The mystery over the death of little Émile has deepened after a new bone fragment was found near the spot where the two-year-old’s skull was discovered in a French Alpine village.
Émile Soleil’s skull was found by a walker on March 30 ‘on a path between the Church and Chapel’ of the rural Alpine village of Haut Vernet in southeastern France.
The site, less than a mile from where Émile disappeared while staying with his grandfather last July, had already been scoured by gendarmes with a ‘tooth comb’, the mayor told Le Figaro.
The prosecutor in the Émile Soleil case, Jean-Luc Blachon, said wild animals may have dispersed Émile’s remains and could also have been responsible for ‘small fractures’ and ‘bite marks’ on his skull.
Investigators have now found another bone fragment in the search area, Le Parisien reports. The area is cordoned off and to area will be sealed off until April 15 at least, according to local authorities.
Émile Soleil’s (pictured) skull was found by a walker on March 30 ‘on a path between the Church and Chapel’ of the rural Alpine village of Haut Vernet in southeastern France. The woman took the remains to the police
French Gendarmes discuss on the road to the French southern Alps tiny village of Le Haut-Vernet, in Le Vernet on March 31, 2024, after French investigators have found the ‘bones’ of a toddler who went missing last summer
It is not known whether investigators were able to retrieve the remainder of Émile’s skeleton or whether the found bone fragment could help determine if the toddler’s death was an accident or murder.
A source close to the investigation told Le Parisien: ‘The investigation is progressing well and is still continuing.’
Mr Blachon previously said that while a fall might have damaged Émile’s skull, other theories including ‘murder or manslaughter’ had not been ruled out.
A rambler discovered the remains on March 30, some eight months after Émile apparently wandered off from the family home on July 8 last year.
Authorities were able to identify the bones belonged to Émile – but were frustrated they had been moved.
Blachon said the walker was not a suspect, suggesting she only ‘wanted to do the right thing’ in bringing the remains to the police and leading them back to the spot.
But Blachon also admitted police were no closer to solving the mystery.
‘Between the child falling, the manslaughter and the murder, we still cannot favour one hypothesis over another,’ he previously told a news conference.
Speaking on April 1, mayor Balique said he could not understand why the remains hadn’t been found sooner.
‘There are people who regularly use the path nearby. I used it last week. The volunteer searchers have been there, I’m sure.
‘I was there during the beatings [on the ground by those searching for Émile] and the gendarmes couldn’t have missed him with the dogs.
‘There was even a logging there in the Autumn. The wood cutters didn’t see anything either. It’s incomprehensible.’
This photograph shows a general view of the Alpine hamlet of Le Haut-Vernet on March 31, 2024
The macabre discovery on Saturday was today described as a key breakthrough in a criminal enquiry that has baffled detectives
Gendarmes meticulously search the outskirts of the village of Vernet last July
‘I can’t help but believe that an adult is involved in this matter. Émile would never have gone alone to where he was found,’ he added.
Gilles Thézan, a resident of Haut-Vernet, told Le Parisien: ‘There’s a trick going on. The body was found only one or two kilometers [0.5 to 1 mile] from Haut-Vernet, in a place which had already been searched and re-searched, notably with dogs.
‘Everything was raked from top to bottom. There’s no way anyone wouldn’t have seen it before.’
Marie-Laure Pezant, a spokeswoman for the gendarmerie, said the bones may have been placed there by a person or animal, or moved by shifting weather patterns.
But a source close to the investigation insisted ‘it’s unlikely animals would bring human remains back into the village where someone went missing’.
Until two weeks ago, there had been no trace of the toddler since he went missing, with investigators refusing to rule out any theory for the tragedy, including abduction and murder.
Émile was officially in the care of his grandfather, Philippe Vedovini, on the day of his disappearance, as his parents took a break.
A witness saw Mr Vedovini, a physiotherapist-osteopath, cutting wood outside his house around the time Émile is thought to have wandered off.
Volunteers joined authorities last July to help scour the area in the tiny hamlet, population 25, but unturned no clues.
On April 4, investigators returned to the hamlet to reconstruct the last sighting with 17 people including members of the family.