For the first time, the mother of the young man raided in the investigation into the disappearance of little Émile agreed to speak with BFMTV. The little boy has been missing since July 8.
Almost six months after his disappearance, little Émile still remains nowhere to be found. Since July 8, numerous searches have taken place, notably around Haut-Vernet at the home of a 17-year-old young man. For the first time, the latter’s mother agreed to speak with BFMTV on the family farm, located four kilometers from Haut-Vernet.
“There are about fifty meters there, in the building. Heifers, cows, bulls, that’s all you need to have a functioning farm. It’s work, it’s a passion. “It’s a family story, with my son we will soon join forces”, she says in a long format Red line broadcast this Tuesday, December 26.
An altercation with the grandfather
Farm searched, tractors and vehicles inspected… She and her son were questioned several times by the gendarmes.
The young farmer had a dispute with Émile’s grandfather. An argument broke out the same morning the disappearance of Émile in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet: a few days before the little boy’s disappearance, he carried out earthworks in front of his cousin’s house, located opposite that of Émile’s family.
On the morning of July 8, while returning to his cousin’s house in the hamlet, Émile’s grandfather, known to be a person of character, sharply reproached him for having damaged part of his land with his tractor. The young farmer, known for driving fast and having had small accidents, and his mother deny having damaged the grandfather’s land.
“We know human stupidity”
If no evidence was held against the young man, these inconclusive searches nevertheless established a climate of suspicion, one of his relatives even denounced a “relentless pursuit of this little one”.
As for the rapid and dangerous behavior of the young farmer, for the mother and her son it is only a matter of rumors and gossip, spread by village residents.
“We know human stupidity, we know what people are capable of,” reacts the mother.
“So, we’re not surprised either,” she continues. “The investigators are sorting things out and they told my son: ‘if the journalists ask you, you will tell them that you are not indicted’.”
“There is nothing at all”
The young man was interviewed as a witness. He was never taken into custody or indicted.
Gilles, a resident of Vernet, has followed this affair from the start. He, who knows the family very well, says he has seen the devastation these accusations could have had on the young farmer.
“We can say that he was accused of having committed something when there was nothing at all, because if there was something, the police would have taken him away,” explains -he. “From the beginning, he is a child who always has his phone with him, so the investigators know very well minute by minute where he was when the little one disappeared.”
According to those close to him, telephone elements allow us to conclude that the young farmer was not in Haut-Vernet at the time of little Émile’s disappearance.