Missing French toddler – latest: ‘Only hope is Emile has been taken and is alive,’ Le Vernet mayor says

With 97 hectares swept across three days, the physical search will not resume tomorrow

Toddler's disappearance in France: 'We are not losing hope', says prefect

The mayor of Le Vernet has said “our only hope is Emile has been taken and is alive” in a new interview, as the whereabouts of the French toddler who went missing last Saturday remain unknown.

Francois Balique spoke to French newspaper Le Figaro about possible explanations for the two-year-old boy’s disappearance from his grandparents’ home in the Alpine village over the weekend.

Mr Balique said: “Our only hope now is that he’s been taken and is alive. It’s the last thing we can hope for and it’s already terrible. We could conceive that someone wanting a child passed by the area, saw this beautiful little boy and took him away. He couldn’t survive alone in the wild, that’s for sure.”

The physical search for Emile was called off yesterday, as law enforcement officials shift the focus of their investigation to sifting through evidence that’s been collected so far.

Local prosecutor Remy Avon said: “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days.”

Key Points

• Search for missing two-year-old Emile called off
• Airborne search teams broadcasting recording of toddler’s mother ‘as loud as possible’
• 'We are not losing hope', says prefect
• Final searches for missing Emile end
• Le Vernet expected to remain closed over the weekend

[14 July 2023 06:30 · Eleanor Noyce]

‘It reminds us of a lot of things’: Local mayor reflects as two-year-old remains missing

A local mayor has reflected on the decades-old case of a 3-year-old that went missing in Ganagobie, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in 1989.

“It reminds us of a lot of things. I sent a little message of support to the mayor of Vernet, François Balique”, Ganagobie mayor Sylvie Belmonte told La Provence, referencing the disappearance of 3-year-old Yannis Moré in May 1989.

“I was town clerk and I took part in the search to try to find little Yannis”, he added.

Yannis had disappeared whilst playing with his three brothers, prompting a search of one hundred gendarmes, soldiers, firefighters and volunteers. However, there were no witnesses, no clues and no suspect.

“We had been settled in Ganagobie for 18 months... I saw them having fun from the window”, Yannis’s mother, Pascaline Moré, told La Provence in 2016. “We give ourselves hope”, she added.

[14 July 2023 06:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

What has the search for two-year-old Emile entailed?

500 volunteers helped with the search for two-year-old Emile, who has been missing since Saturday.

Two-year-old Emile was last seen playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute department of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, with his grandparents notifying the police of his disappearance at around 5.15pm local time on Saturday.

“At this point, we don’t have any clues allowing us to follow any particular theory (on his whereabouts)”, the local prosecutor told Franceinfo Radio earlier this week.

Meanwhile, a volunteer named Roxanne told the AFP news agency on Monday: “We took part in a big search this morning with 50 other people.

“There was a gap of two metres (7 feet) between each of us, we looked in the fields, and in the woods.

“We looked out for the smallest clue, maybe an item of clothing or a shoe he could have lost.”

The dedicated hotline has received 1,200 calls, with 30 buildings searched, 25 people interviewed, 12 vehicles searched and 12 hectares raked.

[14 July 2023 05:30 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Le Vernet: Locals of French village at centre of search for boy fear village is ‘cursed’ after previous tragedies

The French village of Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has been struck by tragedy following the disappearance of a young boy.

Émile, aged two-and-a-half, was playing in the garden of his grandparent’s house when he vanished on Saturday afternoon.

Since then, a desperate search has been underway to try and find the missing toddler.

But this isn’t the first time that the sleepy village has been struck by tragedy.

Locals speaking to the media have said they are worried their village may be “cursed” as a result of the unfortunate tragedies which have taken place over the last 15 years.

Read the full story here:

[14 July 2023 05:00 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Memories of an unsolved missing case revived in the French Alps

The disappearance of Emile has brought back memories of another missing boy named Yannis More who also vanished from a village in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence almost 30 years ago.

The case was never solved.

More than thirty years before Emile, a young boy, named Yannis More, also disappeared in a village in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, BFMTV reported.

