Unsolved mysteries: the most disturbing disappearances of children

They seem to have vanished in thin air. Infamous cases of lost children that went unresolved for many years continue to be in our collective memory. Here's a number of the most mysterious disappearances of children in recent decades.

It happened on May 3, 2007. Madeleine McCann disappeared from the hotel room where she was spending the summer with her family, in the south of Portugal, and no trace of the child has ever been found. She was about to turn four years old.

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Although the solution to the Madeleine McCann case has not arrived in 17 years, her parents continue to hope that the girl will be found. If she's alive, she will look like the composition photos her parents have made every year. And if she's dead, then at least an end will come to their nightmare.

The 15-year-old teenager from Vatican City vanished on a summer day in 1983. Over the years, traces led to the palaces of religious leaders, secret services, and the Mafia.

Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela's brother (photo), told the Italian newspaper Repubblica that a number of important Vatican officials "may have come into direct contact with this affair, starting with the former secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the former secretary to the [late] Pope Emeritus, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein."

After almost 40 years of investigations of the disappearance of Emanuela, in early January 2023, the Catholic church authorities announced that they would try to solve the intriguing plot of the missing Vatican girl. Until now, the whereabouts of the girl have remained unknown.

In February 1977, the French boy Yves Bert, aged 6, disappeared in Lyon. His brother never saw him leaving school, even though the school janitor assured him that he had seen him leave the premises.

The child never reappeared. But the following year, his parents received an anonymous letter suggesting the boy had been kidnapped. The mystery remained unsolved.

Image: Joanna Kosinska / Unsplash

In 1983, two little boys, Ludovic and Nicolas Janvier, were approached in the streets of Saint-Martin-d'Hères, near the French city of Grenoble. A stranger promised them candy if they would help him find his dog. The older brother, Nicolas, saw Ludovic leave with this man. He never returned.

Two years later, the skeleton of a boy of Ludovic's age was found in a cave. However, the experts were unable to establish whether or not it was Ludovic Janvier.

A 9-year-old girl was kidnapped in Arlington, Texas, while riding her bike on January 15, 1996. When her grandfather and younger brother went to look for her, they only found her bike.

Four days later after the abduction, her undressed body was found in an apartment just 5 miles from the spot where she was kidnapped.

Despite the quick discovery of the body, this murder was never solved. It would be important to future legislation though. Congressman Martin Frost drafted the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act which sparked the spread of the Amber Alert.

In December 1995, Aurore Pinçon, a 14-year-old teenager, disappeared in the French Loir region. Given her age, investigators initially believed she had run away.

The young girl had indeed left a letter to her parents. But she was never found dead, or alive, and the hypothesis of a kidnapping has not been ruled out.

Image: Mediamodifier / Unsplash

At the age of 17, Céline Vallin disappeared from the French Savoie in 1997. The teenager had to take her baccalaureate exam the next day.

Despite extensive searches, the investigation yielded nothing. No one ever knew if Céline Vallin had run away or if she had been kidnapped or killed.

Image: Stefano Pollio / Unsplash

In Austria, the case of Natascha Kampusch became famous. Abducted on the way to school at the age of 10 in 1998 and kidnapped for years by her captor, the young girl managed to escape in 2006.

During all these years, she had remained locked in the basement of her captor's house. After her escape, Natascha Kampusch became famous by appearing on television and writing bestsellers. She also got her captor's house as compensation for the years she lived in fear.

A high-profile kidnapping case in recent decades was that of Estelle Mouzin. The 9-year-old- vanished on the way to school in January 2003. Despite the significant resources available to the investigation, the little girl was never found.

Some years into the investigation, Estelle's disappearance was connected to those of other young girls in France and Belgium. Police started tracing a serial predator, nicknamed 'The ogre of the Ardennes'.

In this photo, we see investigators look for the girl on the street where she was last seen.

Years later, Michel Fourniret admitted to having been involved in the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin. At some point, he confessed to the kidnapping and murder, confirmed by his wife (photo) who's considered his accomplice. However, the ogre of the Ardennes died in 2021 and no formal proof of his guilt was ever provided.

In 1996, Marion Wagon, 10 years old, disappeared on her way to school in the French Agen. Despite intense media coverage with millions of posters printed and distributed, no one ever found a trace of the girl.

For a while, the hypothesis was investigated that the 'ogre of the Ardennes', Michel Fourniret (photo) was involved. Police abandoned this theory in 2016. Is the investigation definitively buried now?

In 2011, the disappearance of Mathis Jouanneau, 8 years old, was reported by his mother (photo). The boy had gone with his father to the French city of Caen for a weekend as part of shared custody. But he never came back.

Three months later, Sylvain Jouanneau (in the photo during his trial) reappeared without his son and refused to indicate where he was. He only revealed that the boy was alive and with friends. Sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015, the father continues to remain silent.

Another chilling case was that of Habib Nedder, a 13-month-old baby who disappeared along with his father in Toulouse in 2014. The investigation yielded nothing. Three months after the disappearance, the father was found dead, decapitated in a river. The baby was never found. If Habib is still alive, he's a young teenage boy now.

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