The disappearance of 11-year-old Lyhanna in France has led to an administrative investigation into a prior rape complaint against the man suspected of abducting her.
This was confirmed on Wednesday by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
Addressing the National Assembly, Nunez stated that the investigation, conducted jointly by the Inspectorate General of Justice and the Inspectorate General of the National Gendarmerie, aims to identify potential procedural mishandling.
On Tuesday evening, the prosecutor in Toulouse revealed that the 41-year-old suspect, now in custody for Lyhanna’s abduction and confinement, had been accused of raping a 10-year-old child.
The complaint was filed in August 2025 with the Plaisance-du-Touch gendarmerie in Haute-Garonne department.
The alleged crime reportedly occurred in Montestruc-sur-Gers, the village where Lyhanna’s family resides.
The case was transferred from the Toulouse prosecutor’s office to the Auch prosecutor’s office, which only forwarded it to the Fleurance gendarmerie in January.
The investigation into the rape complaint remains ongoing, according to Auch’s prosecutor, Clémence Meyer.
Lyhanna was last seen in Fleurance on Friday around 3 p.m., while getting into the suspect’s car.
The man, the father of one of Lyhanna’s friends, was reportedly well known to her.
