New search operations are underway in the Hautes-Pyrénées to find Mattéo Michel, this young man from Deux-Sèvres who has been missing for 11 months after a mountain hike. If shorts and bones have been discovered by a hiker, as well as other clues in the area by the police, caution is more important than ever.
“At this stage, the hope of discovering Mattéo is dwindling. “After the discovery of bones and shorts by a hiker below the Bataou peak on Monday, and new searches carried out yesterday by the gendarmerie in the Saint-Lary-Soulan sector (Hautes-Pyrénées), the police remain more cautious than ever.
For 11 months, the soldiers of the Bagnères-de-Bigorre gendarmerie company in charge of investigations have been working to understand what happened to Mattéo Michel, this 20-year-old young man from Viennay in Deux-Sèvres who disappeared in mountain during a hike he carried out alone from Rioumajou on August 1, 2023.
And when a hiker presented himself at the beginning of the week to the Vignec brigade with black shorts and bones that he discovered on the edge of a stream, a new search system was immediately put in place.
Other clues found
“A pedestrian caravan armed by soldiers from the community of Vignec brigades carried out a sweeping wave around the GPS point provided by the hiker,” indicates the gendarmerie. “The search for clues made it possible to discover, beyond the shorts brought back by the hiker, a pair of glasses and a sock. In addition, other bones were found, scattered.”
From then on, the reinforcement of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon, Pghm of Pierrefitte-Nestalas, as well as the Criminal Identification Technicians (Tic) was requested. An overview of the area was carried out by high mountain rescuers with the help of the aerial section’s helicopter, the Choucas 65. At the end of the operation at the end of the day, no other clothing or shoes, nor the backpack that Mattéo Michel was carrying on the day of his disappearance have been located.
Remove the doubt
Submitted to the expertise of the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (Ircgn) of Pontoise, the photographed bones were quickly recognized as being of animal origin by specialized technicians. As for the pair of glasses, it cannot be linked to the disappearance of Mattéo Michel since they were a woman’s frame.
On the other hand, doubt persists about the shorts found by the hiker and the sock discovered by the police. “These clothes, not formally identified by the family of the missing young man, will be the subject of additional analyzes in order to try to determine a genetic profile and compare it to that of Mattéo,” inform the gendarmes.
Law enforcement is continuing its search in the area today in the hope of finding other clues. Operations are being conducted in close collaboration with Mattéo Michel’s family, who are being informed daily of the progress of the investigations by the investigation director.
A new ordeal for the resigned parents of the deceased who hope for only one thing: that the mountain finally decides to return their son’s remains to them.
