Émile Soleil: Grandparents arrested on suspicion of murder after fractured skull of two-year-old boy found in French Alps

Philippe and Anne Vedovini, both aged 59, were taken into custody on Tuesday morning at their home in La Bouilladisse, near Marseille. Two of their adult children, who have not been named, were also arrested in coordinated police raids. The arrests were made on suspicion of “intentional homicide” and “concealing a corpse”, according to prosecutors in Aix-en-Provence.

“This morning, Philippe Vedovini and his wife, grandparents of Émile Soleil, along with two of their adult children, were taken into custody by investigators from the Marseille gendarmerie’s investigation section,” a statement from the prosecutor’s office read.

“These police custody placements are part of a phase of verification and comparison of the evidence and information gathered during the investigations carried out in recent months. Investigators are also conducting forensic operations in various locations across the country.”

Émile disappeared in July 2023 while staying with his grandparents at their remote holiday home in Haut-Vernet, a mountain hamlet south of Grenoble. At the time, he was reportedly under the supervision of his grandfather, who later admitted to “fifteen minutes of inattention.”

After months of daily searches, the toddler’s remains, including a fractured skull, were found in March 2024 by a hiker near the village. The discovery triggered a renewed phase in the investigation, eventually leading to Tuesday’s arrests.

After Émile’s disappearance, media reports raised questions about Vedovini’s past. According to French newspapers Le Parisien and Le Canard enchaîné, Vedovini was linked to a sex abuse scandal at a Roman Catholic boarding school in the 1990s. At the time, he was training to be a monk and working at the Riaumont community in Northern France — a Benedictine-run boarding school for troubled youth.

Former pupils of the institution later alleged they had suffered sexual abuse and physical violence between 2014 and 2017, relating to incidents from the early 1990s. Vedovini denied any wrongdoing. Police at the time confirmed he had been under scrutiny as part of their broader investigation, describing him as one of “many lines of enquiry.”