The residents of Vernet who searched for the boy in July 2023 do not understand how his bones could not be found during the searches organized at the time of his disappearance.
What happened to Émile on July 8, 2023? Nearly nine months after the disappearance of the little two and a half year old boy, his skull and teeth were discovered by a hiker this Saturday, March 30, less than two kilometers from his grandparents’ house, where he had been last seen.
Questioned by BFMTV and RMC in recent hours, several residents of Vernet who took part in the search for the little one in recent months expressed their incomprehension. One of them believes that “anything is possible”, including that the volunteers passed by Emile’s body in July.
“When we go on a hunt, we are two meters away [des uns des autres, NDLR]but to make the outline of a bush, there are five of us moving aside,” recalls this resident.
“If he fell in a bush, he could escape a hunt,” he explains, emphasizing that the research participants were not all necessarily gendarmes or soldiers.
“It’s a fairly accessible area”
However, the area was “excavated” according to the mayor. “It’s a place where hunters and their dogs and residents pass daily and where forestry work was carried out in the fall,” explained the councilor, a few hours after the announcement of the discovery of the little boy’s skull. .
“What is surprising is that it is a fairly accessible area,” also underlines Robert, who assures that the inhabitants of the village “go there to look for mushrooms” and that the hunters “pass there with dogs”.
“We have difficulty understanding how we could have missed it. We really have questions. Why did we find this body during the Pascal weekend? We ask ourselves questions”, summarizes Robert. But nature “remains hostile”, points out Mathilde. “This summer when we did the hunts, there were places that were difficult to access with brambles, holes, very abundant vegetation.”
“If we missed it, it’s because we suck”
Near the Parisian, another resident indicates that he also participated in the citizen searches in July to try to find Émile. According to this individual interviewed by the daily, the little boy’s grandfather also walked in the area the same evening of the disappearance.
“I was in the company of Émile’s grandfather, without knowing that it was him,” says the resident of Vernet. “We spent several hours together, side by side, saying almost nothing to each other. He was almost stoic. You could tell he wanted it, he wasn’t afraid to attack bushes.”
“If we missed out, it’s because we suck, but really suck!” he says.
On BFMTV, the gendarmerie spokesperson explained this Monday that there was “a tiny chance” of having missed Emile’s bones during previous excavations.
“It’s unlikely but we can consider it,” she adds, recalling the conditions of the first research, that is to say in the middle of summer with dense vegetation in the middle of a steep area. Even thermal cameras were able to detect nothing: “There were rocks, lots of elements and heat sources at the time.”
The excavations currently underway will perhaps allow the gendarmes to find new elements. After the discovery of the skull, investigators must now determine whether the child’s death was accidental or whether Émile was the victim of a murder.