French investigators called in 17 people to reconstruct the circumstances of the day he disappeared.
Investigators cordoned off a small village in the French Alps on Thursday as they tried to unravel the mystery of a missing toddler whose disappearance shocked the country last summer.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Emil disappeared on July 8 last year while spending the first day of summer vacation with his grandparents.
Two neighbors last saw him in the late afternoon walking alone on a street in Haute-Vernet, a small settlement of 25 residents about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) above sea level.
According to witnesses called at the time, the little boy was just 90 centimeters (35 inches) tall and was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts and small hiking boots.
In July, dozens of police and soldiers, sniffer dogs, a helicopter and drones conducted a massive field search but failed to find him.
The plan was scrapped days later after a prosecutor said it was unlikely that such a young child would survive the hot summer months.
An initial investigation into a missing persons quickly turned into a criminal investigation into a possible kidnapping. But the possibility of an accident or fall still exists.
French investigators have summoned 17 people, including family members, neighbors and witnesses, to reconstruct the events of the day he disappeared.
They will focus on the last moments Emir was seen by his neighbours, trying to sort out their conflicting accounts.
Drone in the drizzle
“The purpose of the reenactment is to replay the night of July 8 in order to be able to confirm or refute what investigators have gathered,” said regional police official Pierre Coursieres.
François Barrick, the mayor of the Levernet region, said residents still hoped “the truth would come out.”
To ensure the investigation was not disrupted, police blocked the village from the outside world on Wednesday morning. This situation will continue into Friday morning.
Flights over the village are also banned.
On Thursday, about 20 journalists crowded in front of a roadblock leading to the village in a cold drizzle and were blocked by two police cars.
About 20 investigators will direct the reenactment of the incident, and some drones will be flying overhead to film the proceedings.
The boy’s grandfather was reportedly being questioned in a case in the 1990s over alleged violence and sexual assault at a private Catholic school.
But a source familiar with the case said his possible involvement in the disappearance has been subject to “the same level” of scrutiny as other hypotheses.
The grandfather’s lawyer said the family’s “only hope is that the child is alive, even if that hope disappears day by day”.
“Tell us where he is”
Emile had just arrived in Haute-Vernet, where he was spending the summer at his parents’ holiday home, when he disappeared.
His parents, devout Catholics who live in the southern town of Labuadis, were not present that day.
His mother was the eldest of 10 children.
Emil is her first child, and she also has a younger daughter.
Investigators received about 900 calls from the public related to the case, but all of those calls were dismissed as irrelevant.
They also sifted through countless mobile data and call records in hopes of finding clues.
In late November, the day before Emil’s third birthday, his parents published a plea for answers in a Christian weekly.
“Tell us where he is,” they wrote.
Le Vernet resident Gilles Thezan said Thursday that walking in the area is always “nerve-wracking” because you never know what you’re going to find.
“Emotions have been heavy since July,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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