The 2 and a half year old boy has been missing since July 2023 in an Alpine hamlet. The gendarmerie and justice work tirelessly, but stumble upon a mystery.
This is one of the most significant cases of the year 2023. Six months ago, on Saturday July 8, around 5 p.m., little Emile, 2 and a half years old, disappeared in Haut-Vernet, in the Alpes de Haute Provence. Despite a quick report from the maternal grandparents, with whom the child was on vacation, and the small size of this hamlet of 25 inhabitants, located at an altitude of 1,200 meters, in a cul-de-sac, none of the tracks followed has not yet been successful. “Understand our distress, tell us where Emile is”implored his parents in a message broadcast at the end of November by the weekly Christian family. On Christmas Day, this Catholic couple called on Facebook for prayers for their son.
Research and investigations have nevertheless continued unabated since the first hours of the disappearance, mixing traditional methods and cutting-edge gendarmerie techniques. The boy disappeared shortly after waking from a nap, outside the summer house where the family has been spending his summer vacation for twenty years. His mother, the eldest of 10 children, stayed that day with her partner in the Marseille region. When they are about to go for a walk, the grandparents can no longer find Emile.
The area raked and flown over very quickly
In one hour, one Forty gendarmes arrived on the scene from neighboring communities, including members of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon from Jausiers and the aerial section of Digne-les-Bains, reminds franceinfo of Sirpa, the gendarmerie communications department. A helicopter flies over the area on the first night. Hurry up. If the child is lost, the chances of survival in this rugged environment, exposed to high temperatures during the day and cool at night, do not exceed 48 hours for a child of this age.
The next day, three helicopters, as well as drones, equipped with thermal cameras, continued the search. They are assisted, on land, by hundreds of volunteers, hikers, hunters and firefighters. The surrounding area is raked until late hours. Around ten tracking dogs from the gendarmerie, notably Malinois and Saint-Hubert, specialized in searching for missing or fleeing individuals, are also involved. They lose track of the child at the hamlet washhouse. It is also at this place that two witnesses say they saw Emile on Saturday July 8 around 5:15 p.m., according to a source close to the investigation at France Télévisions.
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An investigation is opened and a call for witnesses launched, photo of the little boy and dedicated telephone line for support. Despite this impressive device, the child remains untraceable. Two days after his disappearance, on Monday evening, the prefect of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence announced the end of “beaten citizens” and the start of the operation “judicial sweep”. L’“one of the most important ever conducted”, completes the prosecutor of the Republic of Digne-les-Bains, Rémy Avon, at the end of this second phase of research. The 30 houses of the hamlet were searched, its 25 inhabitants questioned in the bakery transformed into an interview room and their cars inspected. The 1.8 km road which connects Haut-Vernet to the village of Vernet has also been scrutinized. In vain.
The mobilization of 25 full-time investigators
The investigation then enters into the long term. At the end ofa final period of exploration carried out in the field at the end of July, over an area of 5 km around the grandparents’ home, investigations are narrowing in on the elements collected. We must analyze the testimonies, the DNA samples, the 1,600 telephone lines which limited the area on the day of the disappearance, lists magistrate Rémy Avon during a press conference. The judicial information was transferred to two investigating judges in Aix-en-Provence and, in mid-August, shifted to a criminal classification of kidnapping and sequestration. If there is no evidence to point in this direction, this reclassification offers more possibilities to investigators, such as placing suspects in police custody.
A national investigation unit was created and 25 investigators worked full time on the case, under the leadership of the Marseille research section. With the help of Anacrim software, which sifts through the data collected, they track down the slightest clue. According to the investigations, they rcome regularly to the village for searches and new search operations which, in mid-September, focus on a body of water in Vernet, south of the hamlet. Divers inspected it, without result. The gendarmes also examine the concrete slab of a chalet located on the heights of the hamlet. Here again, these checks yield nothing, sources close to the investigation tell franceinfo.
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All options continue to be explored. Accident ? Homicide? Kidnapping ? In mid-October, the farm of a young farmer in Haut-Vernet was inspected, again with the support of drones and tracking dogs. The operation proved unsuccessful. But to move forward, we also have to close doors. And “leave no stone unturned”then argues the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor, Jean-Luc Blachon, to franceinfo.
Hypotheses, rumors and suspicions
In mid-November, a vast search operation was carried out by around fifty gendarmes in the hamlet, as well as in six other departments. Objective: recover content from computers and mobile phones. Investigators now know who was in Haut-Vernet and Vernet on July 8, 2023, vacationers included. “We are trying to be interested in all these peopleexplains a source close to the matter to franceinfo. That’s why there are searches in other departments.”
For the mayor, François Balique, it is impossible that one of his constituents is involved in the disappearance. It’s not “certainly not someone from the village, it’s like a family, we know each other”, he argued to France Télévisions in the fall. Winter will he provide answers in this file where the hypotheses, rumors and suspicions follow one another? This is what he hopese Colonel Martin Patier. As soon as the snow melts, this helicopter pilot, who had surveyed the area after the disappearance, will be able to fly over the area again. “In a large part of French forests, the leaves fall, we have less plant cover, we see through it more easily”he emphasized to France Télévisions. Perhaps coming back in winter will allow us to distinguish a bag or a piece of clothing of a particular color and direct the search.”
“Even if time passes, since we are reaching the six months since the disappearance of little Emile, the fact remains that the investigations and verifications, which are still numerous, continue”a source close to the investigation told franceinfo. In their message broadcast by Christian familyEmile’s parents talk about “this terrible anguish” who “breaks the heart”. In the absence of significant progress in the investigation, they urge those potentially responsible to come forward: “Please, if he’s alive, don’t let us live without him, give him back to us! Please, if he’s dead, tell us where he is, give him back to us, don’t let us not without a grave to collect us!”