Eya's disappearance: why can a kidnapping alert be lifted without finding the child?

The kidnapping alert lifted, while the 10-year-old girl kidnapped in Grenoble is not yet found? This is the mystery that encompasses Eya's disappearance on Thursday. As a reminder, around 8 am in the city of Fontaine (Isère), the father of the family "and a hooded accomplice" "gassed with tear gas the mother" before seizing Eya. The kidnapping alert was triggered in the aftermath, before being lifted 13 hours later.

"The investigation is ongoing. The child has not been found. The elements collected through this alert are being exploited, "said the judicial police, without however explaining why the kidnapping alert was lifted. The girl's photos, as well as her private information, must now stop being disseminated. The judicial police in charge of the investigation received about 70 messages, said the prosecutor of the Republic of Grenoble Eric Vaillant.

However, European police services and French liaison magistrates, stationed in countries to which the father is likely to travel, remain on alert, says the prosecutor. A judicial investigation will be opened during the day in order to obtain the issuance of arrest warrants.

The child more in danger or the father located?

The triggering and lifting of this alert process is taken by the territorially competent public prosecutor "in close consultation with the investigators and after consultation with the Ministry of Justice," according to the dedicated website.

🔴 By decision of the Grenoble prosecutor's office, the kidnapping alert was terminated. The child has not been found. Research is ongoing. Thank you for your help.
Photos should no longer be distributed @Interieur_Gouv, @PoliceNationale, @Gendarmerie

— Department of Justice (@justice_gouv) May 26, 2023

To trigger a kidnapping alert and maintain it, four criteria must be met: proof of proven abduction, whether the victim is a minor, or the child's physical integrity is in danger, and the dissemination of the alert can allow the location of the child and/or his abductor.

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If the alert was lifted by the Grenoble prosecutor in coordination with the investigators, it is because they must consider either that the child is no longer considered in danger, or that they now have in their possession precise elements on the whereabouts of the father of the family and Eya, such as the discovery of the missing minor in good health or his remains. "The evidence in our possession suggests that the father, his accomplice and the child are now abroad. The possible destination countries are obviously Sweden and Tunisia," explains Éric Vaillant.