A 2.5-year-old child, who was looked after by his grandparents in their house in Vernet, a hamlet located in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, disappeared on Saturday evening July 8. He remained actively sought Sunday by the gendarmes and the firefighters, according to the prefecture and the gendarmerie. “A judicial investigation has been opened by the public prosecutor of the Digne-les-Bains judicial court”, specifies the press release from the prefecture.
The investigation for “disturbing disappearance of a minor” was entrusted to the research section of Marseille, said the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, Rémy Avon. On BFMT-TV, the prosecutor announced that a call for witnesses had been launched: “Anyone who passed through the town of Vernet this Saturday is invited to contact 04.92.36.73.00. This is a line dedicated to this disappearance. »
The little boy, named Emile, was playing in the garden of his grandparents’ house when he escaped their vigilance, disappearing on Saturday evening around 6 p.m. in an area whose surroundings are steep. “As of 6:40 p.m., an important search system for the child was implemented,” the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence prefecture announced in a statement on Sunday.
According to initial evidence from two testimonies, the child left “his grandparents’ place of residence” and was seen “in a downhill street by two people. This is where we then lose track of him, “said Rémy Avon on Sunday during a press conference at Le Vernet. “The research covered a perimeter of five kilometers around the grandparents’ house,” added the prefect of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Marc Chappuis, also present.
“For safety we embrace all assumptions”
But “no hypothesis for the moment is eluded, none is privileged. For safety we embrace all the hypotheses, “insisted the prosecutor, adding that there was” no clue “at this stage allowing to point the track of an abduction.
Dog teams, two helicopters, one with a thermal camera, as well as drones also equipped with thermal cameras were mobilized to find the child, according to the gendarmerie and the prefecture. The search continued until midnight and resumed Sunday morning at 6 a.m. About forty gendarmes, including soldiers from the high mountain gendarmerie platoon, participate, as well as about twenty firefighters and volunteer residents, according to the same sources.
“For the moment, we have had a few markings [by dogs from dog teams] which give rise to verification, but it is a relative element since it is the sense of smell of dogs and that we are in a rural environment, in mountain environment, and that there may be parasitic elements”, put the magistrate into perspective. “Domiciliary visits (in the hamlet) were carried out, they did not give evidence one way or another,” he also noted.
“We’ll see after 48 hours”
According to the prosecution, the criteria for triggering an abduction alert were “to date not met”, he insisted. As for the line dedicated to this investigation, it has so far received around fifty calls which are being processed. “We are continuing the device throughout the evening and part of the night”, continued the latter, recalling that between the gendarmes – including soldiers from the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) -, the firefighters and the many volunteers mobilized, nearly 100 people Saturday and 200 Sundays had participated in the search for the child.
“If the research is not successful, we will renew the system all day tomorrow, with new means which, in particular, will be brought to us by the neighboring departments”, added the prefect. “We will see after 48 hours”, these 48 hours which are “crucial to be able to optimize our chances” of finding him, “what the searches have given”. “And we will adjust the device,” he noted.