Major search for new evidence after discovery of remains of French toddler Emile | Abroad

On Sunday, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor’s office reported that remains had been recovered and that DNA tests showed that they were the bones of missing 2-year-old Emile. According to local media, the boy’s skull has also been found.

The prosecutor’s office has not shared any information about the child’s possible cause of death. It is not yet clear whether this was a crime or an accident. The public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation into a possible kidnapping last year, but also took into account a possible accident.

Emile was last seen on July 8 last year, by two neighbors with conflicting stories. He had just arrived for the summer holidays at his grandparents’ holiday home in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet of 25 inhabitants located at an altitude of 1,200 meters.

All houses in the hamlet and other places elsewhere that could be linked to the case were searched during the course of the investigation. The search was called off several days later because a young child was unlikely to survive the summer heat.

Police returned to Le Vernet this week. The village was cordoned off on Thursday and seventeen people, including family and neighbors, were called in to chart Emile’s last moments before his disappearance. Neighbors last saw the boy when he was walking alone on the street in Le Vernet. The police have searched for Emile at that location several times.

The wooded area where a hiker discovered the bones on Saturday had already been combed several times. It is possible that the boy’s remains ended up at the site later, perhaps by heavy rainfall, predators or a person.

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