UPDATE
Horror in France. A child was found dead in the bushes with a wet towel wrapped around his neck in the French city of Rennes, Brittany, on Sunday afternoon. According to French media, it concerns 11-year-old Théo. Police arrested a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl on Monday as part of a murder investigation. According to public prosecutor Frédéric Teillet, the two young people who were “seen at the crime scene in the company of the victim” on the afternoon of the tragedy are now in custody.
Source: Le Parisien, AFP, Ouest France, Le Figaro
LOOK. Divers are searching the water near where the child was found
The incident took place on Rue Dupont des Loges, not far from the center of Rennes, along the banks of the Vilaine River that runs through the historic center of the city.
Screaming
It was just after 4:30 p.m. Sunday when a fisherman heard screams from a child he couldn’t locate. This wasn’t normal kid yelling during a game. The man immediately called the police.
Towel around his neck
The officers who rushed to the scene made a horrible discovery in a bush along the river, close to some apartment buildings. They found a child who had gone into cardiac arrest, French media report. It concerns an 11-year-old boy named Théo. Horrible detail: Théo was found with a wet towel wrapped tightly around his neck.
The emergency services tried for a long time to resuscitate him, but all help came too late. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. According to ‘Ouest-France’ it is assumed that the cardiac arrest is the result of strangulation.
Until late Sunday evening, police officers and forensic experts were busy at the scene of the tragedy. Investigations were also carried out at a nearby apartment complex, the French news agency AFP was able to establish.
Police were still on site at the location in question on Monday morning. Divers also searched the water.
Murder investigation opened
“A wet bath towel was tied tightly around his neck,” confirmed Frédéric Teillet, the attorney at the Rennes Public Prosecution Service on Sunday afternoon. “The involvement of a third party is one of the hypotheses,” he continued. “I have initiated an investigation for the murder of a minor under the age of 15.”
16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl arrested
On Monday Teillet came with a new update for the press. A 16-year-old minor was arrested on Monday morning as part of the investigation into the discovery of the body of the 11-year-old. On Monday afternoon, the public prosecutor’s office also announced that a 15-year-old girl was placed in police custody. “She spontaneously presented herself at the Rennes police station,” it said.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, these are “the two young people who were seen at the scene of the incident with the victim on the afternoon of the tragedy.” Further information is currently lacking.
According to a police source, the 11-year-old victim was part of a group of three young people who had asked a fisherman for some bait on Sunday to go fishing together, writes ‘Le Parisien’. The victim’s mother also reportedly told investigators that her son had gone fishing with a friend.
What exactly happened next is a mystery.
