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Man charged with kidnapping over missing nine-year-old girl in Alps Man admits girl missing in Alps got into his car but denies abducting her
(about 3 hours later)
A man has been charged with kidnapping and placed in provisional detention in connection with the disappearance of a nine-year-old girl during a wedding in the French Alps. A man charged with kidnapping a nine-year-old French girl during a wedding in the Alps has admitted to police that she got into his car but he denies abducting her, his lawyer has said.
Maëlys de Araujo was last seen in the early hours of Sunday 27 August at a community hall where the wedding was held in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, a village 30 miles (50km) north of Grenoble. A week after Maëlys de Araujo went missing in the eastern village of Pont-de-Beauvoisin, a 34-year-old man was remanded in custody on Sunday on charges of “kidnapping, illegal confinement or arbitrary detention”.
A 34-year-old man has been charged with “kidnapping, illegal confinement or arbitrary detention of a minor of less than 15 years” following the police investigation, Grenoble’s prosecutor said in a press release issued late on Sunday. The man was a guest at the wedding that Maëlys was attending with her parents when she went missing in the early hours of 27 August.
The man was at the wedding during which the girl – who was attending the event with her parents – went missing, the statement said. Maëlys, who has dark brown hair and eyes, has not been seen since. Her DNA was found in his car, which was parked next to the community hall where the celebrations were held and was cleaned the day after.
Scores of police, search and rescue teams, divers and cavers have spent the week trawling through the heavily wooded area near the community hall for signs of her. The suspect’s lawyer, Bernard Meraud, said his client told police that Maëlys “got into his car with a little boy, onto the back seat, to see if his [the suspect’s] dog was in the boot.”
The 34-year-old is one of two suspects who were detained on Thursday over inconsistencies in their statements, but released on Friday evening. Meraud confirmed a trace of her DNA had been found on the dashboard but that his client “completely denied” kidnapping her.
“Brought before investigating judges at the end of the afternoon, he contested the facts. Confronted with testimony, findings and scientific evidence, he persisted in his denials and explanations,” the statement said. “This did not convince the investigative judges, who decided to hold him,” it added. Meraud said several DNA traces, including that of his client, had been found on the dashboard and that someone who was in contact with the child could have “transferred” her DNA into the vehicle.
“After the debate … between the prosecutor and the defence,” the man was placed in provisional detention, the statement added. He also suggested the children could have climbed into the car unbeknown to the driver, noting that all the windows were left down during the party.
The disappearance of the girl, who was wearing a white dress and carrying a cuddly toy, has dominated French headlines over the past week.
Sniffer dogs lost the scent from her toy in the car park outside the venue, raising fears she was kidnapped and taken away by car.
Police, search and rescue teams, divers and cavers have been combing the woods and lakes in the area about 30 miles (50km) north of Grenoble but failed to find any sign of Maëlys.
Several hundred residents organised another search on Saturday that also proved fruitless.
Speaking to France’s RTL radio the suspect’s mother said her son was innocent. “He’s a good boy who wouldn’t hurt a soul,” said the woman, who was not identified by name, accusing the authorities of “hounding him because they have to find a culprit”.
The suspect was arrested last week with a friend over inconsistencies in their account of the night’s events, but the pair were later released.
According to France Info radio, he is a former soldier who lives with his parents a few miles from Pont-de-Beauvoisin and does various odd jobs.
Investigators became interested in him after it emerged he had been missing from the party around the time Maëlys disappeared and washed his car the day after the wedding.
His lawyer said that he cleaned the car with a view to selling it.
On Sunday, he was re-arrested after the police uncovered fresh evidence.
“Confronted with testimony, findings and scientific evidence, he persisted in his denials and explanations,” the prosecutor’s office in Grenoble said.
“This did not convince the investigative judges, who decided to hold him,” it added.
Police have interviewed about 250 people since Sunday, including most of the 180 guests at the wedding, as well as several others who attended parties held the same night at a nearby bar and church hall.Police have interviewed about 250 people since Sunday, including most of the 180 guests at the wedding, as well as several others who attended parties held the same night at a nearby bar and church hall.
Sniffer dogs lost the scent from Maëlys’s cuddly toy in a car park outside the venue, raising fears she was kidnapped and taken away by car.