Female hiker who discovered little Émile Soleil's remains in French Alpine ... trends now
The hiker who found the remains of French toddler Émile Soleil reportedly picked up the two-year-old's skull and handed it over to local military police, it has emerged.
Ramblers found Émile's bones on Saturday in the idyllic Alpine hamlet of Le Vernet where he went missing last July.
A source close to the investigation told MailOnline that only part of the body was found, with some bones and the skull being recovered.
Prosecutors have not yet given a cause of death, but said that forensic investigators were continuing to analyse the skull and bones that were found.
However, sources close to the investigation have claimed police fear the hiker may have removed key evidence when she moved the remains with one insider telling Le Figaro newspaper 'it would have been better if she hadn't touched anything'.
The area has now reportedly been cordoned off and police are forensically studying the site where Émile's remains were found. Tests will also be carried out in an attempt to determine how long his body had stayed on that part of the ground.
The hiker who found the remains of French toddler Émile Soleil (pictured) reportedly picked up the two-year-old's skull and handed it over to local military police, it has emerged
A French Gendarme stands on the road to the French southern Alps tiny village of Le Haut-Vernet, in Le Vernet on April 1, 2024, after a hiker found the 'bones' of who Émile Soleil, a toddler who went missing last summer
Ramblers found Émile's bones on Saturday in the idyllic Alpine hamlet of Le Vernet where he went missing last July
Detectives launched a frantic search in the Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence back on July 8 after Émile's unexplained disappearance.
There had been no trace of the toddler since he went missing eight months ago, with investigators refusing to rule out any theory for the tragedy, including abduction and murder.
Émile was officially in the care of a local physiotherapist on the day of his disappearance, as his parents took a break.
Some of the boy's bones were discovered by a hiker on Saturday in an area of the tiny French village - just two days after police returned to the crime scene to re-enact what had happened.
Le Vernet's mayor François Balique told Le Figaro newspaper the remains were located 'on a path between the Church and Chapel' of the village - an area he said had previously 'been thoroughly searched by gendarmes' with a 'tooth comb'.
He said it was 'absolutely incomprehensible' that Émile got into trouble by himself.
'I can't help but believe that an adult is involved in this matter. Émile would never have gone alone to where he was found,' Mr Balique said.
This adds an extremely disturbing element to the progress of the investigation, a source has claimed, suggesting the remains had been deposited there some time after Émile's disappearance.
The road to Haut-Vernet is blocked by a gendarmerie checkpoint at the village of Le Vernet, France, picturedon Sunday
The Alpine hamlet of Le Haut-Vernet in France pictured on Sunday, after French investigators found the remains of the toddler who went missing last summer
Police closed off the village on March 27 to everyone except investigators and residents
The entrance of the French southern Alps village of Le Vernet, near where Émile went missing
'It's unlikely animals would bring human remains back into the village where someone went missing,' the insider said. 'This leads to the theory that a person has brought
