Grandparents released in probe into toddler's death in France

The grandparents of Emile Soleil have been released without charge, two days after they were arrested over the toddler's disappearance and death in the French Alps in July 2023.

Philippe Vedovini and his wife, Anne, were among four people detained earlier this week on suspicion of murder and concealment of a corpse.

The other two, both adult children of the couple, were also released without charge on Thursday morning, prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon confirmed.

Mr Blachon also revealed for the first time that investigators now believe Emile's clothes and remains were transported to the woods where they were found shortly before their discovery last spring.

Mr Blachon added that analysis of the toddler's skull showed traces of "violent facial trauma" which made it probable that a third party had been involved in Emile's disappearance and death.

Until Thursday, one of investigators' working theories was that Emile may have wandered off by himself and died as a result of a fall.

The four people who were taken into custody on Tuesday were released after answering all the questions put to them by investigators, Mr Blachon said, though he added that the line of investigation centred around Emile's family members was not yet fully closed.

"We continue to be determined to shed light on the circumstances around Emile's death," Mr Blachon said.

Under French law, people can be placed under arrest for questioning for a set number of hours until police decide whether they may have been involved in a crime.

Emile's grandmother's lawyer, Julien Pinelli, said that Mrs Vedovini was now resting. "It's been a tense and trying 48 hours," he said.

"In an investigation of this kind... it is customary to try and rule some things out. The family [angle] was one of the lines of inquiry, it's what prompted the custody and I hope it can now be put to the side."

The last sighting of Emile was on 8 July 2023, when two neighbours saw him walking by himself on the only street in the tiny Alpine hamlet Haut-Vernet, where he was staying at his grandparents' holiday home.

Emile, who was then two-and-a-half years old, disappeared without a trace shortly after. Hundreds of people joined police, sniffer dogs and the military in a search the following day, but the toddler appeared to have vanished into thin air.

It was not until March 2024 that Emile's remains were found only 1km away from the village by a hiker who was said to have made the find while walking in a steep, wooded area that was not easy to access.

The toddler's disappearance and death shocked France, where the case continues to make headlines.