{"id":48036,"date":"2026-04-11T23:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48036"},"modified":"2026-04-11T23:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T23:06:06","slug":"naked-french-boy-9-found-locked-inside-dads-van-for-years-after-neighbor-reported-chilling-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48036","title":{"rendered":"Naked French boy, 9, found locked inside dad&#8217;s van for years after neighbor reported chilling sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A naked 9-year-old French boy was rescued after his twisted dad allegedly locked him in a van for nearly two years \u2013 with the horror uncovered when a neighbor reported chilling sounds coming from the vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>French cops on Monday found the child curled in a \u201cfetal position\u201d under a blanket on a pile of trash near human waste after a neighbor reported \u201csounds of a child\u201d coming from the van parked near their home in Hagenbach, close to the Swiss and German borders, according to local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz.<\/p>\n<p>Heitz said the unidentified boy, now hospitalized, was severely malnourished and unable to walk after being kept seated since November 2024, when his father allegedly locked him away.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>French cops found the naked child curled in a \u201cfetal position\u201d under a blanket on a pile of trash near human waste. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Authorities arrested the deranged father, who bizarrely claimed he imprisoned the child inside his utility van to \u201cprotect him,\u201d claiming his partner wanted to send the then-7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The boy \u2013 who was a good student with no history of psychiatric issues \u2013 told investigators he had \u201cbig difficulties\u201d with his father\u2019s partner and believed his dad \u201chad no choice\u201d but to lock him away, the Mulhouse Public prosecutor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The child also said he hadn\u2019t taken a shower since 2024.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The boy\u2019s father allegedly locked him in the van near their home in Hagenbach in November 2024 <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The father, who was not identified, has been hit with preliminary kidnapping charges and other offenses and remains in police custody.<\/p>\n<p>The man\u2019s partner claimed she had no knowledge the boy was trapped in the van, but was cuffed and slapped with preliminary charges, including failing to help a minor in danger, Heitz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The deranged father bizarrely claimed he imprisoned the child inside his utility van to \u201cprotect him.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The unidentified boy, now hospitalized, was severely malnourished and unable to walk. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She was later released under judicial supervision, with her 10-year-old daughter taken into the care of social services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The victim\u2019s 12-year-old sister was also scooped up by social services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Authorities are also probing whether others were aware of the horrific situation.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mulhouse Public Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz speaks to the press. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prosecutors said friends and family were led to believe the boy was in a psychiatric institution, while his teachers were told he had transferred to another school.<\/p>\n<p><em>With Post wires.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/11\/world-news\/naked-french-boy-9-found-locked-inside-dads-van-for-years-after-neighbor-reported-chilling-sounds\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A naked 9-year-old French boy was rescued after his twisted dad allegedly locked him in a van for nearly two years \u2013 with the horror uncovered&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}