While the investigators still have “no clue” about the disappearance of Émile, the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains announced Tuesday, July 11 the opening of a national investigation cell. Explanations.
“We are at the same point as the day before yesterday and it is not for lack of having multiplied the investigations”, acknowledged the public prosecutor. The search continues this Tuesday, July 12 to find Émile, two and a half years old, missing since Saturday when he was with his grandparents in Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Despite the large resources mobilized, for the moment, “the operations in progress have not brought any useful elements to the investigation”, regretted the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, during a press conference.
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The prosecutor nevertheless wanted to recall that the investigations continue, and that it is now a time of analysis “long” which begins, for “help us try to determine the causes of the disappearance”. The telephony of part of the region around the village of Vernet and its 130 inhabitants has been peeled for several days by the investigators. Since Saturday, “the 30 buildings of the hamlet were visited”, continued Remy Avon. “25 people were heard, 12 vehicles were visited, 12 hectares raked and 1,200 calls were received”, he listed. The search operations should end on Wednesday, according to the prosecutor.
Rémy Avon also announced the opening of a national investigation cell in order to advance the investigation which has been stalled for four days now. This new phase, which is also based on the analysis of the data collected during the “raking” of the hamlet where the child disappeared, concretely triggers several tools for the police.
More human resources for the investigation
Research mobilizes on the spot 80 personnel from the departmental gendarmerie, the mobile gendarmerie and the High Mountain gendarmerie platoon. Added to this are ten soldiers from the foreign legion, who specialize in brush clearing.
About fifteen investigators from the national gendarmerie are also mobilized on the investigation itself, coming from the Marseille research section and the Digne research brigade.
Thanks to the creation of this national investigation cell, the number of these investigators will increase to 20. They will focus on analyzing all the data collected in recent days, such as the clues found during the combing of the hamlet of Haut-Vernet or the information collected during the hearings of the inhabitants.
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Technical assistance from the IRCGN, the scientific gendarmerie
Beyond the additional human resources, the triggering of this unit makes it possible to benefit from the help of theNational Gendarmerie Criminal Research Institute (IRCGN). A unit of 600 soldiers who investigate crime scenes in search of the slightest clue to complex cases. For example, they worked on the disappearance of little Maëlys in 2017.
The investigators who are at Vernet will therefore be able to rely on their very specialized technical and scientific resources. Part of the data from the research will be analyzed from the premises of the IRCGN, in Pontoise (Val-d’Oise). Analyzes which promise to be long and meticulous, in particular concerning telephone data, which represent a “considerable mass of information”, according to the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains. They will be used to determine who was in the area when Émile disappeared.
Attempt to collect new clues
More arms and more technical tools means more time to analyze, and perhaps find crucial clues. Because, for now”we have no clue, no information, no element that can help us understand this disappearance“, lamented Rémy Avon, the prosecutor. The only tangible element available to the investigators, but which, again, gave nothing, is the testimony of the two neighbors who saw Émile pass through the hamlet on Saturday July 8, just before his disappearance was reported.
Regarding the call for witnesses, set up since Sunday, 1,200 calls were received, said the prosecutor. He called again to the “citizenship“so as not to drown the investigators in useless information. Rémy Avon thus gave the example of a report which led to the mobilization of a team to clear up doubts by checking a motorhome in Isère.