Une "intervention humaine" dans la mort d’Émile? Lettres, auditions: comment les enquêteurs poursuivent les investigations
"Human intervention" in Émile's death? Letters, interviews: how investigators are continuing their investigations
Gendarmes from the Marseille Research Section recently traveled far from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region after receiving a letter considered interesting. These are "simply verifications," according to the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor's office. Investigators no longer seem to have any doubt about the involvement of a third party to explain the child's death.
For several weeks, the observation has seemed clear to the police, the magistrates, but also the civil parties: little Émile Soleil could not have disappeared alone in the hamlet of Haut-Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).
"There's almost no doubt about the perpetrator. Did he intentionally or unintentionally harm the child? It's impossible to say at this point. But the possibility of human intervention is now highly probable," a source at the heart of the case told BFM DICI.
Isolated foreign DNA
Investigators continue to work, day and night, without any conclusive results, for the moment, that would finally allow them to solve the mystery surrounding the child's disappearance and death. Nearly a year after the discovery of Émile's bones in a clearing in Le Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), the fifteen investigators from the Marseille Research Section (SR) are not giving up.
Supported by seasoned military personnel from the gendarmerie companies of Digne-les-Bains and Forcalquier, they comb through, consult, listen to, watch, and analyze hundreds of data points in order to uncover the truth. They rely on expert biological and forensic reports.
These were provided primarily by the National Gendarmerie's Criminal Research Institute (IRCGN), the National Gendarmerie's in-house laboratory. They also draw on the work of Professor Christian Doutremepuich's private laboratory, which was seized again earlier this year. It was this Bordeaux laboratory that successfully isolated at least one DNA sample unrelated to that of Émile's family during the analysis of the child's bones and clothing last summer.
An intriguing letter
While they regularly read and use these biologists' reports, the investigators in the Marseille research section don't forget the other letters and envelopes piling up on their desks. This desk has been relocated for 20 months to the Digne-les-Bains company and, more recently, to the gendarmerie squadron.
Dozens, even hundreds of letters, often anonymous, have been received since the little boy's disappearance. All of these letters are read carefully. Sometimes, some arouse the curiosity of the police.
This was the case at the end of February. The details written on a piece of paper prompted investigators that day to reread every word of every sentence several times. Then, during the first week of March, gendarmes traveled to the Tours region and around Paris, BFM DICI learned from concordant sources. This was not confirmed by the main parties involved, nor by the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor's office.
Do all the letters received result in field visits or hearings? No, but since the start of the case, hundreds, if not thousands, of similar actions have been carried out.
"We received 1,000 anonymous letters, and some are more interesting than others. They deserve to be checked. We find them very interesting and detailed, and we're trying to find out who's behind them, whether they're a stranger to the family or not. Where could this letter have come from, who sent it, and why? For these checks in recent days, we were perhaps looking for the author of this letter," explains a source who has been following the Émile affair for many months.
Many such letters were analyzed, including letters from mediums who thought they knew the truth. "Most of the time, these are fanciful and outlandish statements," laments a source who was able to access some of these letters. But when a piece of writing proves interesting, the Marseille SR travels or asks local units to take over throughout France.