Colomban and Marie, the parents of little Émile, still missing since July, decided to publish an audio message on the eve of his 3rd birthday.
Five months after the disappearance of little Émile in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, Thursday November 23, the little boy’s parents published a message on the website of the weekly Christian family. An appeal launched on the occasion of Émile’s birthday this November 24. “Understand our distress, tell us where Emile is,” begged the child’s mother.
Since July 8, Marie and Colomban, Émile’s parents, have claimed to have the firm conviction that their son was the victim of an accident or kidnapping. “Please, if he’s alive, don’t let us live without him, give him back to us! Please, if he’s dead, tell us where he is, give him back to us, don’t let us not without a grave to collect us!”, declares the little boy’s mother in this message.
“Awful anguish”
“This November 24 is his birthday and we cannot celebrate it. The uncertainty adds to our anxiety. Where is our little boy? What happened to him?” asks Emile’s mother. Before adding: “You can do all this in a thousand ways, even anonymously, without having to denounce yourself, but do not let us live the rest of our lives, as well as our families, with this terrible anguish which crushes us the heart”. The mother also announced, on the Facebook group “Let us pray for Émile” which has more than 18,000 members, begin a “novena”, a period of nine consecutive days of prayers in honor of a saint to implore help and mercy. Prayers will be offered in honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
Émile would have been seen for the last time on Saturday July 8, at 5:15 p.m., alone, in a street in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, according to a witness. After his disappearance, the 30 houses in Haut-Vernet were searched, all the residents questioned and all the vehicles inspected. Despite numerous searches launched to find him, his disappearance has still not been clarified. At the end of July, the investigation, first entrusted to the Digne-les-Bains public prosecutor’s office then transferred to investigating judges in Aix-en-Provence, shifted to a criminal classification of “kidnapping” and “sequestration” .