The grandparents of a young boy, Ãmile Soleil, aged two, were arrested on suspicion of his murder and concealing his body in the Alps. Philippe and Anne Vedovini, both 59, were apprehended along with two of their adult children in connection with the alleged killing. The child had gone missing while staying at the Vedovinis’ isolated vacation home in the Alpine village of Haut-Vernet, south of Grenoble, France in July 2023. His remains, including a fractured skull, were discovered nearby nine months later following extensive daily searches.
Police carried out a raid on the Vedovinis’ permanent residence near Marseille on Tuesday morning, leading to their arrest. Additional arrests were made in the vicinity, involving the other two suspects, whose identities have not been disclosed. The parents of Ãmile are not among the adult children arrested with their grandparents. Aix-en-Provence prosecutors stated that all arrests were made on suspicion of “intentional homicide” and “concealing a corpse.”
In a statement, it was announced that Philippe Vedovini and his wife, along with two adult children, were placed in police custody by investigators from the Marseille gendarmerie’s investigation unit. The arrests are part of a verification phase based on evidence and information gathered during recent investigations, with forensic operations being carried out in various locations across the country.
Isabelle Colombani, the grandparents’ lawyer, confirmed the arrests to AFP, France’s national news agency, but declined further comment. The arrests occurred at 6.30 am in La Bouilladisse, near Marseille, in France’s Bouches-du-Rhône department. When Ãmile went missing, he was at Haut-Vernet under the care of his grandfather, who admitted to a brief lapse in attention. The search for the child concluded when Emile’s remains were found by a rambler in March 2024.
Reports from French news outlets last year, including Le Parisien and Le Canard enchaîné, suggested that Mr. Vedovini, Ãmile’s grandfather, had potential involvement in a sex abuse scandal at a Roman Catholic school in the 1990s. Mr. Vedovini, who denied any wrongdoing, had drawn police attention and was part of their investigative focus. He was undergoing monk training while working at Riaumont, a Catholic institution with a boarding school for troubled youth in Northern France. Former pupils raised complaints between 2014 and 2017, alleging sexual abuse and physical assaults during the early 1990s.