Riddle of boy’s bones found on Alpine path ‘searched last summer’
THE body of a missing French toddler was found in an area that had already been ‘thoroughly searched’, local officials said yesterday.
ramblers came across the bones of two-year- old emile Soleil on Saturday in the alpine hamlet where he went missing last July.
But the discovery has prompted a further mystery after the town’s mayor insisted they had not been in the area during searches last year.
Francois Balique told Le Figaro newspaper that the remains were located on a path which had been searched with a ‘fine toothed comb’.
He said: ‘I was there during the beatings [on the ground by those searching for emile] and the gendarmes couldn’t have missed him with the dogs. There was even a logging there in the autumn. The wood cutters didn’t see anything either. It’s incomprehensible.’
He added: ‘I can’t help but believe that an adult is involved in this matter. Émile would never have gone alone to where he was found.’
emile, who lived near marseille, vanished the day after he arrived in Haut-Vernet, a hamlet south of Grenoble, to stay with his grandparents for the holidays. a search failed to find the boy and prosecutors said it was unlikely the young child would have survived the summer heat. yesterday, emile’s parents marie and Colamban Soleil told of their ‘pain and sorrow’ at their son’s discovery.
a statement read: ‘ This heartbreaking news was feared... [They] know on this resurrection Sunday that emile watches over them in the light and tenderness of God.
‘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.’