In Vernet, as in the rest of France, the question burns on everyone’s lips: what happened to Emile, this little boy who suddenly disappeared 110 days ago? On Saturday July 8, 2023 at the end of the afternoon, around 5:15 p.m., the 2 and a half year old child escaped the vigilance of his grandparents, with whom he was spending the holidays in Haut-Vernet, a small hamlet in the Alps -de-Haute-Provence. Since then, there has still been no trace of the blond boy, and investigators are working tirelessly to try to discover the truth. The French, for their part, carefully follow each progress of the affair in the media. Tuesday October 17 and Wednesday October 18, 2023, a major twist occurred when the gendarmes carried out a search of the home of a young farmer, located in the hamlet of Roussimal, just 4 kilometers from the site of Emile’s disappearance. Tout juste majeur, ce jeune homme intéresse les enquêteurs depuis le début : he is renowned in the region for being a “driving crazy”especially with the family tractor. Interviewed several times, he is known to the police to have already caused two accidents in 2021 and 2022.
A “lively and stormy” exchange on work
But a week after this search, Thursday October 26, 2023, BFMTV reveals a new element concerning this suspect barely out of adolescence. If the agents of the Marseille research section have known these facts since the beginning of the case, which explains all the investigative actions carried out around this farmer, this is the first time that the information has appeared in the press . We thus learn thatan altercation took place the same morning of the disappearance of the little boy, between his grandfather and this famous young man (who will be called Romain, to preserve his anonymity). An exchange that our colleagues describe as “vivid and stormy”occurred in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet. “The subject of the dispute concerns the use of a bucket, the shovel of a tractor, to flatten a surface of earth in the heart of the hamlet”explain BFMTV.
This work would have started some time before July 8, and the arrival of Emile’s family in their second home, in front of Marc’s house (the first name has been changed). This young man is also well known to investigators: he is not only Romain’s cousin, but also one of the two witnesses to have seen Emile just a few minutes before his disappearance. “The grandfather believed that these small works had been done in front of his house. He yelled at my cousin early in the morning and even woke me up. It is not the first time. He yells at everyone!”Marc told our colleagues, ensuring that Romain did not take part in this argument, preferring not to respond and taking refuge with his cousin.
Another disturbing element: a resident of the village claims to have seen that morning, without being able to identify the driver. For his part, Marc assures that his cousin is “came to [lui] walk”. Romain’s tractor had been carefully inspected, as had another vehicle belonging to his mother, without any convincing evidence being discovered. Comes next a phone call, passed between the two young men in the afternoonwhich intrigued investigators. “He’s my cousin, I don’t see what’s the harm in calling each other”heard at length by the police”. Il ignore cependant où se trouvait Romain au moment de la disparition d’Emile, mais les autres proches de l’agriculteur ont indiqué qu’il n’était pas présent au Haut-Vernet à ce moment-là.