Morgane Rivoal, 13, who had been missing for twelve days, was found alive on December 10, 2024 in Manche, Normandy. Follow the press conference of the Saint-Brieuc public prosecutor who provides an update on the investigation.
What we know about Morgane's disappearance
- Morgane Rivoal, 13 years old, was found “safe and sound” this Tuesday, December 10, 2024 in Coutances in Manche
- She was in a home for young workers
- The teenager had been actively sought since November 25 in Côtes-d'Armor when she had not gone to college
- A young man from Rennes was taken into police custody
After twelve days of until then fruitless searches, young Morgane, 13, was found safe and sound this Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The teenager was in a home for young workers, in the Manche region, 300 km from her home. home, in Coutances.
This Wednesday, December 11 at 6 p.m., the public prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc, Nicolas Heitz, takes stock a few hours after the teenager was found.
Placement in pre-trial detention, Morgane hospitalized
The individual will be placed in pre-trial detention to prevent him from having influence or putting pressure on Morgane. The latter is currently “hospitalized and safe”. A judicial investigation has been opened to determine whether or not there was kidnapping.
Already prosecuted for “subtraction of a minor”
No injuries were found on her. Morgane said she was locked in the room for 15 days, with the shutters closed. There was no intimate relationship with the individual but an argument, the young man having once hit him in the head.
The individual would already be prosecuted for kidnapping of minors for a case dating from April 2024 with a meeting on social networks.
He would have met Morgane via Snapchat 3 months ago. The individual declared that he had not detained Morgane, and that she preferred to stay in her room, because “she felt good”. If the door was closed when he left, it could be opened from the inside. Morgana said she didn't know.
A 21-year-old man currently in police custody
A 21-year-old man was placed in police custody in the investigation into the disappearance of Morgane, a young schoolgirl from Brittany, said the Saint-Brieuc prosecutor's office. “The person who hosted him, an individual from Rennes, was immediately placed in police custody” for “arrest, kidnapping or sequestration of a fifteen-year-old minor”, underlines Nicolas Heitz. This individual was located in Coutances.
A woman's testimony
The young man's trail was enabled thanks to a woman who recognized Morgane in the individual's car, when he came to chat with his son around 2 a.m.
Morgane disappeared on November 25
Morgane disappeared on November 25 in Pabu, near Guingamp, in Côtes-d'Armor. That day, the schoolgirl did not go to school after leaving the family home in the morning. The last time the 13-year-old was seen was at 7:15 a.m. She had to go to the Albert-Camus college in Graces, located near Guingamp. But Morgane never took the bus and never showed up at her establishment.
The school alerted Morgane's parents that their daughter had not come to school around 9:30 a.m. Two hours later, the teenager's mother reported her disappearance to the Guingamp gendarmerie.
A call for witnesses and an investigation into a disturbing disappearance opened
The same day the teenager disappeared, a call for witnesses was broadcast on social networks but also in the town where Morgane lives and in neighboring towns. Very quickly, an investigation into a worrying disappearance was opened by the public prosecutor.
A dispute with his parents the weekend before his disappearance
In a first update via press release sent on November 29, the public prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc revealed that “Morgan had never run away before that day according to her parents who speak of good relations in the family” . It is also indicated that a “dispute arose with his parents during the weekend in connection, in particular, with the use of social networks”. Still according to the prosecutor, “a heated discussion took place between Morgane and her parents during which the father broke his daughter's cell phone and took the SIM card.”
