Bones corresponding to the body of little Émile were found this Saturday March 30 near Haut-Vernet – in the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence -, a discovery putting an end to nine months of searching for the child, then aged two and a half years old, but the cause of death still remains unknown.
4 mins
“ On Saturday, the national gendarmerie was informed of the discovery near the hamlet of Vernet of bones » corresponding to those “ of the child Émile Soleil », indicated in a short press release the prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence Jean-Luc Blachon. Contacted by AFP, he did not wish to make further comments regarding “ this complex matter “.
The Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) of Pontoise – in the Paris suburbs – “ continues the forensic analyzes on the bones and the national gendarmerie is dedicated to deploying means to undertake additional research in the geographical area where they were found », he continued, without giving any information on the cause of the child’s death. These few bones would have been found by a walker, a source close to the case explained to AFP, without further details on the circumstances, the investigation continuing its course.
A hunt and the houses of the hamlet searched
When he disappeared on July 8, Émile had just arrived for the summer vacation at the second home of his maternal grandparents, and two neighbors claim to have seen him in the main street of the hamlet, but with stories contradictory. The little boy was seen around 5:15 p.m., in the only street of this tiny town. The boy was wearing a yellow top, white shorts and hiking shoes. His parents, very religious Catholics living in La Bouilladisse, in Bouches-du-Rhône, were not present that day.
The gendarmerie was then alerted around 6 p.m. and an investigation into the causes of the worrying disappearance began on July 9, accompanied by a call for witnesses. A hunt brought together hundreds of anonymous people who came to lend a hand over the first two days. Investigators and soldiers then continued to carefully inspect 97 hectares of fields, woods and steep terrain, without success. The thirty houses in the hamlet attached to the commune of Vernet were also searched, the residents questioned and their vehicles inspected.
A reconstruction of the facts carried out on March 28
This discovery of bones is an important step in the investigation into his disappearance. No lead had been put aside, even if the theory of a fatal fall had seemed to fade following the multiple hunts organized in the surroundings of the hamlet, located at an altitude of 1,200 meters, on the slopes of the Massif des Trois-Evêchés, at the end of which no body had been found. First opened for a worrying disappearance in Digne-les-Bains, the investigation was quickly entrusted to two investigating judges from Aix-en-Provence then reclassified as criminal grounds for “kidnapping” and “sequestration”.
A role-play, a sort of reconstruction of the facts, took place for the first time on Thursday in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet of 25 inhabitants attached to the village of Vernet located between Digne-les-Bains and Gap, with 17 people, including all those present on the day the toddler disappeared. Access to the hamlet had been blocked for three days, the day before and the day after the situation. However, the mystery remained unsolved after this act of investigation after which no information had filtered out. It is also too early to know whether or not the discovery of the child’s remains on Saturday is linked to this event organized two days earlier.
Attention first paid to the little boy’s maternal grandfather
Until now, much attention had focused on Émile’s maternal grandfather, Philippe V., who had custody of the child that day. Placed under assisted witness status in an investigation into alleged sexual violence and assault in the early 1990s within a private religious school in Pas-de-Calais, this avenue has always been studied, “ at the same level » than the others, according to a source close to the matter interviewed a few days ago.
In November, on the eve of Émile’s third birthday, his parents broadcast a vibrant appeal via the weekly Famille Chrétienne. “ Understand our distress, tell us where Émile is », asked the message spoken by the child’s mother.