AS the Emile Soleil case continues, here are all the shocking twists and turns so far.
The two-year-old vanished two years ago from a holiday home in France, in a case that gripped the world.
After going missing on July 8, 2023 from his isolated grandparents’ home, the police launched a major search.
For days, police, soldiers, sniffer dogs, scores of volunteers, a helicopter and drones failed to find any sign of the boy.
Nine months later, Emile’s remains were discovered by a rambler in what was a major breakthrough for the case.
The remains were found about a 25-minute away from the French hamlet of Haut-Vernet where Emile was last seen.
The discovery left the police baffled as they scrambled to make sense of the clues.
Killed by a pack of wolves
After Emile’s remains were discovered, there was much discussion about the two-year-old’s cause of death. Some locals believed that he was attacked and killed by wolves.
One person told Le Parisien at the time: “The little one must have been the victim of an animal. And I only see the wolf as the culprit.
“They say wolves are afraid of people, but with a little boy like that, a big boy, the wolf would have seen him as another prey.”
François Balique, The mayor of Vernet where Emile lived, also seemed to believe the horrifying theory.
Balique said: “There are some wolves here, especially in the summer with the sheep flocks.
“A wolf can very well grab a child at the village well and run for half an hour without stopping and without shedding blood,” he added.
Locals fuelled the theory saying several wolves had been spotted in the area.
Stéphane Chevrier, who is the president of the Vernet hunters’ association, stated to Le Figaro: “Our area in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has one of the highest populations of wolves on record. In September of last year, there were multiple incidents of cows and sheep being attacked near Vernet.”
Hit by a combine harvester
Having ruled out wolves as Emile’s killer, the police probed an equally as chilling theory – that the boy was hit by a combine harvester.
A farmer from the village told BFMTV at the time: “Sometimes we find deer.
“The little one may have ended up in the tall grass and been hit by a farm machine. That would be terrible.”
Remains returned
The police were left puzzled after Emile’s remains were found in the very same area they had so thoroughly searched.
This led to Mayor Balique revealing a new theory – that the bones had been moved back to Vernet.
A source close to the investigation told The Mail at the time that such a move, if true, would add a very disturbing element to the investigation.
The source claimed it would be unlikely that animals would return human remains.
Instead they said the discovery suggested that “a person brought Emile’s remains back, and potentially very recently”.
The cops did not oppose this theory and refused to rule out any cause of death, including murder.
‘Village of the damned’
Some residents believe Emile’s case was doomed from the start due to a curse over the French hamlet.
The seemingly-idyllic hamlet is being referred to as the “village of the damned” following a number of horror incidents in its dark past.
In March 2015, the hamlet was cordoned off following a horrific air crash in which 150 people died, including two babies.
The Germanwings Airbus A320 was deliberately brought down by co-pilot Andres Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies.
Many Vernet residents took part in high mountain searches for possible survivors at the time.
The residents of Vernet were also disturbed by another tragic event in the village 15 years ago. Jeannette Grosos, the owner of Café du Moulin, was brutally murdered by a customer in 2008.
Mayor François Balique said: “It was a real drama for the whole village – one which it has had a hard time recovering.”
One resident of Vernat said: “Everybody is saying it – Vernet feels like a village of the damned.”
Granddad’s dark secret
The case took another shocking turn when disturbing details about Emile’s granddad’s past emerged last year.
Multiple French news outlets including Le Parisien and Le Canard enchaîné reported appalling details of a sex abuse scandal at the Roman Catholic school where he worked.
Philippe Vedovini was training to be a monk when he worked at the school.
Riaumont is a Catholic community that includes a boarding school for troubled youngsters in Northern France.
The school in the Pas-de-Calais received multiple complaints from former pupils between 2014 and 2017.
They said they had suffered sexual abuse, including rape, in the early 1990s, as well as regular physical beatings.
Philippe was implicated in the enquiry as an “assisted witness”.
In an interview with the police in April 2018, Philippe admitted to administering “somewhat harsh” physical discipline, but insisted he had never broken the law, according to a source close to the enquiry.
Eleven former colleagues ended up being indicted on various charges.
Emile was in the care of his granddad when he died, fuelling theories that he may have been involved.
Murdered by grandparents
But the most shocking twist to the case came on Tuesday, as Emile’s grandparents were arrested on suspicion of murder.
Philippe and Anne Vedovini, both 59, were arrested on Tuesday along with two of their adult children in connection with Émile’s death.
The four are all facing charges of “intentional homicide” and “concealing a corpse”, according to a statement from Aix-en-Provence prosecutors.
The grandparents’ lawyer confirmed the arrest to AFP, but did not make any further comment.
Émile’s parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, are not believed to be the two adult children arrested.
