INFO BFM DICI – Several unmarked gendarmerie vehicles are placed in front of a house in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet located a few hundred meters from the little boy’s family home. A jackhammer is used to destroy a huge concrete slab.
The investigation to find little Émile, missing since Saturday July 8, has once again taken the gendarmes to the hamlet of Haut-Vernet. Where the child vanished.
According to information from BFM DICI, since Monday morning, investigators have been searching a house in the hamlet located a few hundred meters from the family building belonging to Émile’s relatives. A “Phoenix” type house built in a meadow, not far from a makeshift sheepfold and hidden behind two hundred-year-old trees.
Unmarked gendarmerie vehicles are parked near this building. A truck carrying rubble was also seen on site. Equipped with a jackhammer, investigators are currently destroying a large concrete slab, installed during work carried out by a construction company this summer.
A few days after Émile’s disappearance, a sonar detected an anomaly on this slab. Immediately, investigators destroyed part of the concrete to eliminate any doubt. But additional investigations have been carried out for several hours.
A turning point in the investigation?
“The entire slab is currently destroyed. The surface area is large. This could last all day” whispers a source who follows this issue closely.
Is this a turning point in the investigation? “Depending on what is found, yes. But we have no certainty. For the moment it is a lifting of doubts that we are witnessing” specifies a magistrate to BFM DICI.
This house would belong to a couple who live in the Marignane region (Bouches-du-Rhône), who have been regulars in Vernet for a long time, and who have paid a company in the south of France to carry out work for several months.
“They are very good people. Their parents have had a house at the bottom of the village for a very long time” describes a regular visitor. Previously, the building belonged to a farmer from Haut-Vernet, still living in the Pays de Seyne since he retired.
A two-hour audition
According to our information, the latter was also interviewed by investigators for a long time last week. “It lasted two hours at the Seyne-les-Alpes gendarmerie. Personal questions like the name of my parents, my habits or even what I think of so-and-so,” the retiree told BFM DICI.
A case far from isolated since many residents are still regularly heard. Like François Balique, the mayor of Vernet, heard for the first time at the Seyne gendarmerie last Friday. “Like around thirty of my constituents heard by the gendarmes” specifies the councilor.
Contacted, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor did not wish to make any comment. “The investigation and investigations are continuing,” declares, without further details, prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon.