Santiago Kidnapping: Infant Found, What We Know About His Health

After four days of searching, the 20-day-old baby and his parents were found this Friday, October 25, in a hotel in the center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Kidnapped by his parents on the night of Monday to Tuesday, little Santiago was found on Friday, October 25 at around 7:30 p.m. According to information provided by the Dutch police, the 20-day-old baby was in a hotel in the center of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. While the kidnapping alert had been triggered because the baby, who was very premature, required constant medical care, a source close to the case told BFMTV on Friday evening that the infant's state of health was described as “good”. However, the Dutch police specified on X that the child had been hospitalized on site “to receive the care he needs”.

Very premature, little Santiago was abducted during the night from Monday to Tuesday at the Robert Ballanger hospital. His parents were quickly designated as the main suspects. Investigators initially found traces of the couple in Belgium, thanks to video surveillance images and the discovery of the vehicle used by the two individuals to leave France for Charleroi. But since then, the couple remained untraceable. The public prosecutor of Bobigny had therefore announced the issuance of European arrest warrants against Santiago's parents, who were suspected of having left Belgium.

Santiago's abduction put the child's life in danger. Authorities had indicated that after 12 hours without care, the risk of death increased for the premature baby. The diagnosis was more difficult to establish, but every hour spent outside a medical structure was indeed dangerous for the child. According to information from BFMTV, Santiago, because he was born eight weeks early, was unable to breastfeed or bottle-feed while he was in the maternity ward. However, premature babies need a suitable diet to continue their development. They are also more vulnerable to the risk of infection, which is very high at this time of year. They sometimes have to take certain medications and need to be treated, whether for the verification of vital signs or the renewal of care.

Who are the parents of Santiago, suspected of the kidnapping ?

Santiago's parents are the main suspects in the kidnapping. They were arrested in Amsterdam on Friday evening. Kevin, 23, and Cristina, 25, are both of Serbian origin and part of the Roma community. Both of Santiago's parents are known to the police. The father was convicted of gang violence and the mother is known to be a drug user. According to a source close to the case cited by Le Parisien, the parents allegedly abducted their child, removing him from urgent medical care, driven by fear of losing custody of the child. No such measures had been taken prior to the abduction, but it had been “considered”. Found by law enforcement, the couple saw, as a result of the abduction, the automatic loss of custody of the infant that Friday evening. It will remain so until a judge rules on his case.

On Friday night, shortly after it was revealed that the infant had been found alive with his parents, Santiago's uncle's lawyer rejoiced at the “wonderful news,” expressing the “immense relief” of the child's family. He also called for a humane judgment for Santiago's parents. "It will now be appropriate for Santiago's parents to receive humane judicial treatment commensurate with their distress," he pleaded.

While the parents were still being sought, five people had been arrested on the morning of October 22. Aged 16 to 29, they had all been placed in the custody of seen for “organized gang kidnapping of a 15-year-old minor”. Two of them are said to have played a major role in Santiago's kidnapping.

Latest updates

10/25/24 – 11:47 PM – The arrest of Santiago's parents, the result of European judicial cooperation

END OF LIVE – Simply confirming on Friday evening the information already known to the general public about the end of the media hunt for the parents of little Santiago, the King's prosecutor of Mons-Tournai nevertheless welcomed the “perfect example of what should be done more often in terms of cooperation and mutual legal assistance”. While the couple had fled France for Belgium, European cooperation had quickly been set up to find the very premature baby whose health greatly worried the authorities. The Bobigny prosecutor had revealed in a press release on Friday that “arrest warrants and European arrest warrants against the child's parents [had] been issued” disseminated at European level and more widely via Interpol”.

10/25/24 – 11:25 p.m. – Three people already indicted in the case, including a minor

Before the parents' arrest, three people, arrested Tuesday after Santiago's kidnapping, had been indicted earlier this Friday, October 25. These are the three individuals who were still in custody yesterday evening. One of them is a woman, indicted for “failure to report a crime”. She was placed under strict judicial control. The other two are men, an adult and a minor, charged with “kidnapping and sequestration of a 15-year-old minor by an organized gang and complicity in the mistreatment and deprivation of a 15-year-old minor”. The minor was placed in pre-trial detention and the adult was incarcerated “pending the adversarial hearing on the security measure” which will take place on Monday, October 28th.

