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 near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

Kidnapped by his parents on the night of Monday to Tuesday, little Santiago was found on Friday, October 25 around 7:30 p.m. According to information provided by BFMTV, the 20-day-old baby was in a hotel near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. While the abduction alert had been triggered because the baby, who was very premature, required constant medical care, a source close to the case told the continuous news channel on Friday evening that the infant's state of health was described as “good”.

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 Bobigny public prosecutor had therefore announced the issuance of a European arrest warrant 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, due to his premature birth, was unable to breastfeed or bottle-feed when he was in the maternity ward, but premature babies need a suitable diet to continue their development. They are also more vulnerable to infectious risks, which are very numerous in This time of year, they sometimes have to take certain medications and need to be treated whether it is for the verification of vital signs and 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 are a man, Kevin, aged 23, and a woman, Cristina, aged 25, both of Serbian origin and part of the Roma community. Both of Santiago's parents are known to the police. The father has been 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 essential medical care, driven by the fear of losing custody of the latter. No such measures had been taken before the abduction, but it had been “considered”. Found by the police, the original couple saw, due to the kidnapping, automatically take away custody of the infant this Friday evening. It will remain that way until a judge rules on their case.

While the parents were still being sought, five people were arrested on the morning of October 22. Aged 16 to 29, they were all taken into custody for “organized gang kidnapping of a 15-year-old minor.” Two of them were allegedly playing a major role in Santiago's abduction.

Latest updates

20:52 – Santiago's family relieved after the child and his parents were found 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. At his side, Santiago's maternal uncle had also expressed his concern about the health of the infant and his sister.

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20:43 – 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 law enforcement this Friday evening, specifies Le Figaro. 

20:31 – What is the state of health of 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 baby would not survive the escape undertaken by his parents, little Santiago was indeed found alive. Better still, his state of health is described as “good”, a source close to the case told BFMTV.

Wanted for four days and abducted from the maternity hospital 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.

12:43 – One of the men charged with “talking about a completely irrational fit of madness”

One of the men charged with the kidnapping of Santiago, the father's brother and therefore the child's uncle, confirmed that he had helped Santiago's parents to 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 a kidnapping by an organized gang prepared and supported by the family, but “a perfectly irrational madness of parents towards their child, of brothers towards their brother and siblings, who absolutely did not realize at the time they were doing it the potential consequences of leaving with this child”.

The lawyer ended up appealing to Santiago's parents, who are still wanted, on behalf of his client, inviting them to “bring Santiago back, [to] take him to a hospital so that he can receive appropriate care and this story can end as quickly as possible.”

11:35 – A European arrest warrant issued against Santiago's parents

The public prosecutor had announced it yesterday and the prosecution confirmed it this Friday, October 25: a European arrest warrant was issued against the couple to allow and facilitate their search throughout the continent and “more widely via Interpol”.

Three people arrested Tuesday after the kidnapping of Santiago were indicted this Friday, October 25. These are the three people who were still in police custody yesterday evening. One of them is a woman who was charged with “failure to report a crime” and was placed under strict judicial supervision. The other two are men, one an adult and one 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 under in pre-trial detention and the adult was incarcerated  “pending the adversarial debate on the security measure which will take place on Monday, October 28”.