They found the remains of a child who disappeared 8 months ago while on vacation

French researchers found and identified the “bones” of a child who disappeared in July 2023 in a village in the Alps. This case shocked the country, the prosecutor’s office reported on Sunday.

Little Émile was two and a half years old when he disappeared on July 8, 2023, while spending the summer in the town of Haut-Vernet, in the southeast of the country, with his grandparents. Émile’s mother and father were absent on the day of his disappearance. “This heartbreaking news was to be feared”the little boy’s parents reacted in a statement with their lawyer.

“Now is the time for mourning, reflection and prayer”stated Marie and Colomban Soleil, through their lawyer, Jérôme Triomphe.

They added that “there will be no further statements” on their part. “The pain and sorrow remain”, they pointed out. They ask journalists to “respect their grief” and do not “try to contact” them.

“Investigators continue their work with the necessary discretion so that the causes of Émile’s disappearance and death can be clarified.“says the statement.

The last people to see him were two neighbors, who stated that he was walking alone on a street in the town, located at an altitude of 1,200 meters. “On Saturday the police were informed of the discovery of bones near the village of Le Vernet“declared prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon.

Genetic testing allowed “conclude on Sunday that they were the bones of the boy Émile“added the prosecutor, who did not detail the causes of death, but assured that the forensic experts were continuing to analyze the bones.

“The police are deploying means to carry out additional records in the area where they were found“he concluded.

Authorities organized a massive on-the-ground search in July which involved dozens of police, soldiers, sniffer dogs, a helicopter and drones, but which came to nothing.

Initially, the prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “suspicious disappearance“But the case was quickly reclassified as a criminal investigation for “kidnapping and illegal detention”.

Investigators also left open the possibility of an accident or a fall.returned to the town on Thursday to reconstruct the moment of the disappearance, with the presence of the 17 people who were in the place at the time of the events.