Overview
- The two brothers, aged three and five, were found distressed and wandering on a rural road near Alcácer do Sal on May 19 after being left blindfolded in nearby woods with only minimal food and water.
- The children told police they had been told to dig for a buried knife as part of a 'game' and that their parents were gone when the blindfolds were removed.
- Portuguese National Republican Guard tracked Marine Rousseau and Marc Ballabriga through southern France and Spain and arrested them sitting at a café near Fátima.
- A Setúbal judge ordered Rousseau remanded to Tires women's prison in Lisbon and Ballabriga remanded to Setúbal Prison on charges of child abandonment and endangerment with Ballabriga also charged with aggravated assault.
- The boys are in temporary foster care in Portugal while French authorities pursue repatriation and their father waits to reunify them as the cross-border criminal inquiry and child-welfare procedures continue.