Morgane found safe: the teen shares her ordeal of two weeks in captivity

Morgane, aged 13, was found in Coutances after two weeks of disappearance. Confined in the room of a 21-year-old man, she showed “no visible injuries,” according to the prosecutor, although she mentioned being “hit.”

Morgane is “safe and sound.” The teenager, who had been missing for two weeks after leaving her home in Pabu (Côtes-d’Armor), was found alive this Tuesday, December 10, in the room of a 21-year-old man living in a youth workers’ residence in Coutances (Manche). The man has been taken into police custody.

According to Nicolas Heitz, the prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc, medical examinations, including “skin” and “gynecological” tests, revealed “no injuries” on Morgane’s body.

No sexual contact, further tests pending

Morgane stated that she did not have sexual relations with the suspect. However, “samples were taken and will be analyzed to determine if any recent intimate contact occurred,” the prosecutor said during a press briefing on Wednesday evening.

A dispute with the suspect

While the teenager showed “no injuries,” she told investigators that she had a dispute with the suspect, during which he “hit her on the head” after she complained that he was not taking proper care of her and when she said she was hungry.

Morgane also stated that she had been unable to leave the room for the past 15 days, as the shutters were kept “closed to prevent her from being seen.”

Although the door could be unlocked from the inside, “she said she could not, and did not know how, to unlock it,” prosecutor Nicolas Heitz added.

Meeting on Snapchat

The weekend before her disappearance, the 13-year-old had argued with her parents over her “excessive” use of social media and the sharing of personal photos. Her father had broken her phone and confiscated her SIM card.

Three months earlier, she had met the suspect in a Snapchat group and had confided “suicidal thoughts and photos of self-harm scars” to him, according to the prosecutor’s account.

On Sunday, November 24, Morgane contacted the suspect, expressing her distress and asking him to pick her up the next day. On Monday, November 25, at 7:14 a.m., she left her home. Instead of boarding the school bus to her middle school, she met the suspect in Pabu and “expressed her desire to stay with him,” said the prosecutor.

Feeling “stressed by the situation,” the man decided to drive to Coutances, taking her to his room at the youth workers’ residence, reportedly through a back entrance.

During his custody, the suspect “repeatedly claimed he offered to take Morgane back home.” “She allegedly refused, saying she felt ‘comfortable’ with him,” prosecutor Nicolas Heitz explained.

A troubling past

The prosecutor revealed that the suspect was due to appear in court earlier that day in Beauvais, facing charges of child abduction in connection with an incident involving a 14-year-old girl in April 2024.

Although the suspect is not listed in the national database of sexual or violent offenders (Fijais), the prosecutor has requested his pretrial detention.

This case raises questions about the vulnerabilities of young people and the risks associated with social media platforms, which can serve as gateways for dangerous encounters.