Fears are growing for the French toddler who vanished while playing in a garden two days ago as one local claims the mystery may be "more than a disappearance."
Two-and-a-half-year-old Émile disappeared from Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence on Saturday, where he was staying with his grandparents. He had been playing alone in the property's garden at the time. He was last seen by two neighbours walking alone on a street of Haut-Vernet, a tiny village of 25 inhabitants at an altitude of around 1,200 metres.
"If the prosecutor has decided to close the search on Monday evening, it is because there are reasons: it is perhaps more than a disappearance", a volunteer named Geoffrey from neighbouring town du Vernet told France TV Info.
After more than 48 hours of intense searching around the town, authorities seemed to admit that the boy "should have been found" by now if he was still in the area.
"He is two-and-a-half years old, he was able to walk quite a distance," said Marc Chappuis, the police officer in charge of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence where Émile went missing. "But all the hunts we have done for the past two days should have allowed us to locate him."
Authorities said that large-scale searches involving hundreds of volunteers which have been taking place will now be halted. Today 80 military police officers were deployed for a targeted search with backup by a dozen soldiers specialised in the clearing of terrain, search-and-rescue dogs and a helicopter.
"The work now will be very detail-oriented," local prosecutor Remy Avon said.
This included the analysis of local phone records to determine "what phone calls were made, by whom and to whom", around the time of the disappearance, he said.
Several witnesses had been questioned and houses in the hamlet searched. Specialist forensic units have also been called in, and more locals are set to be interviewed.
"We took part in a big search this morning with 50 other people", said 19-year-old Roxane who came with two friends to help on Monday.
“There was a gap of two metres (seven feet) between each of us, we looked in the fields, and in the woods. We looked out for the smallest clue, maybe an item of clothing or a shoe he could have lost."
Émile's grandparents had been preparing for a day out when they went to collect him from the garden before realising he had disappeared. François Balique, the mayor of Le Vernet, told French TV: "The family was getting ready to leave the house to go on an outing.
"He took advantage of this fleeting moment [of inattention] to leave. His grandparents realised he was no longer there when they went to put him in the car."
