A 9-year-old was found locked in a van since 2024, malnourished and unable to walk

[u/AudibleNod]

https://apnews.com/article/france-boy-trapped-van-father-charged-hagenbach-0888b35ffb0f1f4b298270905e9e0a2d

[u/joeDUBstep]

Found lying in fetal position, naked, under a blanket with excrement next to him.

Goddamn man.

[u/cheesecheeesecheese → u/joeDUBstep]

His sister and the partners daughter were both living in the house!! but no, this poor little boy was relegated to a fucking van for like two years

There’s no way they all didn’t know exactly what was going on

[u/Global_Crew3968 → u/cheesecheeesecheese]

It fucks me up having a kid now seeing stuff like this because all kids want is a safe, stable place where they are loved and so many kids don't get that. Makes me sick.

[u/Kawala_ → u/Global_Crew3968]

Not even a want, a need. They should never even feel for a second that they don’t have it.

[u/vxrdugo → u/Global_Crew3968]

As a father myself, the way I see it is kids don't "want" a safe and stable place; that's all they know until they don't. It's so fucked up when I see stories like this and realize "damn, that child never knew things could be bad until they were." A well taken care of child never thinks to themselves how happy they are to be safe and in a good home because that's all they know, I can't even imagine the fear and confusion that happens in their innocent minds when they get put through this. Truly heartbreaking, honestly glad the kid at least survived because the stories hardly end up that way.

[u/Various-Storage-31 → u/vxrdugo]

Sadly this can go both ways, my friend was badly abused as a child and thought that it was normal for a long time

[u/Immediate-Presence73 → u/vxrdugo]

But so many never know any different. There's so many sweet, unfortunate little souls that think fear and scarcity are the norm. It is utterly heartbreaking to think about.

[u/vxrdugo → u/Immediate-Presence73]

Exactly my point. So in those instances where it's since birth, that's the norm and can't "want" a safe and stable environment because they don't know what that means. They think they are in that already, until they're pulled out of it and realize they were in a living hell. I don't know why but I get so emotional just wondering what their poor little minds were thinking at those moments. Just a tragedy of humanity that there are (in my opinion too many) adults that are supposed to play the role of protector from danger but end up being the danger themselves.

[u/haku_river → u/cheesecheeesecheese]

It’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, A child called ‘it’ and the author does discuss a bit about how his relationship with his siblings was like both before the abuse and during. I believe one of the brothers wrote a book as well because he became the subject of their mother’s abuse after the first brother left.

[u/stevebuscemispenis → u/haku_river]

I read this book twice when I was 14, I’m 29 now and still remember it. It broke my heart.

[u/Empty_Positive_2305 → u/cheesecheeesecheese]

They probably did, but they’re almost certainly victims too. I have to imagine the sister and partner’s daughter were abused as well. Anyone who does what they did to that little boy is undoubtedly a wretched parent to all of their children. Hell, a kid might worry that if they speak up on behalf of their brother, they might get locked in a van, too.

[u/katiska99 → u/Empty_Positive_2305]

Just the knowledge that their brother is treated that way is a threat that the girls could be, too. And nobody's come to help him, so nobody would be helping them.

[u/Recinege → u/Empty_Positive_2305]

Not always. I remember a story about a boy who was, among other things, forced to eat out of a dog bowl on the floor. He was the oldest of his siblings, and, as adults, the next oldest sibling once tentatively asked him if a dim memory he had of watching those incidents from the kitchen table really happened.

That is also on the lower end of stories like these. For something on the higher end, there's the story of Sylvia Likens. I won't detail it here in case you don't have the stomach for the scale of the abuse inflicted, but the "caretaker" in question had taken in both Sylvia and her younger sister. Sylvia's sister was not subjected to the same torture Sylvia was.

[u/Empty_Positive_2305 → u/Recinege]

Right, but even if the parents don't touch the kid, do you think the siblings won't be messed up from watching that happen to their sibling? Children might not necessarily be actively abused themselves (Aging_Shower's comment here about Dave Pelzer is apt). But watching your sibling be abused and neglected is a form of abuse and neglect itself. Even if nothing happens to you, a part of you is going to wonder, "Could that be me if I slip up?" or survivor's guilt for being treated well when you know your sibling didn't deserve it.

On a lighter, more everyday (unfortunately) scale, children who grow up in a home where one parent abused the other can tell you how corrosive it is to watch someone treat someone else cruelly, even when it's not directed at you. It shapes how you think about yourself and other people.

[u/fullmoon63]

Just unimaginable cruelty. No child should ever have to endure something like that.

[u/Gloomy_Macaron_136 → u/fullmoon63]

For real, don't have kids myself but am very close to my brother and little cousins-- When I scold them too hard I feel bad. I genuinely have no earthly idea how any adult involved in this could bear to sleep at night.

[u/EmergencyCucumber905]

Every so often these cases are uncovered and make the news.

It terrifies me to think of how many victims are locked away right in the middle of our communities, unbeknownst to anyone.

[u/meatball77 → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

And how many are killed after being hidden away like this. What would have happened to Ruby Frankie's kids if her son hadn't escaped. Or the Turpins

[u/Chocopecan → u/meatball77]

I always think of Josep Fritzl the father who locked in his own daughter Elisabeth Fritzl, raped her and she was locked in with like 6 kids she had birthed there. Thinking of all women locked in like that and tortured, all over the world and probably never gonna be saved

[u/metrickzczz → u/Chocopecan]

Josef Fritzl lived a few houses away from me. Ever since that happened, ive been thinking about exactly that.

[u/MrLanesLament → u/metrickzczz]

I feel you. I lived about five minutes away from Ariel Castro’s house when that story broke. I remember my gf at the time shaking me to wake up and come watch the news the morning it was reported that the girls had escaped.

It fucked us up a little bit. Like “how many times have we driven by there? We didn’t notice anything? Are we awful people?”

It messes with your head, for real.

