Eivind Ertesvag 
On Saturday, it was revealed that French police have discovered skeletal remains believed to belong to Émile, a 2-year-old boy who vanished over two and a half years ago.
The child went missing on July 8, from his grandparents’ home in Haut-Vernet, a village south of Grenoble in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, and has not been seen since. At the time of his disappearance, Émile was last spotted near his grandparents’ garden.
In the days following his disappearance, an extensive search operation was launched involving hundreds of volunteers, police officers, soldiers, and search dogs. The search teams combed through a 5-kilometer radius, meticulously searching 97 hectares of terrain. The intensive search for the toddler came to a halt on July 13, after four days, with investigators moving on to a new «phase» of the operation.
Following Émile’s disappearance, the small village of Haut-Vernet was quickly cordoned off to visitors to aid the investigation and to consider the wellbeing of the family and local residents. For a long period, the case remained quiet until the recent discovery of bone fragments linked to the missing boy.
The area where the remains were found had been previously searched by investigators and search teams, a source close to the investigation told BFMTV. The challenging terrain may have contributed to the initial failure to locate Émile, the source added.
The discovery was confirmed through DNA analysis, according to Daily Mail, establishing that the remains indeed belong to the missing toddler. The site, located approximately 3 kilometers from the grandparents’ home, remains sealed off as police conduct further investigations.
In the week leading up to the discovery, French media outlets, including Le Parisien and Le Canard enchaîné, reported alarming new details regarding the boy’s grandfather, Philippe Vedovini. Le Parisien outlined Vedovini’s past, highlighting his connection to a sexual abuse scandal at a Roman Catholic school in the 1990s, though he has never been charged with any crimes related to the investigation into the abuse of schoolchildren.
The grandfather, who denies any wrongdoing, has attracted police attention as one of several investigative leads in Émile’s case. A witness reported seeing Vedovini chopping wood outside the house around the time Émile is believed to have wandered off.
