Five dead babies found in cardboard boxes at couple's home amid 'pregnancy denial'

The remains of five infants have been found at a couple’s residence, according to local media reports.

Investigators discovered the bodies in cardboard boxes at a property in Orange, a town in the Vaucluse department in south-east France, according to multiple sources cited by French publication Le Parisien on Tuesday morning.

A source familiar with the investigation told the newspaper the discovery came after the woman, born in 1994, gave birth to her third child in hospital on Monday evening, following a third instance of what it characterized as “pregnancy denial.”

For reasons that remain unclear, the hospital in Orange reportedly notified authorities.

The 32-year-old man she lived with had been “troubled after discovering once again very late that his partner was pregnant” and had conducted a search of their home in the historic city center, finding “what looked like human remains.”

The woman’s partner, who was not present when she went to the hospital, decided to inspect the boxes in their home after a disagreement over their contents. It was then that he allegedly discovered a decomposing corpse.

The partner then allegedly brought the body to the hospital, where medical staff alerted authorities, reports the Daily Star.

Officers searched the couple’s home and discovered multiple fetuses in plastic bags, which had been kept in cardboard boxes. According to a forensic doctor, the remains likely belong to five newborns, and further autopsies will be conducted.

The couple already has two children, aged eight and 12, the newspaper reports. It is understood that the woman remains in the hospital and has not been arrested.

Neighbor Florent Jean told AFP they went to the local primary school. The mother “would go and pick them up from school at lunchtime to eat”, and her partner appeared to be away at work all day, he said.

On Tuesday, the door to the couple’s second-floor apartment was cordoned off with red tape, while bikes remained leaning against the staircase railings outside.

This isn’t the only instance of this type of crime. Other similar cases have been prosecuted in France. In 2015, a court handed down a nine-year prison sentence to a mother who killed eight of her newborn infants, following a jury determination that her judgment was impaired.

Later, in 2018, an eight-year prison term was given to a woman who drowned five of her newborns and froze their remains; the court noted she had a husband who was depressive and occasionally violent.

More recently, in March, a 44-year-old woman received a 25-year prison sentence from a French court in connection with the deaths of two newborn babies, whose bodies were discovered by police inside a family freezer.