Where is Giovanni Gonzalez?
Filed under: Abduction, Amber Alert, Child Endangerment, Missing Person
UPDATE 11/26/08 - In a jailhouse interview, the father of Giovanni admitted that he stabbed his son to death, dismembered him in the tub and then discarded the body parts. More info at end of article.
Lynn, Mass. - Giovanni Gonzalez is five years old. He’s been missing since Sunday, and now Giovanni’s father, Ernesto Gonzalez, won’t tell police where his son is. Sound familiar? On Friday evening, Giovanni’s mother, Daisy Colon, took her son to a scheduled weekend visitation with his father. But on Sunday, when Colon went to pick up Giovanni, Ernesto Gonzalez wouldn’t answer the door.  When police arrived and entered the home, they found Ernesto, but no Giovanni. Â
Police initially thought the elder Gonzalez was just being a jerk about a custody dispute, until they were unable to locate Giovanni. Of additional concern was a cut on Ernesto Gonzalez’ hand that looked like it might have come from an altercation of some kind.
The Lynn Police Department and Massachusetts State Police have issued an endangered child advisory for Giovanni.  An endangered child advisory is different from an Amber Alert because there is no known vehicle or other transportation method known in this case. Still, police think that Giovanni is in significant danger.
Giovanni Gonzalez, 5 was last seen wearing blue denim jeans, a red T-shirt, a silver braided chain, and black Spider-Man sandals. He is 4 feet, 2 inches tall and has black hair and brown eyes. There is a slight birthmark on his left inner ankle, and a faded pigmentation mark on the lower right side of his chest. He was carrying a Transformers backpack.
Giovanni was last seen at about 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15, at his father’s home at 2 Brightwood Terrace in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Gonzales has been charged with one count of child endangerment. He pleaded not guilty during an arraignment yesterday, and is being held on $500,000 cash bail. He is due back in court on September 17.
UPDATE 8/23/08 - A mop and a bottle of Lysol found in Ernesto Gonzalez’ home have tested positive for the presence of blood. Also removed from the home were a belt, trash bags, two knives, a computer, and a cell phone.
Ernesto Gonzalez apparently initially told investigators that he had not had his son since the weekend prior, but that was busted. Ernesto took Giovanni to a behavioral therapy appointment on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The therapist did see Ernesto and Giovanni together and Giovanni was alive and well at that time. It’s the last known sighting of the little boy.
While Ernesto Gonzalez refuses to talk about his son or about the gash on his hand, police are doing door-to-door searches for Giovanni in the area. One investigator says that Giovanni may be in Puerto Rico - if he’s alive.
Update 11/26/2008 - Not that I am shocked that Ernesto killed his son, but I am a bit surprised he confessed. His lawyer is none to happy about it either, criticizing The Globe for conducting the interview in the first place. Essex County officials are also skeptical, stating there is no evidence to corroborate what he has admitted to doing. Ernesto says that he didn’t mean to kill Giovanni, that it “just happened.” He told the reporter that Giovanni had been acting up while he was staying with him, and that he tried to ignore it. The stabbing came after Ernesto says Giovanni was standing, yelling in front of the refrigerator. Nest thing he knew, he was stabbing the bioy to death. He also stated he cut up the boy in the bathtub and placed him in 6 separate trash bags. He then got on his bicycle and deposited the bags in separate locations around town.
Officials are skeptical because they state that what he is admitting to have done does not match the evidence they found in the apartment…which was not evidence of anyone being stabbed to death and dismembered. They do not doubt the boy is dead, just the story of how he got that way. When asked why he was talking now, Ernesto replied “I’m going to be here a long time. My son isn’t here. They’re not going to let me go. Why not talk?”
I’m here, being outraged. But like the other thread. I had nothing new to add, so I didn’t.
But thanks. Now you know about one more. We just need Nancy Grace to get on this one too… (oh GAWD, I can’t believe I typed that one without gagging…)
Yeah, there is not enough to really discuss yet about this one. But as soon as there are more leads, I will.
lol. My husband hates her with a passion!
Maybe little Giovanni said something about the dad in the Behavioral Therapy appointment that pissed him off and he took it out on him later in the evening ?? Was the dad drinking or doing drugs ? I’m sure that LE must have tested with luminol….maybe that’s part of the reason they think he may still be alive ?
God, these shitty assholes who call themselves “parents” are sooo pathetic !! How can they do this to defenseless children that can’t even protect themselves against their OWN mother or father ?? How can they live with themselves ??
tonight’s news:
BOSTON — Lynn and state police continue to search for a missing 5-year-old, who was last seen a few weeks ago with his father.
Giovanni Gonzalez was last seen on Aug. 16 with Ernesto Gonzalez, who is being held at the Middleton House of Corrections on a child endangerment charge.
Investigators said Thursday that they are working on the logistics of the search with state police headquarters in Framingham, but they will not reveal where the next search areas will be or when those efforts will take place due to the ongoing investigation.
