2023-07-12 17:45:00
Disappearance
Saturday, 5:15 p.m.: Emile is seen for the last time, alone, by two neighbors, who see him leaving the house of his maternal grandparents, in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet of 25 inhabitants clinging to the Trois Evêchés massif, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It’s the first day of summer vacation for the toddler. In the house, there is also his mother, the eldest of ten siblings, and several of her brothers and sisters, we learned from a source close to the investigation.
“By the time the family, relatives, neighbors carry out the first checks, the first call to the gendarmerie comes around 6:00 p.m.”, according to Rémy Avon, the public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains.
The city councilor spoke of a Catholic family “very religious, very discreet, who lived a little in autarky”. According to the regional daily La Provence, they did not attend the local parish, preferring the Latin mass given in a Marseilles church.
Emile’s parents have been living as a couple at La Bouilladisse for about a year, after their studies in Marseille. Emile’s father had been a candidate in the regional elections of 2021, in fourth position for the Bouches-du-Rhône on the list “Zou! “, “the list that will get rid of the system”, led by Valérie Laupiès, ex-National Rally.
He wasn’t alone
Rebound this Wednesday in the case of little Emile? According to BFM DICI, new information comes to bring a new version of the moment of the facts. Indeed, the weekend of his disappearance, the child was not alone with his grandparents.
According to the French media, a family reunion was taking place at the same time, with several uncles and aunts of the child. About ten people were present. “People of all ages, some of whom are minors”, specifies BFM DICI, citing a source close to the investigation.
Investigation
Sunday, a call for witnesses is launched to find Emile, “two and a half years old. Brown eyes. Blond hair. Height: 90cm. Outfit: yellow top/white shorts (with a green pattern)/hiking shoes”. The photo of a smiling little boy, a dandelion in his ear, accompanies it. A dedicated telephone line is open, at 04.92.36.73.00. By Tuesday evening, she had received more than 1,200 reports.
On the ground, as part of the investigation opened for “search for the causes of worrying disappearance”, the prosecution adopts a “so-called snail” strategy, which first focuses on the hamlet before expanding. For two days, hundreds of volunteers, hikers, hunters come to help the investigators. In vain. Monday evening, the Digne prosecutor announces the end of the “citizen battering” and only the “judicial search” operations continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A helicopter, dog teams, drones equipped with thermal cameras: the gendarmes of the research section of Marseille and the research brigade of Digne-les-Bains are also supported by sappers from the Foreign Legion specialized in the search for caches. Equipped with hypersensitive metal detectors, they go so far as to probe the most recent bales of hay, looking for “ferrous materials” such as a zipper or a button on the child’s clothes.
The failure of tracking dogs
During this research, dogs specialized in this kind of exercise were also used. Of the Saint-Hubert breed, these are generally overtrained and seasoned. This is also confirmed by Stéphane Renaud, canine trainer, on the set of BFMTV. “It’s not just any Saint-Hubert who goes to the gendarmerie, they will sharpen them. And that is precisely what worries him.
For him, a dog of this caliber should have found the little boy. Especially in such a “small area”. “If he ever smells the child, whether he’s been dead or alive for less than four days, the dog will still find him. Even if he fell into a hole, the dog would have come to the edge of the hole,” he insists. What to exclude this track? Nothing is less sure.
“A considerable mass” of data to analyze
If the investigation did not bring “any clue, any information, any element allowing to understand the disappearance of Emile”, conceded Tuesday evening the prosecutor of Digne, “a considerable mass” of data was however collected during hearings , field sweeps and technical and scientific work, particularly in terms of telephone data.
“Perhaps, without knowing it, we have collected a decisive clue”, still to be analyzed, said the magistrate, now announcing “a second stage” of the investigation: “a longer time, of analysis, of ‘examination, less ground’, the operations in Haut-Vernet having to ‘in principle end on Wednesday’.
In fact, the 30 buildings making up the tiny hamlet have all been searched, 12 vehicles visited, the 25 inhabitants of the town heard and 12 hectares of land “meticulously raked”.
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