MOTHER AND PARTNER ABANDON TODDLERS AGE 5 AND 3 IN WOODS AFTER BLINDFOLDING THEM AFTER TAKING THEM TO PORTUGAL Heartless parents allegedly blindfolded their terrified 5-year-old and 3-year-old sons, told them it was a twisted “game to drive away the devil”, buried a knife in the woods and then abandoned the boys deep in remote Portuguese forest. The French brothers Barthélémy (5) and Zacharie (3) were instructed they could only remove their blindfolds once they found the buried knife and used it to cut them off. Mother Marine, 41, from Colmar in eastern France, and her partner Marc had driven more than 1,000 miles from France to Portugal specifically to carry out the alleged abandonment near Alcácer do Sal. The toddlers dug desperately in the dirt for several minutes before Barthélémy finally took their blindfolds off only to realise their parents had completely vanished. They wandered alone for hours, ending up crying and screaming on the side of the quiet N235 rural road between Alcácer do Sal and Comporta around 7pm Tuesday. A local couple who found them said the boys were “terrified”, covered in dirt and bruises with one nursing a grazed knee, desperately calling out for their father. Each boy had only a small backpack containing spare clothes, pieces of fruit and water bottles, nothing else, no ID. Both children have since been given a clean bill of health in hospital (toxicology confirmed they were not drugged) and placed into foster care. Portuguese police have opened an urgent child abandonment case while French authorities are investigating neglect, with the boys’ grandmother and separated biological father having already reported them missing. Marine's mother, the boys' maternal grandmother, reported the children's disappearance to police, telling them they had been abducted by their mother. The boys' father, who is separated from Marine, also filed a child abduction report to police. Colmar prosecutor Jean Richert told Le Parisien: 'He's like everyone else, he doesn't understand. The mother and Marc are now at the centre of the international probe.
