nicolas Heitz issued on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The child, who had been severely malnourished, had lost the ability to stand or move on his feet due to prolonged confinement in a sitting position.<\/p>\n
Hagenbach sits near France’s frontiers with both Switzerland and Germany.<\/p>\n
The father informed investigators he placed his son inside the van in November 2024, at which time the child was seven years old.<\/p>\n
He claimed the confinement was intended as protection because his partner had sought to have the youngster admitted to a psychiatric facility.<\/p>\n
However, prosecutor Heitz’s statement revealed that no medical documentation existed to indicate the boy suffered from any mental health conditions prior to his disappearance.<\/p>\n
The father informed investigators he placed his son inside the van in November 2024<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
The child had been performing well academically before being locked away, according to the prosecutor’s office.<\/p>\n
In his account to investigators, the youngster described experiencing “big difficulties” with the woman his father was living with, according to the prosecutor.<\/p>\n
The child said he believed his father “had no choice” other than to confine him in the vehicle.<\/p>\n
The boy also revealed to authorities he had not bathed or showered at any point since 2024, when his ordeal began.<\/p>\n
![\"Mulhouse](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mulhouse-public-prosecutor-nicolas-heitz-speaks-to-the-press-after-a-boy-was-discovered-naked-and-ma.jpeg\")
Mulhouse Public Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz described how neighbours heard ‘the sounds of a child’ from inside the van<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
The father was detained and handed preliminary kidnapping charges.<\/p>\n
His partner, who denied any awareness of the child’s presence in the van, has been charged with failing to provide assistance to a minor in danger and with not reporting the mistreatment.<\/p>\n
She was released under judicial supervision.<\/p>\n
A 12-year-old sister of the victim and the partner’s 10-year-old daughter have been taken into social services care.<\/p>\n
Investigators are examining whether additional individuals had knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n
Family members and acquaintances believed the child was receiving psychiatric treatment, while his school was informed he had transferred elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nine-year-old boy has been rescued after being found locked in his father’s utility van for two years.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[819,49,50,2331,51,47,52,48,231],"class_list":{"0":"post-526268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-france","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sgg","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}