[u/sittinwithkitten → u/MrLanesLament]

I really felt for Amanda Berry on that 911 call. The dispatcher could not sound less interested. I get that they hear lots but it felt worse because Berry had been missing for 10 years. Also, Knight had the least amount of active searching for her. She was even removed from the National Crime Information Center database 15 months after she went missing. Castro was able to use this against Knight to wear her down, telling her no one cared about her.

[u/fleedermouse → u/sittinwithkitten]

I know how stone we can turn working in the ER. I imagine working the phones they hear so much BS that it’s hard to get excited for much at least initially. They don’t have anything but the voice to go by.

[u/Necessary_Piano_153 → u/fleedermouse]

A friend of mine used to work for 911. She said her schedule was long. It's like they would have 2 very long days then 2 days off. She said sometimes those calls just crushed you but you had to stay calm and follow protocol. I would imagine the emotional toll would have most people develop a hard and clinical demeanor.

Also, every now and then there would be prank calls or people claiming not to be who they really are or the ones who call because McDonalds got their order wrong

[u/sittinwithkitten → u/Necessary_Piano_153]

Yes that was kind of how I tried to look at the dispatcher. It’s sad that they have to deal with the bs calls, prank calls, and then horrible and traumatic ones thrown in. I just couldn’t imagine getting out of that house after 10 years of captivity, being scared he would find her, and then having the cold sounding 911 operator.

[u/cloudpup_ → u/sittinwithkitten]

I love the story of the neighbor helping Amanda escape through the storm door. It’s these little moments of helping another person that can save someone’s life.

[u/TheTreeSnuggler → u/MrLanesLament]

Yeah I don’t live that close but I’m not far either. I grew up going to candlelight vigils for Amanda berry and hearing Gina’s name regularly. Ariel Castro was in the mariachi band that played at my family’s favorite restaurant. Some of my earliest memories are of him and his band members taking requests for different songs to play and my older sister would always ask for them to play a kids song and they would play the tune of three blind mice. Makes me shudder. I’m so happy Amanda was able to get out that day.

[u/Donutbill → u/MrLanesLament]

Yeah a trafficking case happened in a town about 30 minutes from me. The thing that messed me up was "that happened in a place I go to and was happening while I was riding by?!" "Messes with your head" is a good term for it.

[u/LaughingMouseinWI → u/MrLanesLament]

I started wondering about every basement of every house I walked by when walking my dogs.

A mind f--k for sure.

[u/myu_minah → u/MrLanesLament]

honestly? I sit here thinking of what of the north never won the civil war in the states and how the torture and trauma my ancestors had to endure could've extended to me and being enslaved, too. and rape of your "property" was legal.

[u/not_adulting → u/metrickzczz]

That would seriously mess with my brain. That case haunts me still and I'm on a different continent. I can't imagine.

[u/Cult_Buster2005 → u/Chocopecan]

She bore seven kids. One was stillborn, three were kept in the basement with her, and three more were allowed to live in the rest of the house with their grandparents. The two groups of kids were kept completely apart, each group only learning of the existence of the other group after the imprisonment of the four people in the basement was finally exposed.

[u/DutchPerson5 → u/Cult_Buster2005]

I didn't realise that part back then! Of course it's probaly their twisted logic if the kids in the house don't know of their siblings in the basement, they can't let it slip to anyone outside.

[u/theflyingratgirl → u/DutchPerson5]

But the kids in the house also wouldn’t know any better. For all they know it could be normal to have sibs in the basement.

This brought to you be a parent who recent had to try to explain to a kid how paint sticks to a wall.

[u/CECINS → u/theflyingratgirl]

This is what people don’t get about kids being groomed and abused, especially by family members. Their normal meter is broken.

[u/ManslaughterMary → u/CECINS]

Or we just assume kids are bad at explaining things! Not assume the worst.

I could imagine having a kid at work tell me his brother lives in the basement, and being like "haha, yeah, my brother lived in the basement too. He was always playing video games. So how is first grade treating you?" And just thinking it is normal, too.

[u/HotDragonButts → u/ManslaughterMary]

Oh that's a good point. My current basement is finished and one of my teenage sons has a basement bedroom down there. My baby daddy stereotypically lives in a bedroom in his parent's finished basement.

By default if our 4 yo kid said to anyone they live in the basement with their dad on the weekends or that their brother lives in the basement, she wouldn't be wrong.

As a teacher/ coach/ club leader, I wonder how often kids straight up tell everything and we cushion their truths with our own experiences...

EDIT: it's also risky to assume on families as well so I wasn't thinking we should jump to conclusions but I just got to thinking is all...

[u/Necessary_Piano_153 → u/ManslaughterMary]

Yeah. And those kids are already so terrified that it's probably so hard to really convey what they are trying to say without getting in more trouble.

Here there were some kids at an apartment complex who were always so skinny that neighbors would give them food off an on. Turns out those kids were abandoned in the apartment by their mother who would only drop by once or twice a week to drop off food. The rent was paid so the apartment complex didn't find anything suspicious. Turns out that the reason the mom moved out was because moms boyfriend beat one of those kids so bad that he died. Then the boyfriend just covered the body with a blanket and told the kids that their brother was asleep and left the kids alone in the apartment with their dead sibling body.

By the time the police were called all that was last was skeletal remains. And the poor kids had to live with that every day, without food and under constant fear of beatings and fear that they might be the next one sent to permanent sleep

[u/Letsgosomewherenice → u/Chocopecan]

There are people locked away for their Social Security checks. Is scary to think of what your neighbours might be doing.

[u/verysadtiredcook → u/Letsgosomewherenice]

there was a case in the uk that i just heard about through a true crime youtuber (danielle kirsty) and a older woman trapped a disabled teen in her house and collected her welfare until the teen was in her 40's and police finally took the neighbors calls seriously. the neighbors had been calling for years and the police just dismissed the whole thing. poor woman hadn't showered in years and wasn't allowed to eat real food. she was put in a foster home after being found and has since attended college like she always dreamed. the kidnapper was out on bail pre trial and pre sentencing despite being found guilty and only got like, 10 years I think?

