Abduction, sequestration… The disappearance of little Émile is now considered a criminal matter. Here’s why.
The mystery remains intact for the moment. Disappeared on July 8, 2023, little Émile has still not been found. In the hamlet of Haut-Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the two-and-a-half-year-old boy would have escaped the vigilance of his family, gathered at his grandparents. But the thesis of his relatives is increasingly doubtful. For the mayor of the village, the boy would have been moved. A fountain near the home questions. And the behavior of the grandmother would challenge the inhabitants. Many unanswered questions at the moment.
If no new evidence has been discovered to support or disprove a theory, the investigation is now being treated as a criminal matter. According to the Parisiana flagrant investigation had been launched on the day of the disappearance, then a preliminary investigation and since July 18 a judicial investigation for “search for the causes of the disappearance“.
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Why has the investigation of Émile become criminal?
The public prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Luc Blachon, has in fact extended the judicial information to facts “kidnapping, arrest, detention and arbitrary sequestration of a fifteen-year-old minor”. For this, he had written what is called a supplementary indictment. However, the magistrate specifies on a daily basis that it is not because of a new lead that the case has become criminal: “This change in the legal framework did not occur in response to any particular advance in the investigation which would direct us more particularly towards a criminal hypothesis. It simply allows the investigating magistrates and the investigation services to carry out investigative acts that the initial framework did not allow.“.
Now, police custody and referrals can be made, and telephone interceptions are also facilitated for the investigating judges. For the moment, there was no custody in this case.
Editor for Aufeminin, Charlotte is passionate about French and international cinema, and a reader of good adventures. Curious about everything, she speaks as much about personalities as culture or…