As of: April 9, 2024, 6:31 a.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Even after the two-year-old's skull was found, many uncertainties remain in the Émile case. The finder's behavior raises new ambiguities.
Le Haut Vernet – The criminal case surrounding the mysterious death of two-year-old Émile continues to pose a number of puzzles for the investigative authorities and probably the whole of France. In July 2023, the little boy visited his grandparents in the small village of Le Haut Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of southern France. On July 8, 2023, he finally disappeared without a trace.
The investigators searched for Émile for nine months in vain - on Easter a woman suddenly found his skull
Nine months later, a woman hiking through a wooded area about two kilometers outside of Haut-Vernet found the human remains of a skull. On Tuesday evening (April 2, 2024), public prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon confirmed at a press conference in Aix-en-Provence that he was undoubtedly Émile's.
A little further on, investigators found some clothes scattered around: his shirt, pants and shoes. The chief investigator specified that bite and scratch marks were found on the bone that were inflicted after the boy's death - for example by animals. There is also a stream nearby that, according to investigators, can turn into white water when it rains and can even carry heavy objects - including a body.
The finder commits a crime by not leaving the site untouched
Even after the skull was found, there was still no trace of the remaining bones. This means that the investigators are still in the dark, nine months after the two-year-old disappeared.
What is particularly mysterious is the fact that the finder handed the boy's skull to the police in a plastic bag. And therefore did not leave the crime scene untouched - a criminal offense. The woman is also said to have taken the skull home with her after finding it before handing it over to the police, the television station
France TV Info
reported , citing the public prosecutor's office.
The sniffer dog previously stopped the search near where Émile's skull was later found
Corpse detection dogs were already in use there. In the vicinity, a dog is said to have abruptly stopped searching for the boy several times in the immediate vicinity of where he was later found, French media reported.
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The village of Le Haut Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department © IMAGO/SPPRESS
The discovery of the skull does not provide any certainty about the circumstances of the death of two-year-old Émile. “Between a fall of the child, negligent homicide and murder, we still cannot consider any theory to be more likely than the others to explain the disappearance and death of the child Émile,” prosecutor Blachon continued at the press conference.
Investigating authorities are extending the search for remaining body parts for another week
The investigators also focused on Philipe V. (58), the child's grandfather. As part of the investigation, the police have already examined two of Emile's grandparents' houses. It turned out that Philippe V. had already been charged in 2016 with cases of sexual abuse and mistreatment of young people dating back to 1993.
At that time, the murdered Émile's grandfather was a teacher in the strict Catholic association "Riaumont", where physical violence was part of everyday education. “I believe that the presumption of innocence is being violated, with dramatic consequences for the family. These people are devastated. My client's only fear is that the investigators will lose time for Émile," V.'s defense attorney Isabelle Colombani told the French television station
TF1
.
The extensive search for the boy's remaining bones or other evidence that could help the investigators has now been extended by another week until April 14th.
(fh)