Discovered on a remote country road Toddlers abandoned in Portugal - mother and stepfather caught
Crying, they ran across a dusty road and called for help. What the two young children later recounted in Portugal is chilling. Now the parents who allegedly abandoned their children have been caught.
21.05.2026, 20:36
dpa
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- Two small children have been discovered alone and crying on a remote country road in Portugal.
- According to their own statements, the boys are five and three years old and French.
- They told officers from the Portuguese National Guard (GNR) that their mother and stepfather had left them blindfolded in the woods.
- After a manhunt, the parents were caught.
This article was fully updated at 20:36.
Two toddlers have been discovered alone and crying on a remote country road in Portugal. A man found the two near the village of Monte Novo do Sul, around 60 kilometers southeast of Lisbon, and brought them to the police, as reported by the newspaper "Correio da Manhã", the TV station SIC and other local media, citing the authorities. It is suspected that they were abandoned by their parents. No missing persons report has been filed.
The blond boys are said to be five and three years old and French. They did not have any identification with them. They told officers from the Portuguese National Guard (GNR) that their mother and stepfather had left them blindfolded in the forest. When they took off the blindfolds, the parents were gone, according to the reports.
The man, who was traveling by car on Tuesday evening when he suddenly saw the children in the rear-view mirror of his car, told "SIC Notícias" that the older child told him that the parents had left them under the pretext of a game. "The parents told them to look for a toy in the woods."
"When I looked in their backpacks, I immediately realized that they had been abandoned," the man said. "There was a complete change of clothes, cookies, fruit and a bottle of water." The little ones are now being looked after by the child protection authority CPCJ.
Mother and stepfather caught
According to a report by state TV station RTP, the Portuguese police have now taken the mother and stepfather into custody. A passer-by had noticed the two on the terrace of a café in the well-known pilgrimage town of Fátima in central Portugal.
The man alerted the police. Officers from the National Guard of the Republic (GNR), which is responsible for rural areas, took the two Frenchmen, a 41-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man, to the police station. They are currently being interrogated there, RTP reported, citing a statement from the GNR. The Portuguese newspaper "Correio da Manha" also reported accordingly.
The two were "suspected of having committed crimes related to domestic violence, abandonment and neglect", RTP quoted from the National Guard's statement. The GNR confirmed that the arrest was in connection with the two young children who were found alone on a street in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal.
According to a report by CNN Portugal, the children, who lived with their father in France, were abducted by their mother. The biological father had reported the boys missing in France, it said.
