It is a short message, posted in the middle of the day, which appeared on the Facebook group “Pray for Émile”. Fifteen days after the discovery of the bones of the little boy who disappeared on July 8, his mother, Marie Soleil, wanted to thank all those who wrote to the family to show their support and participated in the open prize pool. Since last July, the Facebook group has welcomed the prayers and words of thousands of Internet users affected by this extraordinary news story.
“We try to read all your messages, whether comments
(on this group, Editor’s note)
, private messages, letters…”
, explains the child’s mother, in her post this Wednesday. She also specifies that she received, with her husband, part of the money paid into the kitty.
The mystery of Émile's disappearance was partly solved on the Easter weekend, when a hiker who was walking on a path near Haut-Vernet came across the partial remains of the little boy.
“We are all very touched by your compassion
,” adds Marie Soleil at the end of her Facebook post, under which the numerous comments are accumulating hour by hour this Wednesday.
“We will never be able to forget you and your little boy
,” replies a user.
“Little Angel, you definitely help your mom, your dad and your whole family to overcome the unbearable… they are so courageous…”
, said another.
“All our thoughts are with you, in union of prayer
,” writes, a few comments later, a third.
Partial outcome
After nine fruitless months, during which the investigation got bogged down by stumbling over successive leads, the first outcome of the case came to light, on April 30, with the discovery of the little boy's bones. This twist occurred in an extremely close time frame with the last acts of investigation: two days earlier, the hamlet where Émile's grandparents own a secondary house was cordoned off by large numbers of gendarmerie to allow a " in an unprecedented situation” carried out by the two investigating judges. 17 people - residents of Haut-Vernet as well as Émile's family - replayed their score from July 8, to allow investigators to cross-check each of the versions given during the hearings and, thus, raise possible inconsistencies.
After the macabre discovery, two days later, the gendarmes' searches resumed with a vengeance in the surroundings of Haut-Vernet, already searched from top to bottom last summer. These new investigations, supported by scientists from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie, subsequently made it possible to find the little boy's clothes, as well as another of his bones, near the same path.