A woman and a man have admitted to abducting two newborns and face up to four years and four months in prison

A woman and a man have been charged with unlawful deprivation of liberty after allegedly abducting two newborns and holding them captive for 24 days in Bucharest. The two, who were a couple, entered into plea agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest District 5 Court.

According to prosecutors, the defendants lived in Italy and had taken in an Indonesian national who was pregnant with twins. After learning that she did not want to give up her children, the woman allegedly manipulated her and convinced her to leave an assistance center in Italy and travel to Romania.

On July 2, 2026, the female defendant allegedly told the mother that the five-month-old babies were to be taken by missionaries and brought to the Vatican. The man, with his face covered, allegedly took the children, making the mother believe that they had died.

The two children were kept in a car, together with the defendants’ biological daughter, while the suspects made a living from begging and theft. Police located them on July 25, and the babies were rescued and returned to their mother.

The prosecutor proposed prison sentences of four years and four months for the woman and three years and four months for the man. The agreements, concluded on October 20, 2026, were sent to the Bucharest District 5 Court, which will issue the final ruling.