A former CIA psychic has claimed he had already told police where the body of missing French boy Émile Soleil would be found before Saturday’s horrifying discovery.
Major Ed Dames, 74, said he used a technique called “remote viewing” to locate the two-year-old in the idyllic Alpine hamlet of Le Vernet after she suddenly disappeared from her grandparents’ house last July.
The method, used by American and Soviet agents during the Cold War, see mediums access “otherwise inaccessible distant geographic targets,” “look far and into the future” simply through thought.
Maj Dames showed The sun emails he sent to police last December claiming Émile was “located in or near” a field next to the site where walkers found the bones and skull on March 31.
“It took me two days,” he told the newspaper. “I jumped on it immediately. I knew this was a serious matter and the sense of urgency was high.
Maj Dames worked as an operations and training officer in the CIA-Army’s Joint Psychic Intelligence Unit, a now-defunct project that inspired the book and 2009 black comedy ” The men who look at the goats.”
Hikers discovered the remains of two-year-old Émile Soleil (pictured) near the isolated family home from which he disappeared in July last year.
Emile disappeared from a family home in July last year, before the shock discovery on Saturday
The bones and skull of young Émile were found on Saturday by walkers “on a path between the church and the chapel” in the peaceful Alpine village of Vernet, according to the mayor François Balique.
The site, barely a kilometer from where Émile disappeared while staying with his grandfather in July, had already been combed by the gendarmes with a “tooth comb”, the mayor told Le Figaro.
He said it was “absolutely incomprehensible” that Émile got into trouble on his own – and sources close to the investigation are now speculating about whether the bones could have been moved.
“It is unlikely that animals would bring human remains back to the village where someone went missing,” the source said.
“This leads to the hypothesis that a person would have brought back Émile’s remains, and potentially very recently.”
Speaking on Monday, Mayor Balique said he didn’t understand why the remains weren’t found sooner.
“There are people who regularly use the path nearby. I used it last week. The volunteer researchers were there, I’m sure.
“I was there during the attacks (on the ground by those who were looking for Émile) and the gendarmes could not have missed him with the dogs.
“There was even a logging operation there in the fall. The loggers didn’t see anything either. It’s incomprehensible.’
Gilles Thézan, resident of Haut-Vernet, declared to Le Parisien: “There is something happening.
“The body was found just one or two kilometers from Haut-Vernet, in a place which had already been searched and searched, notably with dogs.
“Everything was raked from top to bottom. There’s no way anyone hasn’t seen it before.
Marie-Laure Pezant, a gendarmerie spokeswoman, said the bones could have been placed there by a person or animal, or moved by changing weather conditions.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that the remains were not found last summer due to the abundance of brush in the area at the time.
Only 25 people live in Haut-Vernet, according to The BBCand Major Balique has said since the discovery that he “can’t help but believe that an adult is involved in this matter.”
“Emile would never have gone alone to where he was found.”
Émile’s parents, Marie and Colomban Soleil, expressed their “pain and sorrow” in a press release given to the press on Easter Sunday through their lawyer Jérôme Triomphe.
“This heartbreaking news was feared… (They) know on this Resurrection Sunday that Emile watches over them in the light and tenderness of God.
“Marie and Colomban would like to thank all those who helped and supported them as well as the investigating judges and investigators for their work, their professionalism, their personal commitment and their humanity which were of great comfort to them, the latter months and especially that day… But the pain and the sorrow remain.”
“The time has come for mourning, contemplation and prayer.”
Police closed the village on March 27 to everyone except investigators and residents.
Restrictions remain in place as cops gather more information about the remains found today.
There was no trace of Émile since his disappearance eight months ago
José Morale, mayor of La Bouilladisse, the town near Marseille where Émile’s family lives most of the year, said: “We will do our best to support them.
“For parents, it’s very complicated. There is no relief, the sadness is endless, we are all depressed.
Hikers found the bones of the missing Émile near the house, concluding a desperate search of more than eight months.
According to a press release published on Sunday by the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor’s office, “genetic analysis identifies” the bones as belonging to Émile.
He adds that a “criminalistic analysis” is also underway and that the gendarmes are carrying out “additional research” in the area where they were found.
There had been no trace of Émile since his disappearance eight months ago, with investigators refusing to rule out any possibility of the tragedy, including kidnapping and murder.
Émile was officially in the care of his grandfather, Philippe Vedovini, on the day of his disappearance, while his parents were taking a break.
A witness saw Mr. Vedovini, a physiotherapist-osteopath, chopping wood in front of his house when Émile left.
There was no immediate comment on the discovery of the remains of Emile’s family, all of whom were at Easter Sunday mass when it was announced.
Émile was last seen wearing a yellow T-shirt and white shorts at 5:15 p.m. local time by two neighbors who saw him walking alone down the only street in the village before “losing sight of him”.
Police were alerted to the disappearance of the boy’s grandfather.
The next day, hundreds of people joined the first searches carried out by the authorities to embark on a hunt.
The disappearance quickly became a criminal investigation, even though detectives lacked leads to determine what might have caused Emile to wander off — and where he might have gone.
Last Thursday, investigators returned to the hamlet to piece together the latest sighting with 17 people including family members.