– Many mysteries surround the death of little Emile
The discovery of bones and clothes belonging to the little boy who had been missing for nine months allowed the investigation to move forward. Clues revive the accident scenario, but murder is not ruled out.
Published: 04/06/2024, 6:56 p.m.
Emile, 2 and a half years old, shortly before his disappearance on July 8, 2023 in Haut-Vernet, in the south-east of France.
AFP/HO/Gendarmerie Nationale Twitter
In the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, closed to the public, the mystery remains. Accident, manslaughter or murder? A week after the discovery of bones belonging to little Emile, the causes of death of the 2 and a half year old child, missing since July 8, have still not been established.
The investigation is progressing, but there are many questions. “All hypotheses remain open,” underlined Jean-Luc Blachon, the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor, in charge of the case. Certain clues collected these days by experts from the scientific gendarmerie, however, revive the trail of an accidental fall.
A theory that the inhabitants of the village, still in shock from the announcement of Emile’s death, struggle to believe. However, the analysis of the skull of the boy found last Saturday by a hiker 2 kilometers as the crow flies from Haut-Vernet revealed “no ante-mortem trauma”, explained the magistrate. This one presents “small fractures and post-mortem cracks”, as well as “traces of bites, probably caused by one or more animals”, he added.
The body was not buried
Another certainty is that the bones were not buried. Investigations show that they were “exposed for a long time to weather variations and bad weather”. In other words, the victim’s body would not have been buried. He may have been lying near the site of the macabre discovery all along.
The Alpine village of Haut-Vernet on March 31, after the discovery of bones belonging to little Emile who mysteriously disappeared last summer.
AFP
Therefore, what should we make of the statements of the walker who reported the skull to the gendarmerie and claimed to have found it on a path she walked a month previously? According to investigators, the rains of recent days or animals could be the cause of the movement of the remains. In any case, declared Jean-Luc Blachon, the research carried out on the remains of the child does not make it possible “to say what is the cause of his death”.
Scattered clothes
Scientific investigators worked in the area all week. An area described “as very steep”, which Emile, a resourceful child initiated into hiking, according to certain residents, could however have reached alone, believes the prosecutor. The passage to access it does not present any particular difficulty.
Following the discovery of bones belonging to the little boy, investigators, here on April 2, continued their search throughout the week.
AFP
If no other bones were discovered, certain clothes that the boy was wearing when he disappeared were found below the path, “near a river, 150 m from where the skull was located”. “A t-shirt, his shoes and his panties,” listed the prosecutor. These clothes, which show no visible traces of violence, were entrusted to specialists from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN).
Area not fully searched
But what really happened on July 8? Emile is seen for the last time by two neighbors who see him leaving his grandparents’ house where he is on vacation. It is 5:15 p.m. The alert is given an hour later. Hundreds of gendarmes supported by helicopters and dog teams were immediately mobilized.
Gendarmes speak with a resident of Vernet on the road leading to the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, access to which has been prohibited to the public since March 31.
AFP
In the days that followed, multiple hunts were organized. A perimeter of nearly 100 hectares is carefully raked. But was it in every corner? Not sure. “I cannot say that every square meter was searched” in July, said the prosecutor. And to add that “the temperatures at the time (editor’s note: it was over 30 degrees) could have altered the detectors of the drones and the scent of the dogs during the search.
Poorly substantiated criminal trail
So many findings which “reinforce the accidental thesis”, confides a source close to the investigation to the newspaper “The Parisian”, even if “nothing can be definitively ruled out at this time, except the kidnapping.” For this expert, “the most plausible hypothesis is that he died near the site of the discovery of the skull and clothes. Then, animals may have “cleaned” the corpse by carrying away the bones or they were moved by the weather elements. Emile could have “lost his way in the woods, died of cold or starvation”, abounds on France Televisions the former prosecutor Jacques Dallest, who, given the relief and steep nature of the area, favors the accident scenario from the start.
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During the nine months of investigation which followed Emile’s disappearance, all hypotheses were considered by the police. A prowler, a malicious neighbor or even a hidden car accident. Attention was also focused on the child’s family, whose atypical profile attracted suspicion. Then in recent days, it was the little one’s grandfather who found himself suspect number one. Since the revelations of “Chained Duck” on his role in a case of violence against children in a religious community in the 90s, all eyes have been on this man.
But for Jacques Dallest, investigators do not have, at this stage, any evidence supporting the criminal theory. Field and laboratory investigations are expected to continue for several more weeks. But in the absence of new clues, specialists warn, we may never know the truth about this tragedy.
Disappearance of EmileYannick Van der Schueren has been a journalist in the international section since 2008. Previously she was an independent journalist, in the written press and on radio. Ella Maillart Prize 2007 for her reporting in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Belarus.More info
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