Emile’s disappearance has revived the memories in Ganagobie, a village in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

“It brings back bad memories,” Sylvie Belmonte, mayor of Ganagobie, told BFMTV.com.

Local reports said that Yannis More disappeared on 2 May 1989 in Ganagobie, a village of about 90 inhabitants. No suspects have ever been identified.

[14 July 2023 04:25 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Search operation called off but investigation ongoing

Officials say they are still investigating Emile’s disappearance, although a major land and air search operation to find the toddler has now been called off.

Remy Avon, the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, said in a statement: “The judicial investigation into the causes of the disappearance will continue, in particular by analysing the considerable mass of information and elements collected over the past four days.”

Two-year-old Emile was on holiday at his grandparents’ home on Saturday when he vanished without a trace from the small village of Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence area of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

[14 July 2023 03:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

What has the search for two-year-old Emile entailed?

500 volunteers helped with the search for two-year-old Emile, who has been missing since Saturday.

Two-year-old Emile was last seen playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute department of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, with his grandparents notifying the police of his disappearance at around 5.15pm local time on Saturday.

“At this point, we don’t have any clues allowing us to follow any particular theory (on his whereabouts)”, the local prosecutor told Franceinfo Radio earlier this week.

Meanwhile, a volunteer named Roxanne told the AFP news agency on Monday: “We took part in a big search this morning with 50 other people.

“There was a gap of two metres (7 feet) between each of us, we looked in the fields, and in the woods.

“We looked out for the smallest clue, maybe an item of clothing or a shoe he could have lost.”

The dedicated hotline has received 1,200 calls, with 30 buildings searched, 25 people interviewed, 12 vehicles searched and 12 hectares raked.

[14 July 2023 02:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

Le Vernet expected to remain closed over the weekend

Closed to the public since Tuesday, Le Vernet is expected to remain so for a few days.

The existing decree - in place since Tuesday - will likely be renewed over the weekend to “protect families and channel any tourism of curiosity”, mayor François Balique told AFP.

“Until we know the truth, it will be tense. It’s hard on the family, this uncertainty is awful. And the people of the village need to know what happened.”

[14 July 2023 01:30 · Eleanor Noyce]

Deadly plane crash, cafe murder and now missing toddler in the French village ‘cursed’ by tragedy

The French village of Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has dominated headlines following the disappearance of a young boy this weekend.

Émile, aged two-and-a-half, was playing in the garden of his grandparent’s house when he vanished on Saturday afternoon. A desperate hunt –involving helicopters, drones, and sniffer dogs – has been taking place to try and find the missing toddler.

A dedicated hotline number has received over 1,200 phone calls, but police still have “no clue” about Émile’s whereabouts as fears for his safety intensify on the fifth day since he went missing.

Le Vernet has been the site of a gruesome killing and devastating plane crash in the last 15 years, Matt Drake and Maanya Sachdeva report:

[14 July 2023 00:20 · Eleanor Noyce]

In pictures: The search for missing two-year-old Emile

French police searching for a two-year-old boy who went missing from his grandparents’ garden in the French Alps on Saturday said on Tuesday they had no clues as to what could have happened to him.

The boy, Emile, was last seen walking down the street of his grandparents’ house - located in a remote mountain outpost with only two dozen inhabitants - by two witnesses on Saturday afternoon, a prosecutor said.

On Thursday, local prosecutor Remy Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered.

He added: “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days.”

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

[13 July 2023 23:20 · Eleanor Noyce]

ICYMI: Final searches for missing Emile end as police comb through existing evidence

As the final searches end, police will now comb through the existing evidence in the hopes of finding missing Emile.

Local prosecutor Remy Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered.

He added: “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days.”

Since 8am on Thursday morning, gendarmes had been carrying out final searches of the Alpine village of Le Vernet where the two-year-old went missing last Saturday, focusing on a 1.8km-long road.

With 97 hectares swept across three days, the physical search will not resume tomorrow unless the investigation uncovers any significant leads that necessitate it.