Little Emile ran away from his grandparents' house in the small town of Haut Vernet, in the French Alpes de Provence and disappeared. Nine months later, the discovery in Haut-Vernet of the boy's bones came like a bolt of lightning, out of the blue, when his very Catholic parents were at mass.

A hiker from the town found his skull and teeth and took them to the Gendarmerie. The location of the discovery had already been searched. The appearance of the remains occurs just days after the search was ended.