Ten days: that’s how long the French toddler Émile has been missing. The searches for the two-and-a-half-year-old boy have been suspended since last week, but a preliminary investigation was opened yesterday. According to the French news channel BFM TV, investigators used special metal detectors during the search to examine the straw in the hamlet. After all, some local residents fear that little Émile has ended up under an agricultural machine.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Émile disappeared from his grandparents’ garden on Saturday, July 8, during a family celebration in the village of Le Vernet, in the southeastern region of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The police immediately launched a large-scale search, but after days of searching there were still no clues. Last Thursday, the investigators decided to end the searches. A preliminary investigation was opened on Monday.
LOOK. It remains a mystery what happened to the missing Émile
Agricultural machine
News channel BFM TV reported last weekend that researchers used metal detectors during the searches to examine the straw bales in the hamlet. The “exceptionally strong” detectors are normally only used by the military, it sounds. Now that the harvest season is in full swing, some local residents fear that little Émile has become lost in the fields and has fallen under a farm implement.
“Our biggest fear is that he won’t be found until the fall when the farmers go to feed their animals. Sometimes fallen roe deer are found during that period. That would be terrible,” a local resident told La Dépêche newspaper last Sunday. Although the hypothesis has not been completely ruled out, it is not a priority for the researchers for the time being, writes BFM TV. For example, no trace was reportedly found in the straw bales. The idea that a wild animal attacked the toddler has also been rejected.
Next phase will take “a few weeks”
During the search, investigators conducted a total of 30 house searches and examined 97 hectares of nature and agricultural areas. They also questioned all local residents and checked all vehicles. In a next phase, the researchers will analyze everything that has been collected during the search. This concerns, for example, samples and objects, but also interrogations and calls of witnesses. According to a source close to the investigation, those analyzes usually take “a few weeks”.
On Monday, François Balique, the mayor of Le Vernet, decided to extend the ban on access to the hamlet for two weeks. The aim is to protect Émile’s family and the local residents. Balique also wants to avoid the hamlet being overrun by “curious and malicious tourists”.
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