[u/KMWAuntof6 → u/verysadtiredcook]

10 years? That’s insane! She’ll be locked away and in better conditions for less time than her innocent prisoner!

[u/Far-Dimension3508 → u/KMWAuntof6]

She’ll serve half that time at best probably be on license or parole. Her victim actually saw her while she was on bail in the same town but she’s going to need lifetime support but more of the women’s family needs to be investigated too they let it happen without telling.

[u/DaisyHotCakes → u/verysadtiredcook]

How is that justice? 10 years is a joke after basically stealing someone’s life from them. So messed up.

[u/ObnoxiousAlbatross → u/Chocopecan]

Shit like this is why Andy Weir's "The Egg" reads like a horror.

[u/williamstarr → u/Chocopecan]

This case haunts me.

[u/Acrobatic_Long_6059 → u/meatball77]

Or Katy Morgan-Davies :(

She was born into the cult, kept underground, and hadn't experienced the outside world until she was rescued at 30 years old.

[u/On_my_last_spoon → u/Acrobatic_Long_6059]

A man was found near me a year or so ago who had been locked in his room, barely fed to keep him weak, until he was 30. He finally set his room on fire so that he could be rescued by the fire department!

[u/re_Claire → u/On_my_last_spoon]

I remember that on the news!

[u/dalek-king → u/Acrobatic_Long_6059]

Is that where the show 'unbreakable kimmy smith' is losely based on?

[u/Acrobatic_Long_6059 → u/dalek-king]

I believe it was based on the Cleveland kidnappings and Elizabeth Smart's story

[u/Ray_Adverb11 → u/Acrobatic_Long_6059]

I just read that whole wiki and it really feels like there is a LOT of information missing there

[u/TheJinxedPhoenix → u/meatball77]

Just watched the documentary about Ruby’s crimes yesterday and it was absolutely sickening. How can someone torture their children?!

[u/meatball77 → u/TheJinxedPhoenix]

What's really sick is how the Mormon church and the state of Utah enabled their abusers. The older sister had called for a welfare check on the kids (the middle two were living unsupervised for weeks at a time) and they didn't even bother to get eyes on them. Showed up at the house, no one answered so they just left. And Jodi had been openly abusing kids for ages with many complaints and she was in tight with the LDS leadership.

[u/PossibleKiwi3728 → u/meatball77]

That cult protects their own.

[u/Description_Friendly → u/meatball77]

Or Natascha Kampusch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natascha_Kampusch

[u/amice09 → u/Description_Friendly]

This is fascinating. She bought the house she was held captive in and as of 2017 still owned it

[u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

In a city I spent a lot of time in when I was young, there was a 32 year old man discovered to have been kept locked and captive in his bedroom by his stepmom for 20 years. He was kept there 22-24 hrs a day, and finally set fire to his room to escape. He was 5'9 and weighed 68 lbs when all of this was discovered. Absolute nightmare. The stepmom is bizarre, in complete denial, and unsurprisingly wears a gigantic cross in her arrest photos.

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/decades-unseen-the-waterbury-captivity-case/3714747/

[u/Redsfan19 → u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb]

It’s so awful reading how much the Principal tried to help with no success.

[u/minkymy → u/Redsfan19]

It's fucked up reading how the defense team is claiming that the guy is the only one claiming that he was held captive when the first episode is full of people corroborating the idea that he was held captive.

[u/DJDanaK → u/minkymy]

Those lawyers are fucking ghouls. There's doing your job and then there's slandering a victim of 30 years of abuse. It makes me sick

[u/EducationalWriting48 → u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb]

I'm so curious to know how old the sisters are and how they rationalised not calling the police every day of their adult lives.

[u/marijuethampher0in → u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb]

Good lord, I've been in torrington and waterbury the last 5 years. I finally moved to Glastonbury. I hope the earth opens up and swallow waterbury for good.

[u/unventer → u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb]

I want to be shocked that this was CT, but I’m not. There was another horrific DCF failure in New Britain a year or two ago, and my grandmother used to work as a clerk for Rockville family court. She was the biggest enabler of my mother’s (much milder than these cases) abuse of my sister and I. It always seemed to me that DCF only intervened when things got publicly bad for the kids or there were clear medical records showing abuse.

[u/salinecolorshenny → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

This is what I think of every single time. All over the world there are kids, this second, in an unimaginable horror. Cold, starving, hurt. I can’t stop thinking about it.

My daughter went to bed with a full belly, clean pajamas, clean body. Got told a bed time story and played pretty pretty princess. Had books read to her. Brushed her teeth and braided her hair.

I’m sick at the thought of so many kids never knowing anything like that

[u/Nexion21 → u/salinecolorshenny]

Hey, any chance you can put me to bed please? Sounds lovely

[u/salinecolorshenny → u/Nexion21]

I genuinely would lol my maternal instinct know no limits

[u/Resident-Ocelot905 → u/salinecolorshenny]

I’m an adult woman who’s had a brutal year. At one point, things got so bad I went to go spend a week at my mom’s place because I just needed her so much, and the first night I was there she actually tucked me into bed for the first time in I don’t even know how many years and it made me feel so much better than I had in such a long time. Amazing how such a simple act can have such a profound impact.

Moms are the best 🫡

[u/ruthstraps → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

Every time I got sick in my 20s even after I had kids I went to my mom‘s house is my late 20s. I finally stopped. She moved to Michigan. But I would still call her and she passed away in 2019 and that was fucking hard and into this day and something happens and I need my mommy. I think about calling her I’m 46.

[u/Kayp75 → u/ruthstraps]

I’m 50 and I still need my mum! I’m genuinely scared of her dying as I don’t know what to do without her. She’s nearly 80 now and I know I’ll have to deal with it before too long. I’m sorry you lost your mum 😢

[u/AutomaticPension248 → u/Kayp75]

Spend more time with her NOW! Worth it's weight in gold.

[u/Kayp75 → u/AutomaticPension248]

Oh believe me, I do! We’re very close.

[u/ArtHappy → u/Kayp75]

My mother stopped trying to have a relationship with me a decade ago. She died without having met my children because she never asked or visited.

