Missing toddler in France since Saturday

[Neverinamonthofsundays]

Hope this little lad is found safe and well.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-toddler-emile-missing-latest-news-b2373637.html

The search for a missing two-year-old is “at the same point” as it was yesterday, the local prosecutor has said in an update as helicopters spent Tuesday broadcasting a recording of his mother’s voice.
Two-year-old Emile was last seen playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute department of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, with his grandparents notifying the police of his disappearance at around 5.15pm local time on Saturday.
Airborne search teams were instructed to play the recording “as loud as possible” in the hopes of finding the toddler.
However, the investigation still has “no information”, with the prosecutor urging the public to “give the gendarmes time” as investigators probe the 1,200 calls received on the dedicated case line.
“We have no clue, no information, no element that can help us understand this disappearance. We are at the same point than yesterday at the same time”, Rémy Avon, public prosecutor for Digne-les-Bains, told a press conference on Tuesday evening.
“The 30 buildings that make up the Haut-Vernet building were completely visited. 25 people were heard, 12 vehicles visited, 12 hectares raked”, Mr Avon added.

I've only seen that claim made on Social Media.....make of that what you will......

FWIW nothing new in the French press I've seen today.

The sort of scenario that @GrapeHyacinth mentioned is still a possibility, there's some fairly/very unforgiving terrain quite close to the hamlet.

This is a quote from the evening standard website.

“T he parents of a two-year-old boy who has been missing in France for almost four days have been attacked by a former Family and Children's Minister who claimed Émile's father had “a very worrying profile”.”

They are saying now they think a 3rd party must have been involved in getting him out of the area https://www.itv.com/news/2023-07-14/french-police-fear-two-year-old-mile-unlikely-to-have-gone-missing-alone

Rightly, we don't know details.

However, two year old's don't wander very far. For Emile to have vanished means he has been abducted - he could be alive or dead.

Where I live in the UK, young children play out unobserved from the age of four. Any predator with the intention of kidnapping would be able to spot which children could be easily taken in an instant. If he was playing with other children, they would have raised the alarm. I grew up with negligent parents and we knew to look after our younger siblings.

At the very least this little boy wasn't being watched at all.

He's only two for Christ's sake. A baby. Just a baby who needed looking after properly.

I know, I don’t think I every took eyes off my 2 year old in public. It was not long after the Bulger case, but still the idea of a two year old “playing out” is insane.

I think he was playing in the garden but somehow got out. Not sure how.

Children ofvthat age don't disappear into thin air. Usually family involved somehow. I hope he is found safe but it seems unlikely.

Well the official line on the "Theys on TV here this evening is that pretty much every possibility is still in play, from accident right through to abduction....and TBF the ITV piece does make that point..

During a press briefing on Thursday, the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, Rémy Avon, indicated no theory is being ruled out while police probe the possibility that a crime has taken place...

I think the Gendarme's comment is actually consistent with that: "We will probably have to admit that he could not get out of this area on his own without the help, the complicity... of a third party."

i.e. if he left the area then a 3rd party would have to have been involved.

The father appears to be in the frame

www.standard.co.uk/news/world/emile-missing-france-alps-parents-b1093948.html

Yes. They seemed to think that he can't be in the area after they used the blood hounds, as they couldn't seem to detect anything as they would have expected. Could have drifted off down the river maybe? Have they searched the river? I've been following it on BFMTV and ITV mainly, but don't know all the details.

He wasn’t playing out though, was he? I thought he disappeared from the garden. Family party, lots of people in the house, everyone thought he was with somebody else.

Bonkers that two neighbours allegedly saw him toddling down the road by himself and did nothing to return him to his family. I can’t even imagine what they must have been thinking to have ignored him.

That's not what that article says.

Do you really think it's appropriate to make that kind of 'joke'?

Ah, that comment was made a few days back and has already been mentioned..

Problem is it was made by Segolene Royal who may or may not be a great judge of character but certainly isn't publicity shy....It certainly wasn't the smartest thing to say whilst an investigation is ongoing.

I think some "experts" have gone on record as being puzzled about the supposedly infallible Bloodhounds but others sources are not convinced about how infallible they are......

As for a river, according to reports over the last few days there are various ravines, drop offs and water courses in the area...there's a worry if he had an accident he could be heaven knows where...

I'm not in the Alps but in adjacent to another very lumpy bit of France and occasionally people do go missing, presumed to have perhaps walked off edges/drop offs. The grim reality is despite searches it can sometimes take months before they are discovered.

I think Peter Faulding is a world expert at what he does. I know he had scorn heaped on him for not finding NB and saying she wasn't in the water, but it's probably hard for us to understand how hard it is as we don't have much/any knowledge in the field.

Interesting. Even in Britain which is half the area of France, they were completely puzzled about NIcola Bulley. Its probably easier to find people when they can rely on CCTV, licence plate recognition, phone movement etc than when they go missing in rough terrain.

I had never heard about this story until i just found this thread. If you google search for Emile then the story comes up but it is not on my news apps for me to come across on my own accord.

Anyway, Iv just read the article saying the father has a worrying profile because he previously attacked a foreigner and he and the mother are members of a far right political party whose leader was apparently a rascist. I think this reporting at this stage and without evidence against the parents in this case, is outrageous. I feel dreadful for the parents and the whole family. I hope the boy is found safe and well. The whole situation doesnt bare thinking about.

Exactly.
Many years ago, I was visiting someone who lived on a large council estate- I was heading home on foot at about 11pm at night, and saw a very young child- possibly 3 or four wandering.
It was before the days when mobile phones were ''A thing'' that everyone had, so I couldn't call for help.

The child turned to go down a pathway, and I asked ''Is this your house?'' ?the child didn't speak.

The child went in through a doorway.

I mentioned it to the friend who said ''It's normal for round here- kids aren't tied to apron strings like in middle class areas''..

It seemed an odd thing to have said, but now I'd always intervene if I saw a young child wandering without a responsible adult in sight.

Father has extreme right, anti establishment political views.

@qazxc i see this being reported but why is it relevant? Is the media suggesting someone who doesnt believe in the establishment must have caused harm to their child? Or even that they deserve it? The political views of most people who lose a child are not usually reported on?

Fathers politics seem a bit irrelevant

I was more interested to hear that the mother was born in the village and has
9 siblings living locally

I thought this. Saw that neighbours actually said they’d seen him walking down the lane past their homes, but apparently thought nothing of it! I assume that as the hamlet only has 25 houses, that everyone is very relaxed about their children playing outside their homes, so the child out on his own would be the norm.

I'm trying to imagine this village with 25 houses and 30 residents - it's probably not an enclave of wealthy second home-owners. Everyone will know everyone else's business and likely be related in some way and be very aware of anything happening in the village and surrounding area - so not a great place from which to abduct a child and keep it a secret.

I'm guessing everyone is older or very old and not living in great circumstances and all the younger people have moved out to find employment - a toddler would be a fairly rare sight?

And yet mothers 9 younger siblings live locally ?presumably they all once lived in the house where Emile disappeared from and where they were all partying

Maybe the neighbours only saw Emile from their window and were too old and frail to chase after him?