The cause of death remains undetermined despite the discovery of the skull and clothing of a 2-1/2-year-old boy who went missing in a village in the French Alps last summer, prosecutors said Tuesday.
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Two-and-a-half-year-old Emile Soleil was at his grandparents' summer home in the village of Le Haut Vernais when he disappeared in July, and the mystery has garnered much attention in France.
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In a major development, a pedestrian found the boy's skull and teeth about a 25-minute walk from the village over the weekend, and investigators later found the boy's clothing in the area.
But the skull and teeth discovered so far “do not indicate what was the cause of Emile's death,” Aix-en-Provence prosecutor Jean-Luc Blanchon told reporters in the southern French city.
He added that so far “between fall, manslaughter and homicide, no hypothesis has taken precedence over the others in explaining the death.”
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Clothing, T-shirts, shoes and shorts found 150 meters from the skull will be examined as the investigation progresses.
He added that “no trauma was observed on the skull before death” and that there were marks that may have been made after death by animals that were in the area.
Dozens of military police and investigators, assisted by dogs specializing in detecting human remains, continued the search operation scheduled for Wednesday on Tuesday.
The gendarmerie said the search would continue as long as necessary and that no outsiders would be allowed to enter Haut Vernet, which is home to just 25 people, until at least the end of this week.
Investigators at the scene were assisted by forensic scientist colleagues in Paris who examined the body that was discovered.
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Blachon said the woman who discovered the body “carefully” placed the skull in a plastic bag, returned to her home with it and called the military police. He did not provide further details about the person.
Shortly after Emile went missing in July, the area had already been thoroughly inspected with police dogs, thermal imagers and cameras. It remains unclear whether the bodies were always there, or whether they were moved by animals, weather or humans.
Two neighbors last saw Emile walking alone down a street in Le Haut Vernet, 1,200 meters high in the Alps, on July 8. He was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts, and small hiking shoes.
Police returned to the village last week, cordoned off the area and summoned 17 people, including relatives, neighbors and witnesses, to re-enact the last moments before her disappearance.
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There is no suggestion that there is a relationship between the timing of the reenactment and the discovery of the site.
On the day of Emil's disappearance, his father and mother were absent. “This heartbreaking news was concerning,” they said in a statement released by her lawyers after her body was discovered.
Some media outlets focused on the role of the boy's grandfather, who is now in his 50s.
Her grandfather was investigated for alleged violence and sexual assault at a private school in the 1990s.
But sources close to the incident said a possible role in the incident was only being considered along with other hypotheses.
The grandfather's lawyer declined comment Sunday “out of respect for the family's grief.”
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This article was generated from the Automata news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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