Overview
- The national gendarmerie issued a witness appeal Wednesday evening and asked anyone with information to call 0800 877 668, a free line open day and night.
- Manon Relandeau, 31, vanished on March 27 in Saint-Étienne-de-Montluc, and her partner flew on April 2 from Nantes to Algeria with their 15‑month‑old daughter.
- A 15‑investigator cell led by the Nantes research section is centralizing tips, and searches around the home and farm have used drones, a helicopter, dog teams and the river brigade.
- Investigators say their working theory is the killing of the young woman and the abduction of the child, under a probe opened for murder by a spouse and kidnapping of a minor.
- The father’s move to Algeria gives the case a cross‑border track, and prosecutors say he contacted a few people by phone after he left France, while local farmers care for the animals at Relandeau’s farm and her family holds out hope she is being held.