Malnourished boy found locked in utility van since 2024, police say

World Boy in France kept in locked utility van for nearly 2 years before being rescued this week April 11, 2026 / 7:57 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google A 9-year-old boy was rescued this week after living locked in his father's utility van in eastern France since 2024, according to the local prosecutor. The child has been hospitalized, and his father was detained.Police were alerted by a neighbor to "sounds of a child" coming from a van on Monday in the village of Hagenbach near the borders of Switzerland and Germany, according to a statement from Prosecutor Nicolas Heitz provided Saturday.After forcing the van open, they found a child "lying in a fetal position, naked, covered by a blanket on top of a mound of trash and near excrement," the statement said. The child was malnourished and could no longer walk, because he had been in a seated position for so long, the statement said. A photo shows a residential building where a boy was discovered naked and malnourished on a pile of rubbish in a van where he had been kept locked up, in Hagenbach, eastern France, on April 10, 2026.  SEBASTIEN BOZON /AFP via Getty Images The boy's father, 43, told investigators he put the child in the truck in November 2024 "to protect him," because his partner, 37, wanted to send the boy to a psychiatric hospital, the prosecutor said. The boy was 7 at the time.The prosecutor said there was no medical record indicating the boy had any psychiatric problems before he disappeared, and the boy had good grades in school.The boy told investigators he had "big difficulties" with his father's partner, and thought his father "had no choice" but to lock him up, according to the prosecutor. He said he hadn't showered since 2024.The boy told police his dad brought him food twice a day and left him water, CBS News partner BBC News reported, citing Le Parisien newspaper. He said he had to urinate in plastic bottles and defecate in bin bags, the outlet added, and the last time he had a shower...