Police call off search for missing 2-year-old boy in France

globalnews.ca:

A massive air and land search that has involved hundreds of police, soldiers, rescue workers and volunteers has been called off four days after a two-and-a-half-year-old boy went missing from the small French village of Le Vernet.

The missing toddler, identified only as Émile, has still not been found, and the search for him across hectares of mountainous terrain in the French Alps has turned up no clues about the boy’s disappearance.

Instead of sending out more search parties, local prosecutor Rémy Avon said Wednesday that investigators will shift their focus to evaluating the evidence that has already been gathered.

Since Saturday evening when Émile was reported missing, more than 800 people have been involved in a coordinated search for the toddler to no avail. Before the search was officially called off, Avon noted the need for “a time of analysis” for investigators to comb through physical evidence, interviews with residents and the thousands of tips that have been called in.

The small town of Le Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence prefecture, only has about 130 inhabitants and has been described as a place where “everyone knows everyone.” It is made up of two hamlets: Haut-Vernet and Bas-Vernet.

Émile was playing in the garden of his grandparents’ house in Haut-Vernet on Saturday around 6 p.m. local time when he vanished.

“The family was getting ready to leave the house to go on an outing. He took advantage of this fleeting moment (of inattention) to leave,” said François Balique, the mayor of Le Vernet. “His grandparents realized he was no longer there when they went to put him in the car.”

All 30 buildings that make up the Haut-Vernet hamlet have been searched by investigators, 25 residents were interviewed