THE hiker who discovered the remains of missing French two-year-old Emile Soleil reportedly picked up his skull and handed it to police in a major crime scene blunder.
The unnamed person discovered the bones of the French tot on Saturday almost nine months after he vanished from his remote home in the French Alps.
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Prosecutors are still working to determine the cause of little Emile’s death by analysing the skull and bones that were found.
However, the investigation could be complicated after the hiker that came across the toddler’s bones on Saturday might of accidentally tampered with the evidence.
A source close to the investigation told BFMTV that the walker saw the skull and surprisingly picked it straight up and took it with her to the local gendarmerie.
This potentially could have got rid of key clues and goes against basic crime scene advice not to touch or mess with any evidence or the site itself.
Police told French outlet Le Figaro that they would have “preferred that she didn’t touch anything”.
The entire area has now been fully cordoned off and police have flooded the small Alpine hamlet to uncover the mystery surrounding how his remains ended up so close his grandparents’ home.
Marie-Laure Pezant, spokesperson for the national gendarmerie, told Midi Libre that police are forensically studying the site where the remains were found.
Pezant added that tests are able to tell you how long a body has stayed on that part of the ground.
Emile disappeared on July 8 of last year and was last seen walking alone on the street by neighbours.
For almost nine months, no trace of him was found.
But a new chilling theory has emerged in the case that baffled the police and shocked France.
Cops said that Emile’s remains were found outside of the hamlet near Le Vernet, however the local mayor claimed the bones were discovered inside its boundaries.
François Balique told Le Figaro that they were found “on a path between the Church and Chapel” in the village – just over a 100 yards from his home.
But Mayor Balique said the hamlet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence had been “thoroughly searched by gendarmes”, suggesting that the bones could have been moved back to Vernet.
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A source close to the investigation told The Mail that such a move would add a very disturbing element to the investigation.
It would be unlikely that animals would return human remains, the source claimed.
Instead they said the discovery suggests that “a person brought Emile’s remains back, and potentially very recently”.
There is also said to be confusion as to why only some of toddler’s remains were found.
A key investigating source confirmed that only part of the body was located including the skull.
They revealed: “The deceased’s teeth have all been recovered too, but some other elements of the body are gone.
“Drones and sniffer dogs are combing the entire area of countryside to try and find more.
“It may be that body parts were taken away by wild animals, but no theory is being ruled out.”
THE CASE
After going missing on July 8 last year from his isolated grandparents’ home, police launched a major land and air search.
For days, police, soldiers, sniffer dogs, scores of volunteers, a helicopter and drones failed to find any sign of the child.
They began a criminal investigation into possible abduction but didn’t rule out the possibilities of an accident or fall.
There had been no trace of Emile since, with investigators refusing to rule out any theory for the tragedy, including abduction and murder.
This heartbreaking news was feared.
Emile’s parents
The grim discovery on Saturday was described as a major breakthrough for the criminal enquiry that stalled last year.
On Sunday, the entire village was blockaded by police with nobody allowed to leave or enter.
A statement released by public prosecutors in Aix-en-Provence on Sunday added that “genetic analysis identifies” the bones as belonging to Emile.
It added that “criminalistic analysis” was also underway, and that gendarmes were carrying out “additional research” in the area where they were found.
“This heartbreaking news was feared,” the child’s parents said in a statement.
The official search site is two miles as the crow flies from the house in Haut-Vernet, where Emile was last seen with his grandfather, Philippe Vedovini, 58.
Emile was officially in the care of Mr Vedovini on the day of his disappearance as his parents, Marie Soleil and Colomban Soleil took a break.
A witness saw Mr Vedovini, a physiotherapist-osteopath, cutting wood outside his house around the time Emile is thought to have wandered off.
The grandfather’s lawyer on Sunday declined to comment, “out of respect for the family’s grief”.
Lead prosecutor Rémy Avon said the possibilities that Emile had been murdered, kidnapped, or got involved in an accident were all being looked at.
He confirmed that Emile’s parents’ home, in the southern town of La Bouilladisse, near Marseille, was searched back in July, while the grandparents’ homes nearby, and in the Alps, were also raided.
The mysterious saga has evoked comparisons with the BBC series, The Missing, in which a young boy vanishes whilst on holiday with his family in France, only to be killed in a hit-and-run accident after chasing a fox.
Timeline of the search for Emile
July 8, 2023 – Emile Soleil vanishes from his grandparents’ home in a small village near Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
July 8 to 14, 2023 – Police lead a huge week-long search that uncovers no trace of the toddler
July 14, 2023 – Cops call off the search and the investigation goes cold
March 30, 2024 – A walker finds bones near to the village that Emile disappeared from
March 31, 2024 – Investigators confirm the remains belong to the missing French two-year-old and a renewed criminal probe begins
THE ‘VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED’
Residents of Vernet often refer to it as the “village of the damned” due to a number of horror incidents in its past.
In March 2015, the hamlet was also cordoned off following a horrific air crash in which 150 people died, including two babies.
The Germanwings Airbus A320 was deliberately brought down by co-pilot Andres Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies.
Many Vernet residents took part in high mountain searches for possible survivors at the time.
They also opened their homes to family and friends of those who perished in the disaster.
The inhabitants of Vernet were also shaken by the murder of a local café manager in the village 15 years ago.
Jeannette Grosos, who ran the Café du Moulin, was brutally killed by a customer in 2008.
Mayor François Balique said: “It was a real drama for the whole village – one which it has had a hard time recovering.”
One resident of Vernat said: “Everybody is saying it – Vernet feels like a village of the damned.”
On Sunday, a statement from Emile’s parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, who are both devout Catholics, said they “now know on this Resurrection Sunday that Emile watches over them in the light and tenderness of God”.
It continued: “Marie and Colomban would like to thank all those who helped and supported them as well as the investigating judges and investigators for their work, their professionalism, their personal commitment and their humanity which were of great comfort to them, in recent months and in particular on this day…
“But the pain and sorrow remain. The time has come for mourning, contemplation and prayer.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
José Morale, mayor of La Bouilladisse, the town near Marseille where Emile’s family spent most of the year, said: “We will do our best to support them.
“For the parents, it’s very complicated. There is no relief, the sadness is infinite, we are all dejected.”
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