LE VERNET: According to a prosecutor on Sunday, French investigators have discovered the bones of a toddler who vanished in an Alpine village last year in a case that horrified the country. They are currently investigating the cause of his death.
Emile Soleil, who was visiting his grandparents on July 8 of last year, was two and a half years old when he disappeared. In the French Alps, at a height of 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) above sea level, two neighbors last spotted him strolling by himself in the late afternoon on a street in Le Vernet.
Prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon said, “On Saturday, the police were notified of the discovery of bones near the hamlet of Le Vernet.” He continued by saying that genetic analysis had confirmed they were Emile’s remains. It was the case’s first significant development.
The prosecutor stated that forensic examiners were still examining the bones, which a walker had discovered, but she did not provide the cause of death.
The prosecutor also mentioned that fresh searches were being conducted by police in the vicinity of the body’s discovery. On Sunday, a roadblock was erected on the sole route leading to Le Vernet. The day Emile came in the village to spend the holidays with his maternal grandparents in their second home, he vanished.
The little boy, barely 90 centimetres (35 inches) tall, was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts and tiny hiking shoes, a call for witnesses at the time said. A massive on-the-ground search involving dozens of police officers and soldiers, sniffer dogs, a helicopter and drones failed to find him in July.
A prosecutor said after several days it was unlikely that such a young child would have survived in the summer heat.