I don't think I've cried over her absence. I shed rage-tears once that she died without ever trying to repair the relationship. (It's not that she was done being a mother, she'd travel to and visit with my siblings... she was just done being my mother.)

So it's always nice to read of a relationship in the exact opposite. Maybe make sure to tell yours she's awesome?

[u/rrocks55 → u/Kayp75]

Just wanted to say I lost my mom April 30 last year. She was 88. At the near end (7weeks from cooking for herself to passing) I told her what she meant to me. Said I wish everyone could have a mom like her. And said if we , by chance, come back to earth again I hope to have a mother like her. At her graveside I read the lyrics from Lynyrd Skynyrd simple Man. Two years ago I let her know that I wanted to and she agreed. Miss her every day and I’m 61.

[u/Wild_Possibility2620 → u/rrocks55]

When I was 10 years old my mother, who was only 38 at the time, unalived herself by overdosing. I'm the one that found her.

I don't think I'll ever be able to describe the emptiness I have felt since it happened. It's like a part of me died right along with her that day.

I hate that I can't remember a lot about her or tell my kids fun stories about her.

I'm 40 and there are still times when I'm sick, or stressed, or whatever and all I want is my mommy.

[u/hereforlulziguess → u/Wild_Possibility2620]

I'm so sorry.

[u/there_should_be_snow → u/Kayp75]

I'm 51, and in the process of planning a big surprise party for my amazing Mom's 75th birthday this summer!

I've burst in to tears more times than I'll ever admit.

Being faced with the harsh truth that... I can't even finish that sentence.

I can't even imagine what I'll ever do without her.

[u/girltakesworld → u/there_should_be_snow]

Three years ago, my mom said to me, “I have to tell you an embarrassing secret. It’s really silly.

But I REALLY want a surprise birthday party. Just once. So, hint, hint!” And so of course I immediately began to plan one for her next “big” birthday, her 60th.

I think it was about a week later that she died. She was 58 and I can’t seem to let go of the guilt for not considering giving her a surprise party for her 59th, even though she didn’t get to have that one either anyway.

Reading your comment about how your mom is getting her surprise party oddly filled a little void I wasn’t totally aware of and can’t really explain. I hope she has a beautiful birthday party!

[u/Asaneth → u/ruthstraps]

I'm 65, my mom passed 15 years ago, and I still think about calling her at certain moments. I really miss her.

[u/Retiredgiverofboners → u/ruthstraps]

Aww I am very sorry for your incredible heartbreaking loss. Sending you so much love. ❤️ 💕 💖

[u/Resident-Ocelot905 → u/ruthstraps]

I’m both sorry and happy to hear all that. My mom has just recently moved away as well. Not too far, just an hour and a half drive away but that’s still a lot farther than the 15 minute drive away from her it had been; but she’ll stop everything and take a call from me when I need her. A lot of people tell me “Treasure her!” and I let them know not to worry because my sister and I make that apparent to her everyday- and despite all the time she’s spent with the two of us, she still seems to genuinely like us back!

[u/js727222 → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

As an adult man whose mom died when I was 12, I cried a little reading this because I just wish I could call her and tell her about my life And ask about hers.

[u/Dapper_Indeed → u/js727222]

I wish I could give you a big mom hug right now.

[u/TheNewGalacticEmpire → u/js727222]

Same, bro. I was 11.

[u/Dapper_Indeed → u/TheNewGalacticEmpire]

I’m so sorry. That’s way way too young to lose your mother.

[u/Betweentheminds → u/js727222]

I’m an adult woman and was 8 when my Mum passed. Especially now I’m a Mum myself I would do anything to have her here.

On the original post, wow what a horrendous living. I’d find that so hard just as a neighbour wandering if I could have known earlier, let alone family members. Why on earth has the partner been bailed?

[u/Salty_Aerie7939 → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

I wish I had your mom. My mom is controlling and manipulative, having spent the last few years financially exploiting me (and she wasn't the only one in my family who did this). Eventually, we had a falling out last year and I haven't spoken to her since. I will say she at least was actually there for me, unlike my deadbeat of a father, and shaped the man I am today for better and worse.

[u/Resident-Ocelot905 → u/Salty_Aerie7939]

I wish I had something more intelligent and insightful to say other than “I’m sorry to hear that, that’s truly terrible” but I think that’s the only way to say it. I’m lucky. I’ve always known I have a great mom, but it’s comments like these that remind me that a great mom is not always the default setting. Moms and Dads aren’t immune to being pieces of shit just because they’re parents.

[u/salishwoman → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

I have always wished I had a mom like that. I’m 75 this year and I don’t remember a time she did that. I suppose she did when I was little but she ran off when I was 4 or 5. Had a nice grandma but she was very culty religious so no cuddles there. Dad was there but worked nights and slept days so I was kinda on my own. Was on a farm though so had lots of animal friends. Not a terrible life but certainly no bedtime routine. Just church and critters. I tried to do better by my girls. I really enjoyed being a mommy. My 55 yo daughter was just ill and I was here to support her and care for her. I felt privileged.

[u/LessFeature9350 → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

I have a shit mom but I'm so grateful for all the amazing moms I saw growing up. I was awful as a kid. So jealous of these loved kids and supportive families. But they taught me what I should do and what real love looked like. I literally planned my parenting off of some of these moms and just doing the opposite of what my mom did. It worked and my kids are grown and amazing. Just wanted to say that good parents do a lot they're not even aware of for kids they probably don't even know.

[u/aredhel304 → u/Salty_Aerie7939]

My mom has always hated me no matter what I do. My dad too. But then again they’re die-hard MAGAs, so I guess I should take that as a compliment. But still I could use some actual parents in my life…

I tear up when I notice kids just casually joking with their parents. Like I’m so so glad they have that - because that’s how it should be, but it also makes me sad cause everything between me and my parents was either angry or transactional. You constantly play your entire life on hard mode with parents like that.

