"According to the young man's statements, Romain did not respond to Émile's grandfather and took refuge at his house. Then the two cousins went to a nearby field to move cows.
Did Romain ride the tractor to his cousin's house that morning? “No, he came to my house on foot,” Marc responds straight away. However, a tractor was seen by at least one resident of the hamlet on Saturday July 8 in the morning.
“There were tractors in the surrounding fields since it was the season. But a tractor on the main road of the hamlet which does not serve any fields, it was the first time I saw that," confides this neighbor who failed to identify the farmer who was on the machine.
"There are other farmers who were harvesting during this period. Frankly, I don't understand what the investigators are looking for. A child disappears and we come to look at a young person who has nothing to do with it. We must not be surprised if nothing advances." Marc is indignant, annoyed by the "rumors and people who speak without knowing" about his cousin.
Marc and Romain are very close. From the same generation, they were raised almost together and often spend time together. On the afternoon of Saturday July 8, a phone call was made from Romain's cell phone to his cousin's cell phone. A phone call that raised eyebrows among investigators.
Where was Romain that day at the end of the afternoon? His cousin says he “doesn’t know.” But those around the young farmer swear that he was not in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet. So many questions that Marseille SR investigators wish to clarify.
A few hours after Émile's disappearance, Romain's mother was one of the first people heard by the gendarmes. His vehicle was inspected as was his son's tractor. Before his home was searched last Tuesday, without these new investigations providing any convincing evidence for the moment."
Une dispute a éclaté le matin même de la disparition de l’enfant au hameau du Haut-Vernet. Un tracteur a aussi été aperçu ce matin-là dans l’artère étroite du hameau. Autant d’éléments qui ont poussé les enquêteurs à perquisitionner pendant presque deux jours le domicile du jeune agriculteur.
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