French Children Found Safe in Portugal After Mothers' Bodies Discovered

Two children found safe in Portugal on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, remain abroad as French and Portuguese authorities work to arrange their return to France, according to judicial sources cited by Agence France-Presse. The children, aged 12 and one and a half years, had been reported missing from the Aveyron department on Friday, March 20, along with their mothers. Portuguese police found them in a vehicle driven by their father, Cédric Prizzon, a 42-year-old former French police officer and high-level rugby league player. Prizzon has been placed in pretrial detention in Portugal, suspected of aggravated homicide, kidnapping, and desecration of a corpse. The bodies of the two women — Prizzon's current partner and his former partner, the mothers of the two children — were found buried the same day in an isolated location in Portugal.

Prizzon had a documented history of conflict with his former partner before the disappearances. In 2021, he illegally took his son to Spain for several weeks, an episode that resulted in a criminal conviction for failure to present a child and harassment of his ex-partner. He had also publicly accused his former partner on social media of putting their son in danger. At the time of the March 2026 disappearances, Prizzon had been stripped of his custody rights.

Bodies of both mothers found buried in isolated Portuguese location The discovery of the two women's bodies on March 25 marked a grim turn in what had initially been reported as a missing persons case. French gendarmes were dispatched to Portugal following the discovery of the buried remains in an isolated location. Prizzon is suspected of having killed both women before fleeing across the border with the two children. AFP journalists observed Prizzon leaving a Portuguese court on Thursday evening, shortly after 10 p.m., escorted by Portuguese police officers and hiding his face with his hands. The charges he faces — aggravated homicide, kidnapping, and desecration of a corpse — reflect the gravity of what prosecutors allege occurred before and during the flight from France.

Repatriation talks between Lisbon and Paris embassy underway As of Friday, March 27, the two children remained in Portugal while diplomatic and judicial steps were being taken to return them to France. Portuguese authorities had begun procedures with the French embassy in Portugal with a view to their repatriation, a judicial source told AFP. The children were described as safe and sound at the time of their discovery. Discussions between the relevant authorities were ongoing, BFMTV reported, citing its own sources. No confirmed timeline for the children's return to France had been announced as of the date of reporting.

Prior conviction foreshadowed pattern of cross-border abduction The 2021 episode in which Prizzon took his son to Spain without authorization drew a direct parallel to the March 2026 events, with investigators and judicial sources noting his prior conviction for failure to present a child. His relationship with his former partner had been described as highly conflictual, and he had used social media to publicly air grievances against her. Prizzon had been stripped of custody rights before the disappearances, which sources cited by BFMTV described as part of the broader context of the case. The Wikipedia entry for Prizzon — listed under the name Cédric Gay — identifies him as a French rugby league player born on March 12, 1982, in Tonneins, who played as a flanker or hooker for clubs including Tonneins and Toulouse, and earned four caps with the French national team. His background as a former police officer has drawn particular attention from French media covering the case.