The new analyzes on the skull of little Emile could, in the coming days, make it possible to obtain more information on the causes of the boy’s death.
The inhabitants of the small hamlet of Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) learned, on Sunday March 31, of the discovery of bones belonging to little Emile, the 2-year-old boy who disappeared in July 2023. A skull was found by a hiker not far from the house of her maternal grandparents who had custody of her for the holidays.
“It’s unthinkable! The entire area was raked with a fine comb, dissected, how could they have missed it?” wonders Carine, one of the 25 residents of the town, reports Le Parisien. A case which moves the whole country, and which now rests on the shoulders of the investigators present on site. At least, regarding the cause of little Emile’s death. This question has become the central issue in the analyzes carried out in Haut-Vernet by the various trades working at the site of the discovery of the boy’s bones.
This Tuesday, analyzes are underway on Emile’s skull. They must make it possible to determine the presence or absence of lesions. If this were the case, such a discovery could provide insight into the cause of death. “That is to say, is there a fracture, is there an impingement, any traumatic injury which could have been produced during the child’s lifetime, and therefore have had potentially a repercussion, and possibly explain the death”, explains Caroline Rambaud, forensic doctor, on BFMTV. On the other hand, these analyzes alone will not be able to determine the date of Emile’s death.
If human remains were discovered, entomologists from the gendarmerie who are expected on site in the coming days could, however, determine the date of death using the type of insects present at the scene. Dogs specialized in searching for human remains are also deployed in Haut-Vernet. The public prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence will speak at 6 p.m. from the premises of the city’s judicial court on the progress of the investigation.
The gendarmerie assures that “the best experts” are working on the investigations. Anthropologists, drone operators, 3D analysts… All means are put in place to try to advance the investigation. On Monday, around a hundred investigators and search dogs were already mobilized in Haut-Vernet to get to the bottom of the discovery of little Emile’s bones. The unfavorable weather of recent days greatly complicates the task of experts, particularly when it is necessary to use drones, explains Gendarmerie spokesperson Marie-Laure Pezant: “We will favor a more favorable weather window, but “It won’t stop us from going into the field,” she explains.
Colonel Pierre-Yves Bardy was unable to give more details regarding the duration of the research to the press this Monday, April 1. “They will last as long as they are needed. There is no time limit on investigations. As long as investigators need to work in a secure environment, the area will be off-limits.” This Monday on BFMTV, the former director of the criminal research institute of the national gendarmerie (IRCGN) François Daoust indicated that the fact of having only found Emile’s skull would lead to “much longer and more complex research “.
Other questions focus on the area where the child’s skull was found. “It’s a place where hunters and their dogs and residents pass daily and where forestry work was carried out in the fall,” explained the mayor, a few hours after the announcement of the discovery of the little boy’s skull. Speaking to BFMTV, a resident expressed his incomprehension: “What is surprising is that it is a fairly accessible area. We have difficulty understanding how we could have missed it. We really have questions. Why do we find this body during the Pascal weekend? We ask ourselves questions.”
Near Le Parisien, another resident indicates that he participated in the searches with the little boy’s grandfather, passing near this area. “I was in the company of Émile’s grandfather, without knowing that it was him. We spent several hours together, side by side, saying almost nothing to each other. He was almost stoic. We could see that he was wanted, he was not afraid to attack bushes”. On BFMTV, the gendarmerie spokesperson judged that there was only “a tiny chance” of having missed Émile’s bones during previous excavations.
