What Led to the 9-Year-Old’s 1.5-Year Captivity in a Truck? Shocking Details Revealed

[iNews24 Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Local residents in Hagenbach, a small town in eastern France, were stunned when a 9-year-old boy was rescued after being confined in his father’s truck for a year and a half.

On April 11 (local time), the Associated Press reported that prosecutors in Hagenbach — near the Swiss and German borders in eastern France — said police responded after a resident reported hearing a child inside a vehicle. Officers found the boy in dire condition.

When officers forced open the vehicle’s door, they found the boy naked and curled up on a pile of trash, covered by a single blanket.

He had been confined to a seated position for so long that he could not walk and was severely malnourished. He was rushed to a hospital, and prosecutors have charged his father with kidnapping and related offenses.

The boy’s father told investigators he had kept his son living in the vehicle since November 2024, saying he did so to protect the then-7-year-old from his partner, who allegedly wanted to send the child to a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors, however, said the child had no prior history of mental illness and had been a good student. School officials had been notified that the boy had transferred to another school.

The boy told investigators that living with his father’s partner had been very difficult and that he believed his father saw no other option but to lock him up.

Prosecutors are investigating whether others, including the father’s partner, were aware of the boy’s confinement.