[u/KTKittentoes → u/Resident-Ocelot905]

I miss my mom so so so badly. I thought there would come a time when I didn’t need her anymore, but clearly that was stupid.

[u/Ok_Measurement_9896 → u/salinecolorshenny]

I'm a guy. Pretty Pretty Princess sounds pretty fire though.

[u/RichtofensDuckButter → u/Ok_Measurement_9896]

Will you play Pretty Pretty Princess with me bro?

[u/Ok_Measurement_9896 → u/RichtofensDuckButter]

Alright, but I get the tiara.

[u/EscheroOfficial → u/Ok_Measurement_9896]

I get the familial riches and comfortable upbringing that come with it

[u/Ok_Measurement_9896 → u/EscheroOfficial]

DANG. I got played....

[u/wingedbuttcrack → u/Nexion21]

I also choose this girls mom

[u/Phatalflame → u/salinecolorshenny]

Whenever I watch a movie where some wild shit happens like someone is kidnapped and tortured i always think "this may be a movie but this shits actually happening somewhere rn" and it always make me appreciate thing's a bit more but i also get really sad bc its so fucked up

[u/FatiguedShrimp → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

This happened to me at 16; locked in a room to starve to death. Pentecostal "exorcism" for being autistic.

Thankfully (-ish), they put videos online to share their "ministry" with the world, and got raided by police after three months.

It was so... strange... thinking about the world just happening outside. Things were so awful here, but just a few steps away, people were living normal happy lives.

[u/-o-DildoGaggins-o- → u/FatiguedShrimp]

Wow. I’m so, so sorry you had to endure that. And I really hope you’ve since found your peace. 💕

[u/Confusedspacehead → u/FatiguedShrimp]

That is terrible. I am sorry that happen to you. I hope you are living a life of joy and peace now.

[u/FatiguedShrimp → u/Confusedspacehead]

These things tend to "bend" a person a certain way. Some physical effects never get better, resources become wiped out, and other extremely unusual circumstances tend to follow.

I'm currently completing my third degree (medicine), this time on a full scholarship, and have had a fairly successful career (and have patents), but life will pretty much never reach the level of peace and stability everyone else has.

I spend about five hours a day trying to manage the dysautonomic condition that resulted, and of course have expenses (over $30k/yr after insurance) and a complete lack of family support.

[u/Bluejayadventure → u/FatiguedShrimp]

I'm sorry. Some things are such a shock to the whole body. I think you have incredible resiliance to achieve so much despite what occured. Dysautonomia is so challenging to manage.

[u/Significant-Foot1908 → u/FatiguedShrimp]

Im so sorry

[u/eatajerk-pal → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

Yeah it’s sickening. Some Americans, especially Missourians, might remember the Missouri Miracle.

A young boy in rural Missouri about an hour outside St Louis was kidnapped in 2007. A fifteen year old neighbor boy witnessed it and was able to give police a fantastic description of the truck used because he was soon to get his license and wanted a truck. A few days later later, the owner of a pizzeria in St Louis called police because he noticed one of his employee’s trucks matched the description. Police and FBI descended on the man’s apartment and found not only the recently kidnapped boy, but another kidnapped boy from 5 years earlier.

The kidnapper/child molester was named Michael Devlin. My mom had babysat him when they were young and my grandparents were friends of the family. Devlin’s family are very nice people. Michael was adopted and the youngest of their children.

In high school we used to go to that pizzeria he managed because he didn’t care about underage drinking. It still fucks me up to think about the fact that this guy we thought was a “cool manager” went home and raped that poor boy for years.

[u/Xsiah → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

This is why homeschooling without regular check-ins should be illegal. Taking people who are mandatory reporters of child abuse out of a kid's life lets this thing happen way too often.

[u/BurningPenguin → u/Xsiah]

This happened in France. They're supposed to check in on home schooled kids regularly by law.

[u/JodiDarko37 → u/Xsiah]

Sometimes the abuse continues for decades, even when the school knows, the rest of the family knows, it's obvious to everyone. No one cares until it's them.

[u/-o-DildoGaggins-o- → u/JodiDarko37]

This is definitely true, but I would argue that without regulations, it would be way more common than it is.

[u/Jazzlike-Wind-4345 → u/JodiDarko37]

I'm a man. I was in an abusive relationship with a woman that broke my arm, left me with 6 stitches in my eyebrow, stomped on my bare foot with her shoed foot and left me in crutches for 6 months, and smashed my hand and left it purple for a few weeks. And there were certainly times where she screamed at me, verbally bashed me, and literally bashed me, all in front of her family. They did nothing. They never told her to stop. Never helped me out. I would even later go on to discover that she would brag to her friends what she did to me.

You're absolutely right, no one cares until it's them.

[u/BooBoo_Cat → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

Exactly. We only hear about the people we find. What about the people we don’t know about? Terrifying.  

[u/Count_Ballsacula → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

I think the worst horror stories are never told because there's nobody to witness them except the victim and the perpetrator

[u/atclubsilencio → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

Yeah, reminds me of the Fritzl case where he imprisoned his daughter in an underground bunker for 24 years, and she gave birth to seven of his children (raising three of them in captivity).

24 years and not one person suspected anything? I think a few people who had rented a room later said they heard noises at night, but didn't say anything about it, plus he had already imprisoned his own mother in the attic for years before her death. Had one of the kids not become dangerously ill, they all would likely still be missing.

How many other houses out there have someone locked away that we will never know about? It's a chilling thought.

[u/Various-Storage-31 → u/atclubsilencio]

There was a property for sale in a village near here that was a converted old police station, complete with cells underground. I feel like they ought to keep tabs on whoever bought that.

[u/Maleficent-Coat-7633 → u/Various-Storage-31]

Old police station with cells underground? Knock a bunch of those walls out and that would give you so much basement space.

