Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP 3:30 p.m., March 31, 2024
Bones corresponding to the body of little Emile were found on Saturday near Haut-Vernet. A discovery which relaunches the investigation into the disappearance of the 2 and a half year old boy. Europe 1 takes stock of the highlights of this investigation, up to this discovery.
This is a major discovery since the disappearance of little Émile, at the beginning of July 2023. The Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor's office announced this Sunday that bones corresponding to the body of the 2 and a half year old boy were found near the hamlet of Haut-Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Europe 1 looks back at the key dates from the mysterious disappearance of the toddler until this macabre discovery.
July 8, 2023: disappearance and initial searches
On July 8, 2023, at 5:15 p.m., Emile was seen for the last time by two neighbors in an alley in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet of 25 inhabitants at an altitude of 1,200 meters, on the slopes of the Trois Évêchés massif in the Alpes-de -Haute-Provence, where he had just arrived for the summer holidays at the second home of his maternal grandparents. His parents, a very religious Catholic family, live in La Bouilladisse in Bouches-du-Rhône and were not present that day.
The gendarmerie was alerted around 6 p.m. and an investigation into the causes of the worrying disappearance began on the 9th, accompanied by a call for witnesses. A hunt brought together hundreds of anonymous people who came to lend a hand over the first two days. Investigators and soldiers then continued to carefully inspect 97 hectares of fields, woods and steep terrain, without success. The thirty houses in the hamlet attached to the commune of Vernet were also searched, the residents questioned and their vehicles inspected.
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July 12: opening of a judicial investigation
On July 12, the Digne prosecutor's office announced that the investigation would switch to the preliminary investigation regime. Then, on the 18th, he opened a judicial investigation justified by "the complexity of the case" with the Aix-en-Provence investigation center in Bouches-du-Rhône. Two investigating judges are seized of the case, still looking for the causes of the worrying disappearance.
A meticulous work of analysis of the data collected begins, i.e. 1,200 calls made to the dedicated telephone line and a considerable mass of information concerning the telephone calls of all the people who "bound" to Haut-Vernet on the day of the disappearance of Emile. On the 25th, dog teams specializing in the detection of human remains, supported by drones, were deployed to Vernet.
August 21: investigation extended to criminal motives
The judicial investigation has been extended to the criminal acts of "kidnapping" and "sequestration", we learned on August 21 from a judicial source. This decision, "purely technical", "is not linked to a development in the investigation" into the still unexplained disappearance of the little boy, but "this procedural framework offers more flexibility" to investigators, underlines the deputy prosecutor.
November 24: the vibrant appeal of parents
In their first speech, the child's parents declared at the end of August in the weekly
Famille Chrétienne
that they had "nothing to hide" and deplored "malicious testimonies in the press". “We inevitably imagine the worst, but we can’t help but hope…” says the father. In the same weekly on November 24, on the eve of Emile's third birthday, his parents broadcast a vibrant appeal: "Understand our distress, tell us where Emile is", asks the mother.
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March 28, 2024: a “scenario”
On January 8, 2024, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor's office indicated that the investigation "is still very active" and has taken "another, more technical form". Gendarmerie investigators must now "analyze all the elements collected" and in particular a mass of digital and telephone data of people who were on site or in the surrounding area shortly before and shortly after the disappearance, details the public prosecutor of 'Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Luc Blachon.
On March 28, Emile's family, neighbors and other visual witnesses, i.e. 17 people, were brought together by the courts in Haut-Vernet for a "situation", aimed at reconstructing the moment when the child was was seen for the last time.
March 31: discovery of “bones”
Sunday March 31, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor's office announced that "bones" corresponding to the body of the boy were found the day before near Le Vernet. “The genetic identification analyzes made it possible “to conclude this Sunday that these were the bones of the child Emile Soleil” (Editor’s note: his last name), says the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor, without provide information on the cause of the child's death.