The mum of a toddler missing in France is believed to have posted a chilling statement on Facebook about the ‘devil’ in the days after her little boy vanished.
Two-year-old Émile was on holiday at his grandparents’ home on Saturday when he vanished without a trace from the small village of Vernet, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
French police have admitted they’re completely clueless as to the youngster’s location and have even resorted to checking public phone data to see if any strangers were around at the time.
An enormous search effort involving hundreds of cops, firefighters and locals from the picturesque village remains fruitless with no trace of the boy in any of the 1,000 acres covered.
Cadaver dogs and helicopters carrying thermal imaging cameras have been similarly useless in finding the boy, leaving cops no option other than to call off the physical search.
They will now focus on the intelligence and reports they have gathered.
In a statement given to the AFP news agency, Remy Avon, the prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains, said: ‘The judicial investigation into the causes of the disappearance will continue, in particular by analysing the considerable mass of information and elements collected over the past four days.’
Meanwhile, social media is abuzz with theories about how the tot could so easily disappear.
Psychics are also chiming with their answers about what happened, and even giving physical descriptions of who they claim was involved.
Émile’s mother is also believed to have taken to Facebook to offer a bizarre statement on a page dedicated to collecting ‘prayers for Émile’.
In a post which has been attributed to her, she said: ‘Please pray for the venerable sister Benoïte Rencurel, mystic of Laus apparitions.
‘The devil regularly took her up the mountain to persecute her and the angels would bring her back.’
She concluded the message by signing, ‘Émile’s mother’.
One social media user commented on the post, saying it was ‘disturbing’, while others jumped to defend her.
The details about the missing toddler’s mother’s religion are currently unknown as very little has been revealed about the family by police.
The woman mentioned in the prayer was Benoîte Rencurel, who hailed from Saint-Étienne-le-Laus and claimed to have seen apparitions of the Madonna between 1664 and 1718.
Rencurel was also said to have been born with the stigmata – a miracle to Catholics in which someone is born with the marks on the hands and feet (or wrists and ankles) corresponding to where Christ was nailed to the cross.
She also claimed to have been in a years-long spiritual and physical battle with a demon.
