The family of little Emile and the investigators are still wondering about the circumstances of the disappearance of the little boy aged two and a half years old on Saturday July 8, 2023. While he was spending the holidays with his grandparents in the village of Haut -Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), he had escaped their vigilance. The boy was last seen playing in the garden from the family home shortly after his nap. Alerted by his disappearance, the family immediately contacted the gendarmerie. But despite an imposing research system, the mystery still persists. “He is seen on a downhill street by two people. This is where we then lose track of him”explained Rémy Avon, public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, during a press conference, Monday July 10, 2023. According to BFM TV, two witnesses were questioned in this case. They were the last people to have seen the little boy, however, they had not decided to raise the alarm, which caused the incomprehension of many people.
“I saw the little one going down to the wash house”
Asked by BFM DICI Friday September 8, 2023, one of the two witnesses, renamed Marc for the purposes of the investigation, spoke for the first time about what he saw. “Yes, that day, I saw the little one going down to the washhouse. I was doing some work at my house and at the time I was outside in front of my stairs.” affirmed the young man before adding: “It’s a little after 4:45 p.m. (…). The grandfather was cutting wood about ten meters from the child“. Little Emile’s trace had been lost a few meters further on at the village fountain located in the small steep street where the family house is located. According to the newspaper The Dispatch, Friday August 11, 2023, the gendarmerie dogs, three Saint-Huberts with a very keen sense of smell, who followed the scent of the little boy had stopped dead in front of the water point. Everything seems to have happened very quickly according to Marc. “Afterwards, I continued my work inside. And when I stuck my head out the window a few minutes later, I saw the panicked family looking for the little one and who quickly called the police” he says. The one who has often been criticized for not having warned anyone responds: “Frankly, these reviews are nonsense. It’s people who live in Paris, who don’t know life in a hamlet, who say that.”. According to the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor’s office contacted by the media, these facts are known to the investigators. For the moment, the young man did not wish to say more in order to respect the progress of the investigation.