Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A French couple has been taken into custody following the discovery of the remains of five infants inside cardboard boxes at their home in the southeastern town of Orange, prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. The horrifying discovery came just one day after the 32‑year‑old woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy at home on Sunday, July 26, and was taken to hospital with abdominal pain.
According to judicial sources, the 32‑year‑old man she lived with had been “troubled after discovering once again very late that his partner was pregnant” and conducted a search of their apartment in the historic city centre. He found “what looked like human remains” and alerted the hospital, which immediately informed the prosecutor’s office.
Local media reported that the couple had argued about the contents of the cardboard boxes just a day after the woman gave birth. An investigating source told the Daily Mail that the husband “looked inside the cardboard boxes they had been arguing over – that’s when he found the five dead babies”. “All the foetuses were decomposing, and had been around for quite a while,” the source added. The couple cannot be named for legal reasons.
A forensic doctor who examined the remains concluded that they likely belonged to five newborns. Further autopsies and anthropological analyses have been ordered to determine the exact nature of the remains, as well as the circumstances and dates of their deaths.
The woman, a 32‑year‑old who had reportedly denied being pregnant on multiple occasions, remains in hospital and has not yet been questioned by investigators. According to Le Parisien, this was the third time she had denied a pregnancy. She is also understood to suffer from a psychological disorder known as pregnancy denial. The man, also 32, told police he knew nothing about his partner’s possible previous pregnancies. Both were taken into custody on Wednesday.
The couple also had two other children, aged eight and nine, who have been placed with relatives. The newborn baby boy was placed with social services by the prosecutor’s office. Child welfare services have been called in for an urgent assessment of the situation.
Neighbours expressed shock at the discovery. Florent Jean, a neighbour, told Le Parisien that the couple were “charming people” who had moved into the building around two years ago. She recalled seeing emergency services arrive for the mother and thinking: “Is she pregnant? That’s impossible, she’s so thin”. The woman would “pick up the children from school at lunchtime to eat”, while the man would “go to work in the morning and come back in the evening”.
The Orange horror has drawn parallels with the case of Dominique Cottrez, a 45‑year‑old nursing assistant from northern France who confessed to killing her eight newborn children at birth and hiding their bodies over nearly 20 years. Cottrez was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2015. Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into suspected murder, and the case is being treated as one of France’s most serious alleged infanticide investigations.
As forensic examinations continue, the investigation will seek to establish how the five infants died and whether the woman concealed her pregnancies over an extended period. The couple remain in custody, and the public prosecutor’s office has confirmed that the case will be referred to a juvenile court judge to determine the fate of the newborn child. The quiet town of Orange, in France’s Provence region, has been left reeling by a discovery that has shocked the nation and revived painful memories of one of the country’s most notorious infanticide cases.
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