Wedding guest charged with kidnapping

French investigators have charged a 34-year-old man with
“kidnapping, illegal confinement or arbitrary detention of a minor
of less than 15 years”, following the disappearance of a
nine-year-old girl from a wedding in the French Alps.

The girl, Maelys de Araujo, was last seen in the early hours of
Sunday 27 August in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, around 30 miles north of
Grenoble.

“Most of the 180 guests at the party have been questioned by
detectives, and the suspect was initially detained on Thursday
after inconsistencies were found in his statement,” Sky News says.

The Local reports that the man was “absent from
the wedding during a period that could correspond with Maelys’s
disappearance”, and had concealed his possession of a mobile phone
from investigators.

The search for the missing girl continues, after sniffer dogs
followed the scent of one of her toys to a car park, raising
concerns she was taken from the area by car.