On a hot July 8, 2023,
little Emile, barely two and a half years old,
ran away from his grandparents' house in the small town of 25 inhabitants of Haut Vernet, in the French Alpes de Provence and disappeared. The case shocked France. Nine months later, the discovery in Haut-Vernet of the boy's bones came like a bolt of lightning, out of the blue, on Easter Sunday, when his very Catholic parents
were at mass.
A hiker from the town
found his skull and teeth
, 1 kilometer as the crow flies from her grandparents' house and took them to the Gendarmerie. It was just 48 hours after magistrates, gendarmes, soldiers, forensics, specialists, dogs and drones returned to review the area to try to reconstruct his disappearance.
According to the gendarmes, it is contraindicated behavior because it disrupts the potential crime scene. A particle of skin and DNA may have been lost during the trip. She will be questioned about her current activities and those at the time of Emile's disappearance, but she will not be detained.
The bones and teeth were sent by helicopter to experts from the Criminal Investigation Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN), in Pontoise, to be identified. The appearance of the skull is far from being the epilogue of this matter,
still surrounded by gray areas.
Little Emile, two and a half years old. Photo: Gendarmerie Nationale_Twitter / AFP
The discovery once again shocked the town, where since then,
the neighbors have looked at each other with suspicion
, and France. Emile's body
has not been found
. Haut Vernet was isolated again to allow the best specialists to land and work again to try to find the rest of the skeleton, to find out if it was an accident or if it died from a blow.
A reconstruction just days ago
Emile was searched intensively after his disappearance and then magistrates
organized “a reconstruction”
of his disappearance on Thursday last week for eight hours, in Haut-Vernet.
The 17 witnesses present in the town on July 8 were invited to reproduce the gestures and movements of the day of the disappearance, in order to detect possible inconsistencies. Emile's grandfather, Philippe V., 58, always claimed that
he was with him in front of the house, loading the car
, when the little boy escaped from his surveillance.
The skull was found in an area where hunters passed. Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Two witnesses came forward: one claimed to have seen Emile heading towards the laundry room, located under the house. The other claimed, on the contrary,
that he had seen him go up the road that crosses the town
, towards a cabin located above the house of his maternal grandparents.
Two days after this reconstruction, the skull appeared in
an area where hunters,
their dogs, hikers and residents of the commune passed. They presume that there could have been a displacement of the body by an animal or a human being. Forensics must determine how long those bones were exposed to the elements.
When the bones speak
Nine months
are not enough to reduce Emile's body to the state of a skeleton
, according to forensics. It can take up to two years at least, without human or animal intervention.
He disappeared in the middle of summer and the heat accelerates the cadaveric phenomena.
But it will be the bones that reveal the reasons for her death. Traces of animal or human bites can only be detected by sight and the remains will surely be x-rayed and scanned. This can reveal fractures or alterations in the body or if little Emile fell and fractured his head, received a bullet or a knife.
There was a small stream nearby. The bones found will not be able to reveal if he drowned or was drowned and if there is human intervention, who they were.
There are wolves and foxes in the Vernet Mountains. The involvement of a predatory animal was one of the clues that investigators analyzed in the summer he disappeared.
The entrance to the village of Le Vernet. Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP
The mayor of Vernet had denounced “the attack by wolves on the town's domestic animals in 2017.” He considered it “a serious and immediate danger to domestic animals and in particular, troops of sheep and cattle on free pasture in the mountains.” The little boy could also have been attacked by eagles or foxes or fed on their remains. There are no lynxes or bears in the high mountain area of Provence.
The day Emile vanished
Emile was two and a half years old
, wearing a yellow t-shirt, shorts and hiking boots
when he vanished. His grandfather was a few steps away, preparing the car. The little one had just gotten up from a nap and was in the care of his grandparents during the holidays. His parents work in another town.
No one was surprised to see him on the street. Two witnesses saw it. In that little high mountain town, the boys play freely, in nature and everyone knows them. Until now.
After nine months of “hope” and “dismay,” the news fell like a bomb. Little Émile's head and teeth were discovered one kilometer as the crow flies from the village of Haut-Vernet, where the boy was last seen.
The town, clinging to the Trois Évêchés massif, was once again surrounded on Sunday by the gendarmes, who hope to quickly provide answers to the family.
The Aix-en-Provence prosecutor announced on Sunday that a hiker had found "bones."
A panoramic view of the mountain village of Le Haut-Vernet. Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
“She is a local resident who we don't know if she really went hiking,” he explained.
The family statement
The family, who
does not have much ties with the neighbors and is extremely Catholic
, broke the silence with the voice of their lawyer, Jérôme Triomphe, who sent a statement to the press.
“They have just found the mortal remains of little Émile. If you feared this heartbreaking news, now is a time for mourning, contemplation and prayer. “Marie and Colomban know now, on this Easter Sunday, that Emile watches over them with the light and tenderness of God,” the lawyer wrote.
The criminal lawyer called on the press to respect “the pain and sorrow” of his clients and not request them at this time of mourning. “Investigators continue their work in the necessary secrecy of the investigation so that the causes of Émile's disappearance and death can be discovered,” Triomphe stressed.
The gendarmerie closed the entrance to the town. Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
To conclude, the little boy's parents wanted to thank "all those who helped and supported them, as well as the investigating judges and investigators, for their work, their professionalism, their personal commitment and their humanity, which has brought them great comfort in the last few months and particularly on this day.”
The confirmation came on Sunday morning, while the little boy's parents were gathered for Easter Mass, a celebration that celebrates the resurrection of Christ.
A disturbing coincidence.
Where were the remains found?
The remains were located near a path located
between the church and the town chapel
, an area
already "particularly searched"
by the gendarmes, observed the town's mayor, François Balique.
"We couldn't miss it during the hunts," say the locals. The trail
is a daily stop
for hunters and their dogs, hikers and residents of the Upper Vernet. Not to mention the forestry work carried out in the area during the fall.
Gendarmes speak with a resident of Le Vernet. Photo: NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
To “ensure the tranquility of the inhabitants of Haut-Vernet and its surroundings”, the town council has once again issued an order to
prohibit access to visitors
who are not residents of the town.
The area has been completely cordoned off by the gendarmerie, who will carry out meticulous work to try to find the rest of the body. But also to understand if the place of discovery is that of death or if the bones have been moved.
In any case, researchers
have ruled out the trace of a landslide
in that high mountain area. In the early afternoon, the criminal investigation unit of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence departmental gendarmerie was expected to arrive at the scene, these famous forensic agents in white uniforms, specially trained to carry out investigations at crime scenes. Until then, the prosecutor did not want to make any further comments.
Accident or homicide?
The news shocked all the inhabitants of Hauts-Vernet, immersed in mystery and suspicion for months. “It was a shock, but at the same time it doesn't surprise me,” one of them confided. “We knew the little guy was up there, somewhere, all this time.” “I was hoping he was still alive,” the councilman said sadly.
At the moment people are overcome with emotion, but
later they will want answers
. Accidental or criminal, the causes of death are still unknown. The autopsy and anthropological analysis could provide some answers, if the bones show traces of fractures related to a fall or human action, using a blunt object.