The grandparents, aunt and uncle of French child Emile have been questioned for the first time since he vanished nearly three years ago.

Emile’s grandparents, Philippe and Anne Vedovini, and two of their children, Maximin and Marthe Vedovini spoke to the investigating judges of the criminal division of Aix-en-Provence on Tuesday.

It was the first time the group of four have spoken on two-year-old Emile Soleil’s mysterious July 8, 2023, disappearance from his grandparent’s home in Haut-Vernet.

According to local reports, each family member was heard for an hour as civil parties by the two magistrates in charge of the case.

On March 25, 2024, the group of four were taken into custody for ‘voluntary homicide’ and ‘concealing a corpse’, before being released 48 hours later without charge.

But the public prosecutor of Aix-en-Provence, Jean-Luc Blachon said the possibility of a family connection has not been ruled out. Since then the family members have filed civil suits in the case.

‘This is obviously a very important step for my client, given that her last hearings were conducted while she was in police custody. This time, she was being heard as a civil party,’ Anne Vedovini’s lawyer, Julien Pinelli, told Le Parisien.

On November 8, the toddler’s grandparents, alongside their lawyers, visited the village of Haut-Vernet where Emile disappeared.

+6
View gallery

Émile Soleil went missing from a sleepy Alpine village in France in 2023

+6
View gallery

Grandfather Philippe Vedovini at the funeral of little Émile in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume on February 8, 2025

+6
View gallery

Anne Vedovini, 59, was arrested with her husband. Emile Soleil had been staying with his grandparents at the time of his disappearance

Part of his bones, including his skull and clothes, were found nine months later, on March 30, 2024, by a hiker 1.7km from the village.

‘The investigation is ongoing and inquiries are being carried out regularly,’ Blachon confirmed to BFMTV.

It comes nine months after French detectives said they believed the remains of Emile were likely preserved in a protected, almost sterile environment like a freezer before being moved and found.

Based on the decomposition of the remains, they believed they had been carefully preserved before being exposed to the open air, where they were found.

The analyses also suggested that the two-year-old’s skull was deposited only just before it was stumbled upon by a walker less than a mile from his grandparents’ house.

Police said they had already scoured the area during intensive searches.

According to the investigation, clothes found near the remains last April were not in a state of decomposition – which they believe suggested he did not get lost alone and did not die where his bones and clothes were found.

The skull was found with signs of ‘violent facial trauma’ on one side, Blachon said at the time.

The mystery surrounding Emile’s disappearance and death deepened as it emerged in March this year that the family’s Roman Catholic priest who baptised Emile before he went missing had ‘taken his own life’, according to reports.

Father Claude Gilliot, 85, is said to have died from a ‘massive overdose’ at his home in Aix-en-Provence, French media reported. Claims have been made that he fell out with the Vedovinis before his death.

+6
View gallery

French gendarmes take part in a search operation for missing Emile Soleil in July 2023

+6
View gallery

A gendarme stands outside the house of the grandparents of Emile Soleil on March 25

+6
View gallery

Aix-en-Provence prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon addresses a press conference, March 27

Father Gilliot had frequently expressed his emotional angst during the saga.

The priest was once very close to Emile’s grandparents, along with two of their 10 adult children.

The Vedovini family are all devout Roman Catholics, and at one stage relied on Father Gilliot for their spiritual guidance, including celebrating Mass and hearing Confessions.

But they fell out after Father Gilliot provided a photo of Emile to the media, in an attempt to try and find the little boy.