Authorities in western France say a 40-year-old woman escaped a five-year nightmare this month, breaking free from what prosecutors describe as a brutal and degrading captivity at the hands of an elderly couple.

The woman fled a home in the small commune of Saint-Molf, near Nantes, on the evening of October 14. Shivering and disoriented, she made it to a neighbor’s door, where she begged for help. Investigators later said she was suffering from hypothermia. The neighbor took her in and called police.

What unfolded from there is one of the most disturbing abuse cases France has seen in recent memory. According to the Nantes prosecutor’s office, police arrested an 82-year-old man and his girlfriend, a woman in her sixties, on suspicion of kidnapping with torture. Authorities say the two held the woman in squalid conditions for years — forcing her to sleep on a deck chair in a garage, use a plastic bag as a toilet, and even consume food laced with detergent.

Prosecutor Antoine Leroy said the victim’s ordeal began innocuously. She had originally moved in with the woman, who worked as a nursing assistant. For a time, the two were roommates. But everything changed, Leroy said, when the older woman’s boyfriend moved into the house. The friendship soured, and what started as a living arrangement devolved into coercion and control.

At first, the victim was banished to a tent in the garden. Later, she was locked in the garage — a space prosecutors said was sealed shut from the outside with concrete blocks. Over the next five years, the couple allegedly subjected her to degrading treatment while systematically draining her bank account.

“She initially shared the accommodation with the woman, then was put in a tent in the garden, before being locked in the garage from the moment the man came to live in the home,” Leroy told France Bleu. “She was made to sleep on a deckchair and to use pots and plastic bags as toilets.”

The prosecutor said investigators found evidence supporting the woman’s story — including the blocked garage door and other signs of confinement. The couple, now facing charges of kidnapping with torture and “fraudulent abuse of a vulnerable person,” have reportedly admitted to aspects of her captivity but are downplaying the severity of their actions.

Officials have not released the names of either the suspects or the victim. The woman remains under medical care as the investigation continues.

The details of this case — an elderly couple allegedly tormenting a younger woman in their home for years — have horrified French citizens and reignited debate over how such abuse can go undetected for so long. Saint-Molf is a quiet coastal town of about 2,000 people, and neighbors told local media they had no idea anyone was being held against their will.

For prosecutors, the challenge now is piecing together the years of isolation, manipulation, and psychological control that may have allowed the alleged abuse to continue unchecked. For the survivor, it’s about beginning to reclaim a life stolen by five years of fear.