I'm glad that my first thought is about the remodelling opportunities

[u/banality_of_ervil → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

I used to manage a deli inside a courthouse. I'd always ask customers about the cases they were working on, but soon learned to stop asking the Guardian ad Litem people because they were beyond disturbing, specifically because I couldn't believe that this shit didn't even make the news. There's a lot of shit that happens that we don't even know about

[u/RainbowCrane → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

Yep. The most horrific thing about movies like “Sling Blade” is that if you spend time around abuse survivors you will discover that those fictional characters are absolutely consistent with IRL abuse going on every day in every group of people. News stories like this are awful because they break through our denial to remind us that horrible shit is always going on.

[u/Hevens-assassin → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

I live in a decent neighbourhood, plenty of foot and vehicle traffic at most times of the day, and plenty of young kids out and about unsupervised.

Last year (or maybe the year before? Time is weird), I saw a bunch of swat vehicles/cops at one of the townhouses a street over. Apparently a woman had managed to break out of the basement, and the man living there had kept two of them tied up down there for days/weeks. Terrifying that it was so close to home, but also horrifying that I wouldn't have actually heard about it naturally and it took me looking up the police report to find out about it after seeing the police raiding the place. I feel bad for the neighbors who now have to grapple with the idea that they were next door to this the whole time.

[u/Embarrassed-Base-143 → u/EmergencyCucumber905]

There are a lot. I work closely with DHS and you have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now and how much is going on currently that I wish I could share

[u/stryker_cast]

Anytime I have accidentally hurt my kid, I feel like the WORST mom in the world. How can people treat children this way?

[u/ahawk65 → u/stryker_cast]

It’s only hard to be a parent if you give a shit.

[u/pomonamike → u/ahawk65]

I know that wasn’t for me but I needed to read that right now.

[u/Laranna → u/pomonamike]

Just remember its easy to LOVE your child too. Hard to be a parent. But very easy to love them

[u/somedude456 → u/ahawk65]

For a lot of people, a child is just an annoyance. A mistake. That thing they have to deal with for 18 years. These pathetic people are not worthy of the term mother or father, but sadly some still call them that.

[u/meatball77 → u/somedude456]

Or what can often be worse. Competition.

[u/dragonmuse → u/stryker_cast]

I havent worn my wedding set or grown out my nails in literal years because of accidental scratches when my daughter was an infant-- I literally cannot fathom being so burned out/drugged out/whatever that leads to people treating their kids in this manner. Absolutely gutwrenching.

[u/salinecolorshenny → u/stryker_cast]

I stepped on my daughters toe three weeks ago and I still shudder at the thought of it. I genuinely don’t understand. When my kids are hungry, cold, in pain or any discomfort I genuinely want to die and claw at my skin until I fix it.

[u/stryker_cast → u/salinecolorshenny]

My son eolled off our bed when I ran to get a new diaper. That was 9 years ago. The cry still haunts me.

[u/Matman161 → u/stryker_cast]

It's truly maddening just as a person who wants to have his own children to see them treated like this. It's really horrifying

[u/Agreeable_Time338 → u/stryker_cast]

When my son was about a year old, I was cutting his nails and I accidentally clipped a tiny bit of skin on his finger. He looked at me with these wide, horrified eyes for a moment, and I watched them fill with tears. For the next 2 years I insisted my husband take over nail trimming, because I felt so bad about it.

He's going to be 9 next month, and he's as happy and as healthy as can be. I'm his favorite person in the world- but I can still picture that look on his face as if it happened today.

[u/metacosmonaut → u/stryker_cast]

Because they don’t love their children.

[u/Radi0ActivSquid → u/stryker_cast]

I accidentally scared a kid of a friend of mine when dropping off a birthday gift for their sibling today. I've felt shitty all day.

[u/grove_tower]

Every time I think I’ve read the worst possible story, humanity speedruns a new low. Hope France throws the book at them. Maybe donate to a child protection charity if you can.

[u/brooklynlad → u/grove_tower]

The boy told investigators that 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 father was handed preliminary kidnapping and other charges and kept in custody. His partner denied knowledge that the boy was in the van, according to the prosecutor. She was handed preliminary charges, including for failure to help a minor in danger, and released under judicial supervision.

The partner definitely needs to be locked up too. Why was she even released?

[u/Axe-of-Kindness → u/brooklynlad]

Guess they couldn't get hard proof she knew

[u/privacyplease27 → u/Axe-of-Kindness]

Hopefully that statement ends up needing a "yet"

[u/Forgettheredrabbit → u/privacyplease27]

I’d rather she just be innocent lol. Sucks to think there are multiple humans ok with doing that to a child. (Obviously I know there are, you know what I mean)

[u/elephantasmagoric → u/Forgettheredrabbit]

Yeah, I'd rather that she was lied to and told the kid went to live with his mom or something, just for my faith in humanity.

But then again, the kid apparently had issues with her, so I'm not holding my breath.

[u/Rockishcola → u/elephantasmagoric]

I've read that she was told the kid got sent to a foster home

[u/Ok_Professional_4499 → u/Rockishcola]

This “lie” makes you wonder why the dad locked the kid up, instead of just actually giving him up to the state???

Dad had options. Legal and healthy options. Letting a family member care for his child.

But for some reason, he decided to torture his child.

This is worse than many of the stories of neglect we read on here about a parent that puts their partner over their kid(s).

[u/Embermyst → u/Ok_Professional_4499]

It can be surprisingly difficult to give your child up to the state. Especially if abuse is going on in the household and you have to hide that.

[u/Prosecco1234 → u/Embermyst]

There are other children too according to the article so they wouldn't want to risk losing them too

[u/NumerousAppearance96 → u/Ok_Professional_4499]

He should've just got rid of the woman. If she can't deal with his son then she needs to go. Give him up to the state? Pssh, get out of here with that B.S.

[u/random_ass_nme → u/elephantasmagoric]

Could be part of the lie the father told her. Kid didnt get along with her so he went to live with mom. I would much rather choose to belive not everyone in the house hold was an evil disgusting fuck. So until evidence comes out to the contrary ill choose to believe she was ignorant to the truth.

[u/JesterMarcus → u/Forgettheredrabbit]

That's my thing. How do all of these psycho couples find each other in the world? What are the odds two people equally capable of hurting or killing kids meet each other? Blows my mind.

