Missing French toddler – latest: Police comb final area before halting search for Emile

Police are currently searching a final area in a hamlet in the French Alps, before calling off the massive operation to locate missing two-year-old Emile. Local prosecutor Remy Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered. He added: “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days.” Police are today combing a 1.8km-long road, that has previously been searched before, in the hope of finding new evidence in Emile’s disappearance. But police say they will be searching the stretch of road more “meticulously” this time. The search is expected to go on till 4pm local time, before it is halted on the sixth day since Emile vanished. 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. Police added on Wednesday that at least 10 people were present at the property where Emile was last seen amidst a family reunion, with “several uncles and aunts of the child, of all ages, including some minors”, a police source said. Read More Desperate search for French toddler who vanished on holiday with grandparents Deadly plane crash, cafe murder and now missing toddler in the French village ‘cursed’ by tragedy