Doubt and crazy hope are no longer permitted. Nearly nine months after the disappearance of little Emile, 2 and a half years old, in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, bones belonging to him were found. They were formally identified by the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN), the prosecutor said this Sunday in his press release. Investigations continue to try to elucidate the mystery of his death. 20 minutes make the point.
How was the body found?
The macabre discovery was made on Saturday afternoon by a walker. The child’s body was found in the “immediate proximity” of Haut-Vernet, according to a source close to the investigation, “less than two kilometers from the place of his disappearance”, specifies another. However, it is a steep area and relatively difficult to access.
Traces of Emile, 2 and a half years old, were lost on July 8, 2023, shortly after 5 p.m. Two witnesses say they saw the child in the main street of the hamlet, but one says he was going down the artery while the other says he was going up it. On Thursday, a scenario – a sort of reconstruction of this tragic afternoon – was carried out in the village but, according to our information, the discovery of the bones two days later was a “chance”.
Many unanswered questions
If this discovery is a major step forward in this investigation first opened for “disturbing disappearance” then extended to the criminal acts of “kidnapping and sequestration”, it does not, for the moment, allow all the uncertainties to be resolved. What did the child die of? This is the main question that investigators will have to answer. Until now, no leads had been ruled out. Has the child lost his way? Was he hit by a motorist who then concealed his body before hiding it in this area? Was he the victim of a crime?
The discovery of Emile’s bones will undoubtedly help answer certain questions. The latter were immediately transported during the night by helicopter to the IRCGN and were analyzed throughout the night, indicates the gendarmerie. Their analysis can in particular highlight possible traces of blows, shock or a fall.
But the passage of time and the presence of animals in the area may have damaged this essential evidence. Especially since these bones are, for the moment, incomplete. According to a source close to the investigation cited by The Parisian, it would be a skull and teeth. Experts from the IRCGN are currently on site to carry out analyzes in the area, specifies the gendarmerie. Dogs and drones are also deployed.
Was the body always there?
This is obviously a question that investigators will ask themselves. The day after the boy’s disappearance, the area was extensively combed by the police and hundreds of volunteers. The mayor of Vernet, François Balique told the Figaro that the area had “been thoroughly searched by the gendarmes”. And to insist: “It is a place where hunters and their dogs, residents pass daily and where forestry work was carried out in the fall. »
However, investigators remain very cautious. They keep in mind the Lucas Tronche affair: the body of the teenager was discovered six years after his disappearance in a ravine, one kilometer from his home, even though the area had been searched. “The summer vegetation, especially in the region, is very dense and can hide a small fault or an unexplored corner,” explained last January to 20 minutes François Daoust, former director of the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN), last January. According to the former gendarme, this scenario happens frequently: “We have regularly found bodies of missing walkers in the pre-winter period or at the end of winter, when the vegetation is less thick. »
Could the specialized dogs have missed the child? They marked his presence less than fifty meters from his grandparents’ house, before losing track of him. If the flair of these specially trained animals is particularly fine, it is not infallible. For example, if the child had already been there a few hours before, this can mislead the animals. “For the moment, all hypotheses are being exploited,” insists a source close to the investigation. It is far too early to draw a conclusion. »
Collection
In a short press release, Emile’s parents, who were not present on the day of his disappearance – the child was on vacation with his grandparents, expressed the “pain and sorrow” of this discovery. “The investigators continue their work in the necessary secrecy of the investigation so that the causes of Emile’s disappearance and death can be discovered,” they specify.