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.
