Trunk release may have foiled kidnapping

QUEBEC CITY, July 18 (UPI) -- A car trunk release mechanism may have helped rescue an abducted Quebec boy, Canadian officials say.

The 8-year-old, who had been bound and gagged, was found less than an hour after his Wednesday kidnapping when a witness saw a car's trunk pop open at a stoplight with the youth inside. The witness led police to an apartment building where the boy was rescued, Canwest News Service reported Friday.

Suspect Pierre Defoy has been arraigned on charges of abduction, abduction of a child under 14 and confinement.

Quebec provincial police are not certain whether the boy triggered his rescue, but confirm the vehicle was equipped with a release mechanism inside the trunk -- a feature now required in new cars in the United States but not yet in Canada.

"We don't know if the trunk had problems shutting or (whether it opened) because he had activated this device," said Richard Gagne of the Surete du Quebec.