After months, the authorities were back at Haut-Vernet this Thursday, March 13. Research continues that the track of human intervention seems to be confirmed.
While the body of little Emile was buried on February 8 after its discovery by a hiker on March 30, 2024, the investigations continued. The investigators of the Marseille research section were back in the Haut-Vernet this Thursday, March 13, after several months of absence. According to BFM DICI, They did not leave empty-handed: they embarked an “imposing” planter located near the Haut-Vernet chapel. The reason for this seizure remains unknown. “The planter was emptied of her land and taken immediately. They did not even enter the chapel, which has no lighting,” simply told a source close to the investigation at Figaro.
To date, the authorities are more and more some that the boy has not been able to disappear alone in the Haut-Vernet almost two years ago when he stayed with his grandparents. However, no police custody has yet taken place. A particular element goes in this direction: a DNA foreign to that of the Emile family was discovered during the analysis of the bones and clothes of the child. “Whether there is an author, that is almost no doubt. Did he voluntarily affect the child or involuntarily? It is impossible to say for the moment. But that there can be human intervention, that is now very likely,” said a source close to the case to BFM DICI. The accidental track is not yet completely excluded, such as that of manslaughter and that of opportunity crime.
New checks and auditions
In addition, the authorities continue to peel and analyze hundreds of data to understand what happened. They also consult the letters, often anonymous, which they have received on the case since the disappearance of Emile, in search of the slightest element that could help them. The field of research would also have expanded to the reception of one of these letters. At the beginning of March, gendarmes would have visited Tours and around Paris, while the investigations have always been located in the south of France. If this trip has not been officially confirmed, prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon spoke of “simple checks”.
Free hearings are also still in progress. Even the gendarmes, first arrived at the scene of the disappearance, are invited to testify to what they noted that day in the hamlet.