This Tuesday August 8 marks the first month of the disappearance of little Emile, 2 and a half years old, in Haut-Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). While investigators are struggling to find out what could have happened, the case is already added to a long list of several others that have marked France.
Emile
Disappeared without a trace on July 8, 2023, little Emile aged 2 and a half, was still wanted a month later. In recent weeks, the gendarmes have multiplied search operations in Haut-Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).
A canine brigade, specializing in the search for human remains and supported by drones, was also dispatched to the scene on July 25, without the boy being finally found. The Digne-les-Bains prosecutor, Rémy Avon, had indicated that it was “one of the most important judicial search operations ever conducted”, while a judicial source maintained that no lead “was neither privileged nor excluded at this stage”.
A judicial inquiry was opened on July 18, allowing investigators to carry out searches, listening and surveillance operations.
Habib Nedder, 2014
On January 19, 2014, in Toulouse, little Habib, 13 months, was kidnapped by his father. But three months later, the man was found dead, beheaded, in a river in Ariège. No trace of the baby.
Since then, the investigation has stalled. In March 2018, Habib’s mother, Jennifer Dana, wrote to Brigitte Macron, questioning her in particular about the inaction of justice. In May, she received a response from the chief of staff of the First Lady, explaining to her that the latter cannot intervene in an ongoing case and specifying that the letter was sent to the Minister of Justice at the time, Nicole Belloubet.
Mathis Jouanneau, 2011
On September 4, 2011, the mother of young Mathis, 8, reported the disappearance of her son, who had left two days earlier for the weekend with his father as part of shared custody in Caen.
Sylvain Jouanneau is found three months later but without the little boy. Since his arrest, the father has refused to say where Mathis is. He repeats tirelessly that the little boy is alive and that he has entrusted him to friends.
In June 2015, Sylvain Jouanneau was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Faced with the silence of the father, the investigations continue to find Mathis.
Estelle Mouzin, 2003
Then 9 years old, the little girl was seen for the last time on January 9, 2003 when she was returning from school, in Guermantes (Seine-et-Marne). Despite the numerous investigations and the significant resources deployed, the disappearance of Estelle Mouzin remains a mystery.
In March 2018, the case experienced a new twist: during a hearing before an examining magistrate, serial killer Michel Fourniret “did not deny being involved” in the girl’s disappearance. If these declarations do not constitute confessions, they make it possible to relaunch a track already mentioned several times. In 2007, “the ogre of the Ardennes” had even asked in a letter addressed to the general prosecutor’s office of Reims to be questioned about several disappearances, in particular that of Estelle Mouzin.
Excavations were carried out in November and September 2018 at the home of a former companion of Michel Fourniret. Excavations, however, have yielded nothing to date.
The case saw a new twist in June 2019, following statements by Michel Fourniret and Monique Olivier.
Heard by the investigators, the latter confirmed the alibi of her ex-husband before retracting, leading to the indictment of Michel Fourniret for “kidnapping and forcible confinement followed by death”.
On March 6, 2020, Michel Fourniret recognizes the murder of Estelle Mouzin. According to his ex-wife’s lawyer, the latter would have kidnapped the child to “hold her, rape her and strangle her”.
The Ogre of the Ardennes died on May 10, 2021, leaving behind terrible unconfessed secrets.
However, new excavation operations to find the little girl are about to start. On European 1Estelle Mouzin’s father’s lawyer revealed that a last attempt would be made “in the coming months”.
Marion Wagon, 1996
Marion Wagon, 10, disappeared in broad daylight on November 14, 1996 in Agen, on the 400 meters separating her school from the family home.
Despite the media coverage of the affair – millions of posters have been printed and distributed, in particular on milk cartons – and many leads followed, Marion Wagon remains untraceable.
The Fourniret track will also be followed in this file before being definitively closed in 2016.
However, in April 2021, a new investigating judge ordered new DNA samples. If, once again, the research is not conclusive, the case has been taken in hand by the judges of the “cold case” pole.
On the occasion of a documentary broadcast this Tuesday, May 24 on W9, Michel Wagon, the girl’s father returned for the first time to the disappearance of his daughter. A new hope to relaunch the investigation, while several leads are under study.
Charazed Bendouiou, 1987
On July 8, 1987, Charazed Bendouiou, 10, went down to play, alone, in the courtyard of her building in Bourgoin-Jallieu. Since then, no one has seen her again.
The first investigation will be closed, quickly, in 1989. And it is only in 2005 that Charazed will be registered on the file of the missing persons. While the file is linked to the vast case of the “Disappeared from Isère”, the investigations are relaunched again in 2017, thirty years after the disappearance of Charazed.
Ludovic January, 1983
Ludovic, 6, is kidnapped in the middle of the street in Saint-Martin-d’Hères (Isère) under the eyes of his big brother, Jérôme, a year older. That day, the latter and his two little brothers, Ludovic and Nicolas, are going to buy cigarettes for their father when a man approaches them. The man promises them candy if they agree to help him find his dog. “I let Ludovic go with this man. When I saw the look he was giving me, I realized that I had done something stupid, but it was too late, ”explains Jérôme to France Bleu.
A few months later, a clerk at the Grenoble court receives a call from an anonymous caller who claims that the boy is in good health and has been taken in by a couple in need of children.
In 1985, two years after Ludovic’s disappearance, the skeleton of a 6-7 year old boy was found in a cave. The experts who will examine the bones will not be able to establish whether they are those of Ludovic or not. In 2008, the family requested a DNA analysis but the skeleton disappeared, without it being known whether it was destroyed.
The case, which could be linked to the “disappeared from Isère”, has had many twists and turns, between closure of the investigation, dismissal, reopening… In 2015, new investigations were launched by order of the court of call from Grenoble.
Yves Bert, 1977
On February 3, 1977, Yves Bert, 6 years old, disappeared in mysterious circumstances in Lyon. Like every day, his eldest brother, 9 years old, is waiting for him when he leaves school to go home together, but the little boy will never reappear. According to the school janitor, little Yves is nevertheless well out of the establishment.
In 1978, the case rebounds when the parents receive an anonymous letter evoking the abduction of the child. Since then, Yves Bert has never reappeared.