Horror of little Emile and the startling similarities to BBC's The Missing: A ... trends now
The discovery of French toddler Émile Soleil's body close to his grandparents' home in a French Alpine village last week has done little to answer the many questions remaining over the two-year-old's disappearance.
Mystery has surrounded the case for months, prompting a number of theories as to what may have happened to the little boy - with the reason behind his disappearance still unclear.
Many have noticed chilling parallels between the case and hit drama The Missing, starring James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor, in which a young boy vanishes while on holiday with his family in France.
The BBC series sees a young boy vanish, with his disappearance unexplained and speculation over his whereabouts for years before he is eventually confirmed dead.
Émile, who lived with his parents near Marseille but had been on holiday at his grandparents' home in the rural Haut Vernet of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, went missing last July.
Émile Soleil's body was discovered close to his grandparents' home in a French Alpine village last week
Many have noticed chilling parallels between the case and hit BBC drama The Missing, in which a young boy vanishes while on holiday with his family in France
The road to Haut-Vernet is blocked by a gendarmerie checkpoint at the village of Le Vernet, France, pictured on Sunday
A major search operation was launched involving hundreds of police officers of the surrounding area, which has now tragically culminated in the discovery of the two-year-old's remains.
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.
Despite police conducting a 'thorough search', it was eventually hikers who found Émile's bones on Saturday in the idyllic Alpine hamlet of Le Vernet, before handing them over to police.
A source close to the investigation told MailOnline that only part of the body was found, with some bones and the skull being recovered.
Forensic investigators were continuing to analyse the skull and bones that were found, but have not yet given a cause of death.
Le Vernet's mayor François Balique told Le Figaro newspaper last week that Emile's 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, said the source, suggesting the remains had been deposited there some time after Émile's disappearance.
'It's unlikely animals would bring human remains back into the village where someone went missing.
'This leads to the theory that a person has brought Émile's remains back, and potentially very recently,' the source said.
In The Missing, Tony experiences every parent's worst nightmare as he loses sight of his son during a visit to a crowded outdoor bar to watch a World Cup match.
Nesbitt and O'Connor starred in the first series of the 2014 show as a couple struggling to come to terms eight years after their son's abduction.
In a shock twist it
