A 7-year-old autistic boy has been missing since last Sunday. Significant resources were deployed to try to find him.
By Martin Pereira for Le Point (with AFP)
© jaboutier / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/THE NEW REPUBLIC/
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Ihe little Marciano, a 7-year-old autistic child, has been missing since last Sunday in Niort in the Tour Chabot district, on the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise. A sandal, which the family recognized as belonging to the child, was found on a bank, Julien Wattebled, public prosecutor in Niort, told Agence France-Presse. Two dogs used by the investigators having also “marked” near a lock. This Friday, the lifeless body of a boy was found in the Sèvre. The identity of the victim has not been confirmed at this time. The public prosecutor, Julien Wattebled, is present on the scene and has requested the intervention of a medical examiner.
Some 70 police and gendarmes were deployed to find the child, with the help of firefighters, who mobilized boats and divers. Investigators also called in dog teams, drones and a helicopter equipped with a thermal camera.
According to the daily The Western Mail, the boy would have escaped the vigilance of a friend of the family who kept him with his two brothers aged four and five, while the mother was away. The two youngest children would have returned to the apartment later, without their older brother.
Autistic, Marciano “is a child who does not express himself and who hides”, specified the prosecutor. The police had issued a call for witnesses on Tuesday to try to find the young boy.