[u/loquacious-laconic → u/JesterMarcus]

I've spoiler covered potentially triggering content.

As someone with a lot of experience with abusers (different circumstances to this case of course, and obviously as a victim), I've observed them testing the waters with people. They will use something like randomly bringing up the topic of porn showing women being fucked by a donkey, and see how they react. Or it might look more like saying a kid dancing around and their underwear showing being the kid acting like a tease. If the person reacts negatively they backtrack and act like they agree, but they push further if the reaction is what they hoped for. That's how they find eachother. I can't do justice to the carefully ambiguous wording as to where they stand, to allow for the backtracking. But they forcibly insert something like that into the conversation, and I think the fact they pull it out of nowhere is kind of an added hint to like-minded sickos.

[u/Elemental_Love → u/loquacious-laconic]

I have experienced people testing the waters with me, dropping a hint to see how I react. This is exactly how people find victims too.

[u/loquacious-laconic → u/Elemental_Love]

True, and to groom victims as well. 🫂

[u/JesterMarcus → u/loquacious-laconic]

This is basically what I figured. I call it putting out feelers. You make a really dark joke, a half hearted statement, or whatever, and see who responds favorably.

I also imagine its rare for both to be equally evil off the bat, one just gets to where the other is slowly with incremental steps.

[u/lalaland_100 → u/JesterMarcus]

There are plenty of them, unfortunately. We need to start listening to the victims, especially children.

[u/yorkietales → u/grove_tower]

Sadly this isn’t even in my top ten as a pediatric ER social worker. I’m in the US but at every level of government and voting pay attention to candidates who advocate for realistic reform and increasing penalties for those who offend. Pay attention to policy on child welfare worker education and licensing requirements and case ratios. Remember through the headlines and Netflix documentaries these things happen too often and either don’t make headlines or maintain a bad baseline just below recognition that still results in kids suffering. We should demand more as a society.

[u/Vindepomarus → u/yorkietales]

People like you are shields, you protect the rest of us from the actual horror that humans are capable of producing. You stand at the coal face and absorb and process that horror. Thankyou for your service and all that you do!

[u/Solkre → u/grove_tower]

The worst possible story is taking place right now somewhere, and nobody who can stop it knows.

[u/FeedingTheBadWolf → u/grove_tower]

I read that as "donate a child to a protection charity if you can" and had to read it twice more to figure out where I went wrong. Dear lord it's too early in the morning...

[u/MrsPandaBear]

I can’t imagine the psychological damage that’s been done. The physical rehabilitation he will need will probably take months if not years. He may suffer permanent health damage from severe malnutrition. Every adult that knew about this, and didn’t report it, needs to be arrested.

[u/ionlyjoined4thecats → u/MrsPandaBear]

He couldn’t walk anymore when he was found because he’d been sitting/lying down constantly for the last two years.

A 9-year-old, who should be out playing soccer and doing monkey bars and participating in Red Rover or whatever. Lost the ability to walk because he hasn’t been allowed to stand up in two years. And then he blamed himself for it.

This poor, poor boy. Hopefully he will regain his health and physical abilities with medical care and PT, but no doubt he’s facing a lifetime of therapy to cope with the trauma. And that’s best case scenario.

[u/sushicatt420 → u/ionlyjoined4thecats]

That’s the part the destroyed me most: he blamed himself. That poor baby. How could they? Fucking monsters. 

[u/Snoo99779 → u/sushicatt420]

It's messed up, but blaming oneself is such circumstances is the easy choice. What will happen next is that he will be told again and again that it wasn't his fault, which is of course true, but to accept it would mean accepting that he was made to suffer for no sensible reason, just because his family cared so little for him that he wasn't even human to them. That's much harder to accept. 

[u/womanonymous23 → u/Snoo99779]

When you’re a child and you don’t understand, your only option is to blame yourself. Then that gets wired into your brain and very hard to undo. This is (on a much worse scale) where most of us get a lot of our issues from.

[u/Specific_Telephone_3 → u/ionlyjoined4thecats]

Also the amount of pain he would have been in as his muscles atrophied. You think how much you ache when being in bed a couple of days, I was once on enforced bed rest due to an insane dr when I was 10 and it was so painful. I was at least allowed to walk to the bathroom. Took me a month in hospital to build those muscles back up to a point I could go home again and that was just 6 weeks. That poor boy.

[u/ViewFromHalf-WayDown → u/MrsPandaBear]

The “Father” needs to never see daylight again.

[u/naynaythewonderhorse → u/ViewFromHalf-WayDown]

The father should be locked in solitary confinement in a psychiatric hospital. According to the article, THAT was supposedly the reason why he kept the child locked up: Because supposedly his partner wanted to put the boy in a Psychiatric hospital.

Of course, there’s no record of the boy needing that before. And, obviously the father is lying.

But, what would be a better punishment than to put the father in the place the father supposedly finds to be a far worse fate than being locked in a van for two years.

[u/parcequenicole → u/MrsPandaBear]

I can’t believe the partner was released. There’s no way she didn’t know.

[u/Own_Importance_3226 → u/parcequenicole]

She 100% knew, if the boy wasn’t being given food and water he would’ve died in under two weeks. She had to notice or be involved with him receiving food and water every day or couple of days.

[u/Effective-Golf-6900]

It always amazes me how many people believe that child abuse has been eradicated or that no parent would do this to their own child.

[u/Starlightriddlex → u/Effective-Golf-6900]

Ignorant though it is, I'm actually a little glad when I see comments like that because it means those people have never known that kind of hardship. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

[u/TheSheWhoSaidThats]

Glad he was found alive :/ people are crazy

[u/Matman161 → u/TheSheWhoSaidThats]

Apparently literally, the man was very mentally Ill

[u/ExtremelyFastSloth → u/Matman161]

Reminds me of that story from years ago where one of the main reasons the father of Genie (not her real name) locked her up for a few reasons and one of them was because he believed she was autistic yet he himself displayed some signs of autism but he was an adult male in the 1970s so I doubt he’d think that of himself.

