The Abduction Alert system has been in existence since 2006. (illustration). – THOMAS COEX / AFP
A lead to find Mia? The 8-year-old girl, kidnapped on Tuesday while she was staying with her maternal grandmother in Les Poulières, in the Vosges, continues to be actively sought. The investigation could advance this Thursday, since the three men suspected of having kidnapped the girl were arrested by the investigators of the gendarmerie in the Paris region, assures the Parisian, according to corroborating sources.
The public prosecutor of Epinal, Nicolas Heitz, confirmed to AFP that three men were arrested in Ile-de-France and placed in police custody. “They are in the process of hearing,” he added, without specifying whether they were the kidnappers of the child, Mia and her mother having “not yet been found”.
The mother at the heart of the investigation
Mia Montemaggi was kidnapped by three men, by cunning and without violence, late Tuesday morning while she was staying with her maternal grandmother, designated a trusted third party by justice, in the village of Les Poulières, at about thirty kilometers from Epinal.
Her mother, Lola Montemaggi, 28, who had not been allowed to see Mia alone since January and “wanted to live on the margins of society”, could be with her, as she was not found at her home. in Epinal.
Two of the kidnappers – a third who remained in the vehicle that took the child – pretended to be child welfare officials, with Ministry of Justice letterhead, in order to highlight trust the child’s grandmother. They used the pretext of an appointment in an educational service with Mia’s mother to take the child, explained the public prosecutor of Epinal Nicolas Heitz this Wednesday during a press conference. The public prosecutor of Epinal plans to hold a new press conference on Friday morning.