The first four victims, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27 were discovered in December 2010

Police in France are wrapping up the search for a missing toddler after scouring a remote village in the French Alps for five days. Two-year-old Emile was on holiday with his grandparents when he vanished while playing in a garden, sparking a frantic hunt that involved thermic camera drones, helicopters and sniffer dogs. Searches have so far yielded no clues to the whereabouts of the missing boy and police launched a last-ditch bid to find him on Thursday. Here’s a look at everything we know about the case so far. Where did Emile disappear? Emile, whose surname has not been reported, was playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet - a small village of around 20 houses in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence on Saturday when he went missing. His family was preparing to go out hiking for the day when they realised the child, who lives near Marseille, had disappeared.The boy’s grandparents had been packing the car when he vanished. Emile is described as 3ft tall, with brown eyes and blonde hair and was wearing a yellow T-shirt, white shorts with a green pattern and walking shoes when he vanished. Reports said he was seen by two people when he left the property but they “lost sight of him”. Police said on Wednesday that at least 10 people were present at the property where Emile was last seen amid a family reunion, with “several uncles and aunts of the child, of all ages, including some minors”, a police source said. How has the search unfolded Authorities in France issued an appeal for information about Emile on 9 July after the boy was reported missing by his grandparents at 5.15pm the previous day. The search operation covered the land and air around Le Vernet and involved hundreds of police officers, soldiers and volunteers, The manager of a local restaurant said staff had looked “everywhere” for the boy as local volunteers helped with the search. “We were preparing for the evening service, when we were told the child had gone missing,” the manager told La Provence. “We all went to see what we could do to help as quickly as possible. “We have looked in places where he could be, we have really looked everywhere for him.” At one point during the search, police helicopters played the voice of Emile’s mother through speakers in the hope that it could help bring him out. On Wednesday evening it was reported that a vehicle with blood on it had been found amid the ongoing search for missing French toddler Emile. In a statement to La Provence, local prosecutor Rémy Avon said analysis had revealed the sample “animal blood”. Emile has now been missing for a week, as investigators admitted they have “no clue” what happened to him. Mr Avon also said that he had taken the decision to call off the “physical” search for Emile on Thursday. Police had been looking at a final plot of land in an area of Vernet, with around 50 officers taking part. “The judicial investigation into the causes of the disappearance will continue,” Mr Avon added. “In particular by analysing the considerable mass of information and elements collected over the past four days.” Police are today combing a 1.8km-long road, that has previously been searched before, in the hope of finding new evidence in Emile’s disappearance. But police say they will be searching the stretch of road more “meticulously” this time. What have politicians said? The mayor of Le Vernet on Friday said the best hope for the missing toddler is that “he’s been kidnapped and is alive”. In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Francois Balique commented on police calling off the physical search for Emile after five days and possible explanation’s for his disappearance. “Our only hope now is that he’s been taken and is alive. It’s the last thing we can hope for and it’s already terrible. “We could consider that someone wanting to cause harm to a child passed by the area, that he saw this beautiful little boy and took him away. He couldn’t survive alone in the wild, that’s for sure.” Mr Balique said it is ”difficult to favour one hypothesis over another” but explained that “the probabilities and the rationality would lead us to believe that we are dealing with an accident”. He continued: “And since little Emile’s body has not been found, it means that he was not alone at the time. We can consider a car accident in which the driver would have panicked and concealed the body. That’s one hypothesis.” Local politician Sylvie Belmontes had earlier said the search reminded her of the case of Yannis Moré, who vanished from Ganagobie, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in 1989 while playing with friends. “It reminds us of a lot of things. I sent a little message of support to the mayor of Vernet, François Balique”, Ganagobie mayor Sylvie Belmonte told La Provence, referencing the disappearance of 3-year-old Yannis Moré in May 1989. “I was town clerk and I took part in the search to try to find little Yannis”, he added. Mr Avon told a press conference earlier this week that police had “no clue” where the boy was. “His grandparents realised he was no longer there when they went to put him in the car.” What happens next Mr Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered. “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days,” he added. 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Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder in connection with the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office released charging documents on Friday confirming Mr Heuermann, 59, as the suspected serial killer who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along remote Long Island beaches. He is expected to appear in court later this afternoon to face three counts of murder in the first degree and three in second degree. Mr Heuermann was taken into custody on Thursday in connection with the unsolved murders of at least 11 victims more than a decade ago in Suffolk County. The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker, vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach. During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman. Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by. By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Gilbert’s remains were then found that December. Read More Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect arrested on suspicion of murders of 10 women on Long Island Police release haunting 911 call from woman later found dead as possible serial killer probe continues: ‘There’s somebody after me’ New police chief vows to close the case on Long Island’s unsolved Gilgo Beach murders

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Federal prosecutors under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith have reportedly spoken with top election officials in Pennsylvania and New Mexico as part of the Justice Department probe into Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. According to CNN, Mr Smith’s team has in recent months conducted interviews of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, with both officials providing information on “matters related to the 2020 election”. Mr Schmidt, who spoke with prosecutors in March, is a Republican who served as a Philadelphia City Commissioner during the 2020 election. He was named to his current post by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. CNN reported that prosecutors questioned Mr Schmidt about issues he encountered during the post-election period in 2020, including how he was impacted by misinformation about alleged voter fraud spread by Mr Trump and his allies. Last June, he told the now-defunct House January 6 select committee that he became the target of a slew of death threats from the then-president’s supporters after Mr Trump began attacking him in a series of tweets “became much more specific, much more graphic” after the then-president called him a “RINO” and a “disaster on the massive election fraud and irregularities which took place in Philadelphia”. The special counsel’s team has been speaking with election officials in swing states won by President Joe Biden in his 2020 contest with Mr Trump as part of their probe into the twice-impeached, now twice-indicted ex-president’s effort to remain in office against the will of voters. CNN also reported that Mr Smith’s team has sent subpoenas to officials in all seven of the states — Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that were targeted by Mr Trump as he sought to reverse his losses to Mr Biden in each jurisdiction. Mr Smith and his team has also met with the top election officials from Michigan and Georgia, Jocelyn Benson and Brad Raffensperger. In an interview with the network, Ms Benson said prosecutors she spoke to appeared to be focused on how misinformation spread by Mr Trump’s allies affected election workers, as well as the “threats that emerged from that from various sources”. Read More Special counsel issues criminal warning to Trump Organization employee over alleged obstruction, report says Prosecutors say there is ‘no reason’ to delay Trump documents trial until after 2024 election Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks have testified in front of grand jury investigating Jan 6, reports say

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