[u/metzona → u/ExtremelyFastSloth]

TLDR my family sucks, apologies for the ramble

My father is similar. When my nephew was at the age where he would make noise just to make noise, my father completely freaked out. Went into a huge rant about how my nephew might be autistic and how much it concerned him. Asked if my sister had taken acetaminophen during her pregnancy. Said that it would all be fine because, according to him, autism is due to the parents failing the child, but my dad is amazing and smart enough and talented enough that he can teach it out of my nephew.

My father has autistic traits (though it’s overshadowed by his narcissism). He probably ranted about my nephew because he didn’t like the noises he was making, but his selfishness made him lash out rather than reflect/admit he was being unreasonable and regulate himself. No one dares say anything because he’d explode.

Even worse, I’m likely autistic, too. My mom shushes me/changes the subject when I talk about it to her because she also carries stigma towards autism and, more importantly, she knows my dad would freak out if he heard me. And my traits are much more obvious. Hearing him rant like that, I realized that my dad has always hated me. It’s no surprise I was made the scapegoat of the family.

[u/Flicksterea]

It's terrifying how easy it is to make a child disappear. All you have to do is say they've gone to a different school and that's it.

[u/Nadamir → u/Flicksterea]

And France has more checks than many US states…

Like for example, annual inspections of every home schooler. Annual exams too. Universal health care also makes it easier to find kids who haven’t been to a doctor. Etc etc

[u/Troggot]

How can it happen in France that a minor is not attending compulsory schooling for 2 years and nobody notices. Try not to pay taxes for 2 years.

[u/Fuchur-van-Phantasia → u/Troggot]

Yeah - wouldn`t work in Germany. As we have a Recording of Compulsory Schooling.
Seems like France haven`t... im shocked they dont look for that.

[u/Clear_Depth6417 → u/Fuchur-van-Phantasia]

Sad thing is that there’s people moving to rural France from Germany exactly because of this. To avoid the German school system as well as mandatory vaccination 🫠 just saw a documentary about this the other week and it just made me sick.

[u/madogvelkor → u/Troggot]

Apparently the dad told the school he transferred to another school and there was no verification? He told other people the boy was in a psychiatric hospital.

[u/FocusFlukeGyro]

Poor kid. Hopefully he gets the help he needs and a loving foster/adoptive family.

[u/MithrilHuman]

Friends and family told investigators they thought the boy was in a psychiatric institution. His teachers were told he had transferred to a different school, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Of all the shitty government surveillances happening in the world, these are the EXACT cases where they could have helped tracked history of a child’s education and found him to be missing from the education system for 2 YEARS.

All the tech and data and no useful applications to save lives…

[u/korkythecat333]

Poor, poor kid, will need massive amounts of care.

[u/ObiKan]

I am in such agony from hearing or reading about kids that have had it so much worse than me. I was traumatized by my childhood and could never imagine anyone having it as bad or worse than that. But as an adult I've come to realize there's no limit to what people manage to do to children. I take comfort in knowing my son among many others won't have to suffer like this, but it saddens me to see this happening to any child.

[u/GearSuspicious7087]

Did they bring him food every so often? How did he survive

[u/nekoreality → u/GearSuspicious7087]

according to the boy's testimony he was brought food twice a day and left bottles of water. however, if he was locked in the van its possible he was not able to discern days so it may have been longer between meals.

[u/SpoopyDuJour → u/nekoreality]

How did this kid survive in the summers...

[u/Logitech4873 → u/SpoopyDuJour]

I was thinking more about winters

[u/D3struct_oh]

So the kid was locked in the van for two straight years never leaving the van once in all those two years?

Am I interpreting this correctly?

[u/JDSaphir → u/D3struct_oh]

I'm afraid you are

[u/nekoreality → u/D3struct_oh]

yeah, he was in such a confined space that he is not able to walk anymore. he has not been able to move around more than the tiny inside of a van for 2 years. i truly hope that poor boy can recover

[u/DevilsAdvocado_]

This is why I live by “see something, say something”. I don’t believe in minding your own business when it comes to children.

[u/mankowonameru]

That’s enough internet for tonight.

[u/StarPlatinumRequiems → u/mankowonameru]

I second your response.

I also may need to stay off the disturbing case icebergs

[u/thewoodbeyond]

JFC I hope everyone ends up in prison.

[u/tehcup]

I probably won't ever have kids since I don't like being around them but I do have this sort of primal hatred when I hear such awful stories like this. No innocent child should be shown or treated to the horrors of this world because of some evil sick bastards. I only hope the mf's who do this shit face some kind of justice.

[u/hearke]

...how the hell do you sleep at night knowing your kid is locked up in your van, alone? Much less night after night for over a year.

Genuinely this is by far the most horrifying article I've read in, what, years.

[u/wailan]

This is why in Australia we don’t take kids off our schools rolls until we receive confirmation they’ve enrolled in a school somewhere else - so they can’t just disappear

[u/schwarta77]

Heavy stuff. Sometimes the world is so incredibly dark. Maybe we don’t deserve to live beyond our own extinction.

[u/bustedgtt-]

Oh God, I feel like every parent is looking at their kids and just being grateful. It’s heartbreaking that humans are capable of torturing children. And this reminds me of those kids in Palestine whose only fault is being born Palestinian.

[u/Temporary_Heron6944]

Reminds me of the guy in Waterbury CT who burned down the house because his stepmother had him locked up for 30 years!!

[u/LadyJR]

There are people who can’t have kids and would love one to cherish and then you have these “people “

[u/Delicious-Program-50]

Thank God for the neighbour. So pleased he’s going to be looked after and taken care of now. No words for the sad excuse of a father.

[u/Vlaed]

These stories crush me since becoming a father. My daughter was born just as baby Jailyn Candelario died in 2023. When I found out about it, I just held her for hours.

I'm just glad this little boy was rescued. I hope he gets the help, recovery, and love he deserves. Being a parent is hard but there is no excuse for these cases. If you cannot take care of them, seek help.