The tragic conclusion of the disappearance of Emile occurred when a hiker discovered human bones on Saturday, March 30th, which were quickly identified by the gendarmes as belonging to the 2-year-old boy. However, the mystery surrounding what happened to the child and the causes of his death still remain unsolved. Emile, from a small village in Bouches-du-Rhône, had just arrived at the hamlet of Haut-Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) for a family stay with his grandparents when he went missing on July 8, 2023. He was playing in the garden of the family home in the tiny group of about twenty houses when he allegedly slipped away from the watchful eyes of his relatives, who immediately contacted the authorities.
Gendarmes and firefighters were quickly mobilized to search for him, and an initial judicial investigation was opened within the jurisdiction of Digne-les-Bains. Despite significant efforts, including drones, helicopters equipped with thermal cameras, and canine teams, the calls for witnesses and initial searches within a 5 km radius around Vernet proved fruitless. About forty gendarmes also conducted verifications in the few village houses and interviewed witnesses. The only lead that emerged was that two residents claimed to have seen the little boy descending a street in the hamlet around 5 p.m. Records were set in terms of the resources deployed.
Numerous volunteers joined in conducting new searches the following day, with an expanded perimeter, but no clues or information emerged from these initial investigations, according to the Digne-les-Bains public prosecutor, Rémy Avon. After forty-eight hours of unsuccessful searches, an Amber Alert was issued, and the case was handed over to the Marseille gendarmerie’s search team. The public prosecutor’s office did not rule out any hypothesis and continued questioning witnesses, but so far there was no evidence of a criminal offense that could have led to the disappearance, as observed by Rémy Avon. A change in strategy occurred, with volunteers being sent home and the hamlet being “sanctuarized” by the gendarmes, who conducted a full search of the 30 buildings in Haut-Vernet and all vehicles.
Meanwhile, as the summer news was sparse, the case gained national attention, with speculations emerging in all directions. Over 1,200 people responded to the call for witnesses issued by the prosecutor. On Wednesday, July 12, the prosecutor Avon mentioned unfruitful leads, such as a blood trace on a vehicle which turned out to be from an animal, and criticized the intense media coverage that was putting immense pressure on the hamlet and its residents. While not ruling out the possibility, the prosecutor deemed it highly unlikely that Emile could have disappeared on his own. In such a scenario, his chances of survival would be severely compromised after seventy-two hours alone in the wilderness.
