A car drives past a road sign at the entrance of Hagenbach where a 9-year-old boy was rescued this week after living locked in his father’s utility van since 2024, Eastern France, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-04-11T10:38:26Z<\/p>\n
PARIS (AP) \u2014 A 9-year-old boy has been rescued after living locked in his father\u2019s utility van in eastern France since 2024, according to the local prosecutor. The child has been hospitalized, and his father detained.<\/p>\n
Police were alerted by a neighbor to the \u201csounds of a child\u2019\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
After forcing the van open, officers found the child \u201clying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement,\u2033 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.<\/p>\n
The boy\u2019s father told investigators that he put the child in the truck in November 2024 \u201cto protect him\u201d because his partner wanted to send the then 7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital, the prosecutor said. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The boy told investigators that he had \u201cbig difficulties\u2019\u2019 with his father\u2019s partner and thought his father \u201chad no choice\u201d but to lock him up, according to the prosecutor. He said he hadn\u2019t showered since 2024.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n