2023-07-12 20:12:14
The mystery remains complete and intriguing. More than three days after the disappearance of Émile, two and a half years old, in a tiny hamlet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the field investigation yielded nothing. Accident, homicide, kidnapping? “All the hypotheses” remain studied by the prosecution, which “does not forbid anything”.
When did he disappear?
Saturday, 5:15 p.m.: Émile is seen for the last time, alone, by two neighbors, who see him leaving the house of his maternal grandparents, in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet of 25 inhabitants clinging to the Trois Evêchés massif, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It’s the first day of summer vacation for the toddler. In the house, “several other family members were also present”, but neither of the two parents, specifies the parquet floor.
“By the time the family, relatives, neighbors carry out the first checks, the first call to the gendarmerie comes around 6 p.m.”, according to Rémy Avon, the public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains.
A “very religious” family
Since this disappearance, the family, grieving and anxious, has been united in the secondary residence of Haut-Vernet. Originally from La Bouilladisse, a town in the Bouches-du-Rhône at the foot of Garlaban, Émile’s family has been vacationing in Haut-Vernet for around twenty years, said the mayor of the village, François Balique. The boy’s maternal grandparents have a second home there.
The grandfather, an osteopath based in La Bouilladisse, the family cradle, had ten children, including Marie, the eldest, Emile’s mother. Ten children all schooled at home, as confirmed on Wednesday by the mayor of the municipality, José Morales.
The city councilor spoke of a Catholic family “very religious, very discreet, who lived a little in autarky”. According to the regional daily La Provence, they did not attend the local parish, preferring the Latin mass given in a Marseilles church.
Emile’s parents have been living as a couple at La Bouilladisse for about a year, after their studies in Marseille. Émile’s father had been a candidate in the regional elections of 2021, in fourth position for the Bouches-du-Rhône on the list “Zou! “, “the list that will get rid of the system”, led by Valérie Laupiès, ex-National Rally.
How was the research organised?
Sunday, a call for witnesses is launched to find Émile, “two and a half years old. Brown eyes. Blond hair. Size: 90cm. Outfit: yellow top/white shorts (with a green pattern)/hiking shoes”. The photo of a smiling little boy, a dandelion in his ear, accompanies it. A dedicated telephone line is open, at 04.92.36.73.00. By Tuesday evening, she had received more than 1,200 reports.
On the ground, as part of the investigation opened for “search for the causes of worrying disappearance”, the prosecution adopts a “so-called snail” strategy, which first focuses on the hamlet before expanding. For two days, hundreds of volunteers, hikers, hunters come to help the investigators. In vain. Monday evening, the prosecutor of Digne announces the end of the “citizen battering” and only the “judicial search” operations continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A helicopter, dog teams, drones equipped with thermal cameras: the gendarmes of the research section of Marseille and the research brigade of Digne-les-Bains are also supported by sappers from the Foreign Legion specialized in the search for caches. Equipped with hypersensitive metal detectors, they go so far as to probe the most recent bales of hay, looking for “ferrous materials” such as a zipper or a button on the child’s clothes.
How will the investigation proceed?
If the investigation did not bring “any clue, any information, any element allowing to understand the disappearance of Émile”, conceded Tuesday evening the prosecutor of Digne, “a considerable mass” of data was however collected during hearings , field sweeps and technical and scientific work, particularly in terms of telephone data.
“Perhaps, without knowing it, we have collected a decisive clue”, still to be analyzed, said the magistrate, now announcing “a second stage” of the investigation: “a longer time, of analysis, of ‘examination, less ground’, the operations in Haut-Vernet having to ‘in principle end on Wednesday’.
In fact, the 30 buildings making up the tiny hamlet have all been searched, 12 vehicles visited, the 25 inhabitants of the town heard and 12 hectares of land “meticulously raked”.
Did Emile get lost alone? Is it a homicide, a kidnapping? “All the hypotheses remain valid, none is privileged and none is excluded”, insisted again Wednesday evening Rémy Avon, acknowledging that the possibility of finding the child alive, if he was lost alone, was now “very reduced”: “His vital prognosis would be very very committed”, regretted the magistrate.
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