In the investigation into the disappearance of Émile, a “scenario” took place this Thursday, March 28 in Haut-Vernet. 17 people were summoned by the courts to take part.
The mystery of the disappearance of little Émile, in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet, on July 8, remains, for the moment, complete. A “scenario” brought together this Thursday, March 28, the family of the 2 and a half year old boy, neighbors and witnesses.
The closed hamlet
This “scenario”, which began around 9 a.m., ended at the end of the afternoon without communication at this stage on its possible results. In total, 17 people were summoned by the courts to reconstruct the moment when the boy was last seen.
To ensure that this new act of investigation takes place peacefully, access to the hamlet had been blocked since 8 a.m. Wednesday and will remain so until 8 a.m. Friday. Haut-Vernet was also completely prohibited from flying this Thursday, with drones mobilized to secure the site.
Under light rain and bitter cold, around twenty journalists gathered in front of the barrier prohibiting access, monitored by two gendarmerie cars.
“People are always interested in the disappearance of a child and it touches people,” explains Sophia Haak, journalist for RTL Television in Hamburg (Germany), who was on site to follow the events.
For the residents, the day was not easy to live with. “When we see all this (…) it weighs on life in Vernet,” underlines Gilles Thezan, resident of the town, at the microphone of BFM DICI.
“Find the truth”
The objective of this “scenario” was to put everyone back where they were, to know what they did at such and such a minute, what they were able to see. The investigating judges and the gendarmes thus intended to establish possible contradictions, highlight inconsistencies in the story of this or that protagonist or, on the contrary, make cross-checks between what was said during the hearing.
Disappearance of Émile: 8 months later, a scenario to relaunch the investigation
With this operation, the investigating magistrates and investigators hoped to find a clue, the missing element to move the investigation forward in any direction. Twenty gendarmes from the national investigation unit or the Marseille research section were mobilized.
The criminal investigations unit of the Alpes-de-Hautes-Provence departmental gendarmerie group was present to support the investigators. A team was also dedicated to capturing this scenario.
The village has “a lot of hope that we can find the truth”, repeated François Balique, the mayor of Vernet, the village to which the hamlet is attached.
Barbara Tornambé with Amaury Tremblay with AFP