TWO more people have been arrested in the shocking case of Emile Soleil.
The boy’s grandparents were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of murder, and his aunt and uncle have also been taken into custody, as reported by French media.
The two-year-old vanished in 2023 from a holiday home in France.
His disappearance shocked the world but the mystery deepened after four members of his family were taken into custody.
Grandparents Philippe and Anne Vedovini, both 59, were arrested at dawn on Tuesday, after the police raided their home near Marseilles.
A total of four individuals were apprehended for charges related to “intentional homicide” and “concealing a corpse” on Tuesday. Initially, the police did not disclose the identities of the other two suspects.
French media confirmed today that Emile’s aunt and uncle were arrested, along with their parents.
Cops extended custody for all four family members after police launched a huge search of the grandparents’ luxurious farmhouse.
Two of Philippe’s cars were seized, which included a navy blue Hyundai and a horse trailer.
Philippe’s lawyer said the grandparents were “fully cooperating” with the investigation and police hearings.
She said: “Perhaps what’s happening today isn’t what we had hoped for.
The lawyer added: “Being taken into custody doesn’t mean anything.”
Anne’s lawyer said: “My client expects nothing more than the truth about this tragedy.”
Emile disappeared on 8 July, 2023, after arriving at his grandparents’ isolated home in the French hamlet of Haut-Vernet.
The tragic boy’s parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, were not at the holiday home with him but around six of his grandparents’ 10 children were.
His remains, including a fractured skull, were found by a walker about 25-minute away from where the two-year-old was last seen.
Cops revealed these four arrests following months of investigations were “planned”.
It was revealed on Tuesday that the family’s phones were tapped for several months in the lead-up to the raid, according to Le Parisien.
SHOCKING PAST
Disturbing details about Philippe’s shady past emerged last year, with French media reporting about a sex abuse scandal.
Philippe was training to be a monk when he worked at Riaumont school in the Pas-de-Calais, in Northern France.
The Roman Catholic boarding school for troubled youngsters received multiple complaints from former pupils between 2014 and 2017.
The students disclosed that they had endured sexual abuse, including rape, during the early 1990s, in addition to regular physical assaults. Philippe was mentioned in the investigation as an “assisted witness”.
In an interview with the police in April 2018, Philippe admitted to administering “somewhat harsh” physical discipline, but denied breaking the law.
Eleven former colleagues ended up being indicted on various charges.
Philippe was also arrested in 2018 for an “attack of foreigners”.
