Missing French toddler: Witness reveals he saw Émile's grandfather when the boy disappeared

Émile, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, has been mysteriously missing since 8 July. On the day he disappeared, he was on holiday with his grandparents in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of France. While playing in the garden, the child had escaped their surveillance.

Émile is still missing

Following his disappearance, major resources were deployed to find Émile. But he is still missing. Although the investigation is continuing, it appears to be at a standstill. However, two witnesses claimed to have seen the little boy at 5.15pm, before he disappeared. According to a teenager and a retired man in his sixties, Émile was on a sloping street that runs from his grandparents' house down to the washhouse.

However, their testimonies contradict each other because they do not agree on the direction Émile took that day. While one witness saw the little boy 'walk up' the street, the other saw him walk down towards the heart of the village. The latter gave more details of what he saw to BFM DICI on 8 September.

Read more:Missing French Toddler: Neighbours shocked by Émile's parents' reaction to his disappearance

His grandfather was 'about ten metres away'

While he was outside, in front of his staircase, he explained that he 'saw the boy going down towards the washhouse' at around 4.45pm. 'I was doing some work at home', he said. According to him, Émile was not alone at the time.

The grandfather was chopping wood about ten metres from the child.

The witness was therefore not worried about the little boy because his grandfather was near him.

Afterwards, I continued my work inside. And when I poked my head out of the window a few minutes later, I saw the distraught family looking for the little boy and they quickly called the police.

This disturbing information was already 'known to the investigators'. The public prosecutor's office in Aix-en-Provence emphasised that it did not point them 'towards one hypothesis rather than another'.

Since Emile's disappearance, his family has been extremely discreet. His parents, Marie and Colomban, nevertheless agreed to talk to Famille Chrétienne magazine. Samuel Pruvot, the journalist who met them, told Marianne at the time that it was an 'abomination' to suggest that Émile's grandfather could have been involved in his grandson's disappearance.

Read more:Missing French Toddler: Close friend of Émile's father reacts to rumours about parents' behaviour

This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.

Sources used:

BFM DICI

Marianne