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

[13 July 2023 04:15 · Alisha Rahaman Sarkar]

Search for missing toddler called off

A massive air and land search for a two-year-old missing toddler in a hamlet in the French Alps has been called off, investigators said, adding that they will now shift their focus to evaluation of evidence already gathered.

Local prosecutor Rémy Avon said in a statement said the massive search did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance.

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.”

Dozens of police officers and soldiers, backed by dog teams and a helicopter, were pressed into the search operation around Haut Vernet.

[13 July 2023 02:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

Desperate search for French toddler who vanished on holiday with grandparents

A desperate search is underway for a toddler who vanished from a garden while on holiday with his grandparents in the south of France.

Two-year-old Emile, whose surname is unknown, was playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence on Saturday when he went missing.

His family was preparing to go out for the day when they noticed Emile had vanished, François Balique, the mayor of Le Vernet, told local media.

“He took advantage of this fleeting moment [of inattention] to leave,” he said of the boy’s disappearance.

Read the full story:

[13 July 2023 01:00 · 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:

[13 July 2023 00:01 · Eleanor Noyce]

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

As the search continues for two-year-old Emile, 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.

[12 July 2023 23:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

ICYMI: Toddler’s disappearance in France: ‘We are not losing hope’, says prefect

“We are not stopping the searches, we are not losing hope”, a prefect told reporters on Tuesday as the search for two-year-old Emile continues.

“As long as we have not located him, we are not losing hope.

“The searches did not bring the answers we expected. We have not located the child yet, but we continue searching and we remain on the ground and we are adapting our ways of searching for this investigation.”

[12 July 2023 21:53 · Eleanor Noyce]

‘They always do everything together’, close family member says of Emile’s family

A close family member has spoken of the close-knit family missing two-year-old Emile comes from.

“They always do everything together”, a close family member told La Provence, adding that Emile’s mother is the eldest of ten siblings.

“You know, when you have enough children to form two teams to play ball, there is no need to mix.”

[12 July 2023 20:54 · Eleanor Noyce]

Blood found on car ‘not human’, prosecutor says

The blood detected on the front of a car in Le Vernet, the French Alpine village where two-year-old Emile went missing on Saturday, was “not human blood but animal blood.”

“After analysis, it was not human blood but animal blood”, prosecutor Rémy Avon told La Provence.

[12 July 2023 18:57 · Eleanor Noyce]

Investigation to enter second phase from Thursday, police say

The investigation into the disappearance of two-year-old Emile will enter a second phase from Thursday, police have said.

Investigators will conduct an in-depth analysis of the “numerous elements” collected over the previous days, as prosecutor Rémy Avon noted that “the parents were not present at the time of the disappearance on Saturday.”

[12 July 2023 17:43 · Eleanor Noyce]

Blood detected on front of car in Le Vernet, police confirm

Blood has been detected on the front of a car in Le Vernet, the French Alpine village where a two-year-old boy went missing on Saturday.

“At the moment we don’t even know if it’s human blood”, MailOnline reported an investigative source as saying, noting that the traces have been transferred for scientific analysis to determine if they could be linked to missing Emile.

“It might be a very old trace too, so everybody is being very cautious about the find”, the source added.

Meanwhile, police confirmed that Emile’s parents home - in Bouilladisse - was searched on Monday, with one judicial source stating that “gendarmes were looking into the family’s background.”

[12 July 2023 17:24 · Eleanor Noyce]

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

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.