The grandparents of a French toddler who mysteriously disappeared from an alpine village have been arrested on suspicion of murder and concealment of a body.

Emile Soleil was two-and-a-half years old when he vanished on July 8, 2023 in a case that shocked the nation and sparked a massive search.

He was last seen by two neighbours late in the afternoon on the day he disappeared, walking alone on a street 1,200 metres up in the French Alps.

Police searched the house of Emile Soleil’s grandparents. (AFP: Clement Mahoudeau)

Emile had been staying nearby at the summer home of his maternal grandparents in the tiny hamlet of Le Haut-Vernet when he vanished.

The toddler’s mother and father were absent on the day he disappeared.

Remains found near village

Nine months after he went missing, French investigators confirmed Emile’s skull and teeth had been found close to his grandparents’ village.

Police later found more bones and items of the boy’s clothing.

Prosecutors at the time said the cause of his death could have been “a fall, manslaughter or murder”.

Police find remains of missing toddler in Alps

French investigators announce the remains of a toddler who went missing on July 8 last year, have been found.

But in a stark turn of events on Tuesday, the boy’s 59-year-old grandfather, Philippe Vedovini, and his wife were arrested.

Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon said they were arrested on suspicion of voluntary homicide and concealment of a corpse.

Mr Blachon said two adult children of the couple were also arrested.

The prosecutor told reporters the arrests were the result of investigations “over recent months”.

Police custody ‘means nothing’

Police returned to the village earlier this month, sparking talk of a development in the case.

A large flowerpot with traces of blood was seized by the investigators in front of a local church, a source close to the case told AFP.

The boy’s grandfather was questioned several years ago over alleged violence and sexual assault at a private school in the 1990s where he was a scout leader.

Police initially considered his possible involvement in Emile’s death as just one of many hypotheses.

When questioned by police in Marseille, Philippe Vedovini’s lawyer, Isabelle Colombani, said “perhaps what is happening is not what we had expected.”

But she added that “being placed in police custody means nothing.”

Search for missing toddler begins in remote Alpine village in France

Julien Pinelli, who represents Emile’s grandmother, Anne Vedovini, said she wanted nothing more than to learn “the truth about this tragedy.”

“And if this measure is necessary to find the truth, of course she will submit to it,” he said.

In the southern village of La Bouilladisse, an AFP reporter saw police conduct a search of the couple’s main home.

They have seized an SUV and a horse trailer.

One of the neighbours, who did not wish to give his name, saw the police detain Mr Vedovini, who is an osteopath, and his wife.

“For me, they’re quiet neighbours,” he said.

“They’ve been under pressure for the past two years, that’s for sure. They have lived in a reclusive manner.”