麻豆传媒映画

Investigations into the disappearance of Emile, 2, from a mountain village in south-east France in July 2023 are now focusing on CCTV footage from a 辫茅补驳别 toll booth on the A51 motorway.

Read more: Boy, 2, missing in French hamlet: Where is inquiry six months on?

The prosecutor in Aix-en-Provence is analysing around 50,000 surveillance images from the scene, six months after the child鈥檚 disappearance from the hamlet of Le Haut-Vernet in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, on July 8.

#Prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon : 鈥淭he case is still very much under investigation. We are using long-term analysis techniques.鈥�

He said that the investigation was 鈥渘ot petering out鈥� and that some of the new information coming to light is quite precise. This includes further investigation into the A51 toll.

The A51 is a motorway in southeast France that connects Marseille and Aix-en-Provence, with 128 km of toll road between Aix-en-Provence, and Saulce. The 辫茅补驳别 booth in question is around 50 km from Le Vernet.

The aim is to cross-reference images from vehicles passing through the 辫茅补驳别 with any profiles of interest in the investigation, including by using records of the 1,600 phones identified as being in a 50km radius of the hamlet on the day that 脡mile disappeared.

Not all police are convinced that studying the 辫茅补驳别 records will be useful, however. One anonymous police source : 鈥淭he 辫茅补驳别 is over 50 kilometres away...We have to be serious. How do you expect us to discover anything with that?鈥�

But General Fran莽ois Daoust, former Director of the Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale (IRCGN), explained: 鈥淚f we have a pertinent boundary marker at Le Vernet, and a vehicle ends up 50 kilometres down the road, at the toll booth, it would be worth looking at the driver and asking them what they were doing at the time.鈥�

Other investigations are also ongoing, including analysis on 300 forensic traces collected in the area. The data collected will also be entered into a piece of software called Anacrim, which aims to cross-reference details to help investigators pick up on any potential new leads.

Mysterious disappearance

脡mile disappeared on July 8 from the hamlet of le Haut-Vernet - above the village of Le Vernet - while his extended family were packing the car for a trip.

He was seen by at least three witnesses walking away from the property, but this was not considered a concern at the time as children frequently walk and play freely in the hamlet.

He later disappeared and has not been seen since. All searches and leads have so far not led to any public announcements of findings or suspects. Searches by drones and sniffer dogs three weeks after 脡mile vanished did not present any findings. Phone records have also been reviewed, and properties of interest have been searched.

An initial investigation into 鈥渢he causes of a worrying disappearance鈥�, opened on July 8, was later turned into an inquiry into possible 鈥渒idnapping, arbitrary arrest, detention and sequestration鈥�.

No kidnapping alert was ever issued, but the mayor of Le Vernet - Fran莽ois Balique - has suggested that the boy鈥檚 disappearance must have involved another person.

There has been speculation that he could have been killed accidentally by farming equipment or a car, and later hidden.

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