analysis of clothing, samples of soil and plants… A former police commissioner details the investigators’ leads

After the discovery of the skull, teeth and clothes of little Emile, who disappeared in the Alpes de Haute-Provence last summer, certain analyzes could reveal valuable clues, assures Richard Marlet, guest on franceinfo.

The cause of death of young Emile, two and a half years old, who disappeared in the Alpes de Haute-Provence this summer, remains unexplained but the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor gave additional information on Tuesday March 2, during of a press conference. Clothes worn by the child when he disappeared were found and are being analyzed. These analyzes could reveal valuable clues explains, on franceinfo, Richard Marlet, honorary divisional commissioner responsible for forensic science courses.

Franceinfo: Can the clothes found “speak” nine months after the child’s disappearance?

Richard Marlet: There will be an extremely careful examination of the t-shirt, the pants and then the shoes to look for any traces of punctures, cuts, tears or traces that could correspond to bites. This is more about the morphological aspect of these clothes. Afterwards, I think that there will also be slightly more detailed analyses, that is to say research probably of a biological, genetic nature. And then and also analyzes of the soil, plants, pollen that may be found on these clothes, in particular to try to determine if the place where these clothes were discovered is one and the same place or if the clothes could have been pass through several isotopes. We can see this with the nature of the land or with the nature of the pollen to see if there has been movement. These may be movements caused by human action. And then, obviously, these can be movements caused either by predatory animals or by meteorological phenomena.

“The idea is to accumulate a certain number of material answers to be able to determine a certain number of hypotheses, and then eliminate them when they do not correspond to the material elements.”

Richard Marlet

franceinfo

Could there be, nine months later, still genetic traces or traces of blood, even invisible to the naked eye, that science could bring to light?

You remember the Maelys affair, where it is a micro-droplet of blood which will determine the presence of Maëlys in the suspect’s trunk. There we can imagine that either inside the shoes, or on the laces, or in a seam, that we have micro-droplets of blood. Obviously, genetics will show that it is most likely Emile’s blood. But here, already, I congratulate the entire IRCGN (Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie, editor’s note) for the speed of analyses. Manage to determine very quickly that it is indeed the skull of little Émile. Manage to determine that the skull was not buried. Also manage to determine that it supports micro-fractures. And then the scientific investigations on the ground will continue, that is to say that pieces of bones are missing. That’s clear. When the clothes were discovered, soil samples must have been taken to try to find the presence of scavenging or colonizing insects which would make it possible to determine the moment when this body was exposed to nature.

Can we still discover things on the child’s skull and teeth since the prosecutor confirmed that analyzes were continuing on these elements?

Yes, because the skull was not buried but it must still bear a certain number of micro-traces. Traces of earth or pollen that would demonstrate the history and path of this skull. That is to say, it is obviously not near the clothes. Was it carried by an animal? It’s entirely possible. Was it transported by atmospheric disturbances? Using these micro-samples, we will try to determine the places through which this skull may have passed.

With the new elements, are the chances of resolving this matter slim despite everything?

We are faced with a lot of questions. I think science will answer a number of questions. From the skull alone, since no fracture was found and demonstrated. So there are micro-fractures but which may have been caused by the action of predatory animals. I’m afraid that just on this skull, maybe we’ll do more with the clothes, maybe we’ll find other bones… But as we speak, we has many more questions than answers.