Officials working on the case of Émile Soleil, a two-year-old boy who was found dead months after he went missing while visiting his grandparents in the French Alps, have spoken about what they think happened to his body.
The toddler went missing in the French village of Haut-Vernet in July 2023, prompting a large search effort which did not find him.
His body was only discovered months later, who took the boy's remains to the nearest police station. Shortly afterwards, clothes belonging to Émile were found a short distance away.
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An investigation into the matter recently led to the arrest of the toddler's grandparents, though they were later released with their legal representatives describing it as 'a relief'.
Prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon recently spoke at a press conference where he provided an update on the case and what investigators think happened to the child.
Speaking on 27 March after the toddler's grandparents were released, ConnexionFrance reported that the prosecutor said: "Expert investigations are suggesting the probability of the involvement of a third party in the disappearance and death of Emile Soleil."
He said that analysis of the 'clothes and bones' found by the hiker show they 'were transported and placed there shortly before their discovery'.
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Blachon added that 'the child's body did not decompose in the clothes found in the forest', saying that things discovered by the investigation 'allow us to consider the hypothesis that the body did not remain in the same place... during the decomposition process and that it was not buried'.
Explaining further, he said that the boy's face showed signs of 'violent facial trauma', with the investigation suggesting that someone else was involved in the boy's disappearance and death.
Meanwhile, crime reporter, Damien Delseny, for Le Parisien said that investigators believe the remains also could have been partially stored in a 'so-called sterile place', like a 'freezer a cupboard... In any case, something that is sheltered from bad weather'.
8 July 2023 - Émile's last sighting alive
Two-year-old Émile went missing while staying with his grandparents in the small alpine village of Haut-Vernet, where only around 25 people lived.
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The village is situated near the Massif des Trois-Evêchés mountain range.
The child was last seen by two witnesses who said they spotted him walking down the village's only street near his grandparents' house. His grandparents alerted authorities over his disappearance at around 5:15pm on the day.
"The family was getting ready to leave the house to go on an outing. He took advantage of this fleeting moment to leave," local mayor Francois Balique said of the disappearance.
"His grandparents realised he was no longer there when they went to put him in the car."
9-13 July 2023 - The search for Émile
News of the missing toddler prompted an extensive search effort for the boy, as police, soldiers, search dogs, and a helicopter were mobilised to try and find the two-year-old.
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30 buildings, 12 vehicles, and 97 hectares around the small village in the French Alps were searched.
Over 20 witnesses were interviewed and traces of blood recovered from a car were taken to see if they could be linked to the boy's disappearance.
Part of the search efforts included playing his mother's voice from a helicopter 'as loud as possible' to see if he would respond to it and show himself.
13 July 2023 - Police call off their search
After an extensive five day search for the missing child, police announced they would be ending the 'large scale' operation to review the information they had gathered.
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The last sweep of the initial search effort was held on 13 July, and authorities said they would be 'analysing the considerable mass of information and elements collected'.
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November 2023 - Public appeal
On what would have been the toddler's third birthday, Émile's mother made a public appeal in the hopes of bringing her son home alive.
She pleaded for him to be returned home safely, and said that if he was dead, she still wanted his body returned so it could be buried.
28 March 2024 - The reconstruction
Several months after the boy's disappearance, police brought 17 people together in Haut-Vernet, including the toddler's family members in an attempt to reconstruct his last movements before he disappeared.
The reconstruction did not lead to further information on Émile's whereabouts, but there would soon be a major development in the case.
30 March 2024 - Partial remains discovered
Two days after the reconstruction, a woman hiking outside Haut-Vernet discovered a human skull and took it to a nearby police station.
Police said they would have 'preferred that she didn’t touch anything', but the skull was put in for DNA examination.
Officers also said that the area where the hiker found the skull had been thoroughly searched during the sweep of the area in 2023.
Investigators said that the skull had suffered 'small fractures and cracks' along with bites from one or more animals.
31 March 2024 - DNA results
A day after the skull was found, forensic scientists confirmed that the DNA on the human remains was a match for Émile, confirming the toddler's tragic fate.
Mayor Balique said: "t will take a long time to recover from this disappearance and death. Is that where he disappeared? Is that where he took his last breath, nobody knows.
"In any case I have no idea, but the judicial inquiry will no doubt be able to find that out."
The boy's parents said in a statement: "This heart-breaking news was feared, and the time has come for mourning, contemplation and prayer."
2 April 2024 - Clothing found
Further searches of the area where the boy's remains had been discovered found a set of clothes which were confirmed to belong to Émile.
Jean-Luc Blachon, the prosecutor leading the investigation, said that the child's 't-shirt, pants and shoes' were found further away from the bones, and were spread out a bit.
"We cannot be sure Emile's body was already present in the search area," the prosecutor said, adding that search teams looked over 'every square metre'.
He also suggested that the thick undergrowth and high temperatures of summer might have affected the sniffer dogs during the initial search.
8 February 2025 - Émile's funeral
Earlier this year, a funeral was held for the boy at Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, with his parents and two siblings, including a baby born after he disappeared, in attendance.
Several hundred people gathered at the church to pay their respects to the child, including people who'd come from abroad having previously followed the details of the case.
25 March 2025 - Four arrests
Philippe and Anne Vedovini and two of their children were arrested by police, with the grandparents detained on suspicion of 'voluntary homicide' and 'concealing a corpse'.
The couple have 10 children, neither of those arrested were Émile's parents.
27 March 2025 - Grandparents released
The 59-year-olds were released two days after their arrest in a move welcomed by their legal representatives.
Topics: Crime, World News
Joe Harker