March 31 (UPI) -- Remains belonging to a two-year-old boy who went missing almost nine months ago in the French Alps have been found, according to local media reports.
Émile Soleil went missing last summer while staying at his grandparents home in the mountainside village of Le Haut Vernet, which has a population of about two dozen in southern France. He was last seen July 8 walking alone down a street in the hamlet.
Jean-Luc Blachon, the prosecutor for Aix-en-Provence, announced Sunday that bones found a day prior near the village were identified as belonging to Soleil through genetic testing.
"Investigators took possession of the bones immediately transported to the IRCGN in order to have genetic identification analyses carried out that made it possible to conclude on March 31 that they were the bones of the child Émile Soleil," the prosecutor said, while referring to the Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale by its initials.
The boy's parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, issued a statement Sunday evening through their lawyer, Jerome Triomphe.
"While this heartbreaking news was feared, it is now a time for mourning, reflection and prayer," Triomphe said.
"Marie and Colomban now know on this Resurrection Sunday that Émile watches over them in the light and tenderness of God."
François Balique, mayor of Le Vernet, told local media that he is "relieved but sad" over the discovery as he hoped that Soleil would be found alive.
"Investigators will now be able to know if an adult's intervention has taken place," he said.
