Overview
- Police in Hagenbach intervened after a neighbor’s call Monday, forcing open a parked van and finding the boy naked, curled in a fetal position, and surrounded by trash and excrement.
- Prosecutors say the 43-year-old father admitted confining him since November 2024 to “protect” him from his partner, and he is now charged and held in pretrial detention.
- The 37-year-old partner denies knowing about the confinement but faces counts for failing to report abuse and neglect under judicial supervision.
- Doctors in Mulhouse report severe malnutrition and an inability to walk from prolonged sitting, and child-protection services have taken provisional custody of all three minors.
- School staff had archived the child’s file after the family claimed alternative schooling, and investigators are reviewing how the disappearance went unnoticed as officials note no medical record supports claims of a psychiatric need.