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10/25/24 – 10:42 PM – The circumstances in which Santiago and his parents were found are still unclear

As of Friday evening, the authorities have not elaborated on the circumstances in which little Santiago was found. Several questions remain unanswered at this stage. Where exactly were the child's parents ? Did they receive any support ? How did the arrest go ? What state are they in ? Did they ultimately cooperate with the police or were they spotted ? New information could be revealed in the coming days.

10/25/24 – 10:23 PM – In Belgium, the King's Prosecutor is pleased with the outcome of the Santiago case

“The good news is that this child has been found alive, apparently in good health”, declared to AFP, echoed by Le Figaro the King's Prosecutor of Mons-Tournai, Vincent Macq, on Friday evening, confirming in turn that the infant “was found in Amsterdam in a hotel” and is now “taken care of by Dutch medical services”.

10/25/24 – 9:50 PM – Santiago's uncle's lawyer calls for “humane judicial treatment” of the child's parents

Hailing “wonderful news,” Santiago's uncle's lawyer called for the child's parents to be judged humanely. “It will now be appropriate for Santiago's parents to receive humane legal treatment that is commensurate with their distress,” he told BFMTV.

10/25/24 – 9:34 PM – Dutch police say Santiago has been hospitalized in the Netherlands

On X, the Dutch police confirmed that “following an international search warrant”, they have indeed “arrested today in a hotel in the centre of Amsterdam a man and a woman suspected of having kidnapped their premature baby”. And the police specified that “the infant “is currently hospitalised to receive the care he needs".

10/25/24 – 20:52 – Santiago's family relieved after the discovery of the child and his parents in the Netherlands

Contacted by BFMTV, the lawyer of Santiago's uncle confided the “immense relief [of] the whole family” to have found the baby alive. It is “wonderful news”, he reacted. On Thursday, the child's maternal grandmother had launched an appeal to her daughter on TF1's 1 p.m. news to take the child to a hospital. By his side, Santiago's maternal uncle had also expressed concern about the health of the baby and his sister.

10/25/24- 8:43 PM – Santiago's parents questioned

Little Santiago's parents were both with the baby in the Netherlands, where they had fled after passing through Belgium. Aged 23 and 25, they were arrested by the police this Friday evening, specifies Le Figaro. 

10/25/24 – 8:31 PM – What is the health status of little Santiago ?

His status as a very premature baby partly justified the abduction alert triggered on Tuesday to find him. While doctors were worried that the 19-day-old infant would not survive the escape undertaken by his parents, little Santiago was indeed found alive. Better still, his health is described as “good”, a source close to the case told BFMTV.

Wanted for four days and abducted from the maternity ward by his own parents, the baby was found alive this Friday, October 25, around 7:30 p.m., in the Netherlands, in the Amsterdam area, reveals BFMTV.

10/25/24- 12:43 – One of the men charged “speaks of a “perfectly irrational fit of madness”

One of the men charged after the kidnapping of Santiago, the father's brother and therefore the child's uncle, confirmed that he helped Santiago's parents leave French territory with the child. According to his lawyer, Me St&eacutephane Gas, questioned by BFMTV, the man who has since become aware of the seriousness of his actions "is doing his best to be able to contribute to the investigation and to the fact that Santiago is found". The lawyer explains that this is not an organized gang kidnapping prepared and supported by the family, but “a perfectly irrational act of madness by parents towards their child, by brothers towards their brother and siblings, who absolutely did not realize at the time that they were doing it the potential consequences of leaving with this child".

The lawyer ended up appealing to Santiago's parents, who were still being sought, on behalf of his client, to "bring Santiago back, [&a] take him to a hospital so that he could receive appropriate care and this story could end as quickly as possible".