A passerby heard banging coming from behind a garage door, on a downtown street in the southern French town of Bourg-lès-Valence and was able to free two women. On Friday, February 6, after an ordeal that lasted more than 24 hours, the victims, a 35-year-old woman and her 66-year-old mother, were found in a state of shock, having been "tied up and gagged," according to a police source at the scene. Emergency services transported them to the town's hospital center, and their "lives are not considered to be in danger at this stage," the same source said.
The story was first reported by Le Dauphiné Libéré, though the news had already been leaked on the morning of February 5. The leak related to criminals abducting and detaining two people, likely in connection with a ransom demand. Strict instructions were given to treat the matter with extreme caution, according to a judicial source who spoke on Thursday evening, due to "a high risk of serious harm to the physical integrity of the abducted persons."
At around 3 am on Thursday, an unknown number of individuals broke into one of the victims' homes in a small town located 90 kilometers from Bourg-lès-Valence and forced the two women into a Mercedes-Benz vehicle before fleeing.
