This is the end of a mystery that has lasted since July 2023. In a press release released on Sunday March 31, the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor announced that the bones of little Emile Soleil, aged 2 and a half, were were discovered on Saturday “near the hamlet Vernet” (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), where the young child was last seen.
“On March 30, 2024, the national gendarmerie was informed of the discovery of bones near the hamlet Vernet,” he explains. The investigators took possession of the bones, immediately transported to the IRCGN [Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie] in order to carry out genetic identification analyses, which made it possible to conclude on March 31 that these were the bones of the child Emile Soleil. »
In his press release, the prosecutor announces that “the IRCGN is continuing criminalistic analyzes of the bones”, while the national gendarmerie will “deploy means to undertake additional research in the geographical area where they were found”.
Conflicting accounts
Little Emile was last seen on July 8 at 5:15 p.m., alone, in an alley in the tiny hamlet of 25 inhabitants located about 2 kilometers from the village of Vernet (125 inhabitants). The young boy had just arrived for the summer vacation at his maternal grandparents' second home. Two neighbors claim to have seen him on this street, but they give conflicting accounts.
First opened, for a worrying disappearance, in Digne-les-Bains, the investigation was quickly entrusted to two investigating judges from Aix-en-Provence, then reclassified as criminal grounds for “kidnapping” and “sequestration”. . This discovery of bones is therefore an important step in the investigation into his disappearance. No leads had been put aside, even if the theory of a fatal fall had faded following the multiple searches organized in the surroundings of the hamlet, after which no body had been found.
On Thursday, investigators organized a “scenario” that brought together Emile’s family, neighbors and witnesses in the hamlet, almost nine months after the start of the investigation. In total, 17 people were summoned by the courts to reconstruct the moment when the little boy was last seen.