Police are continuing to conduct interviews and in some cases are re-interviewing people in an effort to obtain additional information about Giovanni’s whereabouts.
Clear Channel is providing a billboard, free of charge, which will be going up next week in Lynn’s Wyoma Square. It will include pictures of Giovanni and his father.
Anyone with information about the child is urged to call Lynn police at 781-595-2000.
Very nice Clear Channel!
This Video has different Pictures of Giovanni.. He’s so cute..
http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/Disturbing-evidence-found-in-home-of-missing-boys-father-/1219454635.html
I posted a video here Imp, If you want to move it it is fine with me. You said to post it in the comments..lol
This is the link to America’s Most Wanted.. Has information and pic’s
http://www.amw.com/missing_children/brief.cfm?id=58380
The latest from the Boston Globe — essentially, a whole lot of nothing.
It does encourage me somewhat that the police still seem so certain he’s alive. I wonder why, as my gut tells me otherwise. I sure hope they’re right and I’m wrong!!!
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/09/05/a_boy_is_gone_mothers_hope_stays/
A boy is gone, mother’s hope stays
5-year-old has been missing 3 weeks
Giovanni Gonzalez with his father, Ernesto Gonzalez Jr. (Massachusetts State Police)
By John R. Ellement
Globe Staff / September 5, 2008
Some days, it is only a mother’s intuition that keeps Daisy Colon’s spirit going strong.
“In my heart, I know he’s alive,” the East Boston woman said in a phone interview yesterday.
Colon’s 5-year-old son, Giovanni Gonzalez, has been missing since Aug. 16, a day after she dropped him off in Lynn with his father, Ernesto Gonzalez Jr., she said.
Gonzalez has told Lynn police and State Police assigned to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office that Colon never dropped off the child. But neighbors said they saw Gonzalez and a boy now believed to be Giovanni playing at the father’s Brightwood Terrace apartment on the afternoon of Aug. 16.
Gonzalez is being held on $500,000 cash bail and is refusing to talk to investigators, who are determined more than ever to reunite the child with his mother.
“We are not giving up,” Blodgett said this week. “We are not sparing any expense or effort to find him. We are not even at the point of thinking of giving up.”
Yesterday, Blodgett and Lynn police jointly said they are mapping out a new search strategy with State Police but declined to be more specific, citing the investigation.
Police have already made multiple sweeps of the downtown neighborhood where the elder Gonzalez lived, as well as Flax Pond, cemeteries, parks, and nearby stores. Gonzalez, authorities said, did not own a car, was considered a loner, and was not known to have extensive financial resources.
Authorities also said yesterday that Clear Channel will provide a billboard next week in Lynn that will display pictures of Giovanni and his father.
Blodgett said investigators have pursued hopeful, but ultimately dead-end leads, such as a report that the boy was seen in Lawrence and another tip that he was driven to Florida.
Gonzalez was a meatcutter at a Lynn company, where his employers have been very cooperative with investigators, Blodgett said. Speaking only in vague terms, he said “we’ve taken some samples from different things, and we are having that tested.”
Blodgett said investigators are now working to eliminate possibilities but are extremely reluctant to consider the possibility that the child has lost his life.
“We are keeping our energy up by operating under the belief that he is alive, and he is out there, and we are going to keep looking for him,” Blodgett said.
Giovanni’s disappearance has drawn the attention of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Ernie Allen, president of the center, said experience has shown that most children are reunited with their loved ones, even if it sometimes takes weeks, months, or years.
The center is circulating Giovanni’s photograph around the country and in Puerto Rico, where his father has relatives, he said.
“It’s a very frustrating case,” Allen said. “Our hope is that somebody will come forward with information. We are concerned about Giovanni’s safety.”
According to court records, the elder Gonzalez has had occasional violent outbursts, but Colon said she never saw him act out of line toward their son. And, even now, she still cannot understand why the father of her son sits in jail, silent.
“I’m breaking my head,” Colon said. “I think every day, every night, ‘Why? Why would he do something like that?’ There is no answer.”
Allen said that studies show that 80 percent of custodial kidnappings spring from anger between the adults. The child, he said, is used merely as a means to lash out.
He said custodial kidnappings most often end without the child suffering physical injury. Emotional damage is severe, however, he said.
“There really is hope,” he said. “Just because it’s been [since Aug. 16] doesn’t mean that this is gloom and doom. . . . Somebody knows where Giovanni is. We believe he is alive.”
Police asked anyone with information to contact Lynn police or State Police assigned to Blodgett’s office.
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.
http://thedailybs.com/news/?p=457
Doesn’t look like “daddy” gives a rats ass about his little boy. This seems like one of those “macho” type of custody battles…..dad doesn’t REALLY care…just wants to “win” and he hates his wife - wants to punish her.
(Thanks, Mr. Krause for use of link - not that I asked for your permission…LOL)
Was going to add thanks to Clear Channel for the billboard but someone beat me to it [again].Say a prayer for this little boy ev1, lets hope he is alive and this is just a nasty custody case[not that that is a good thing]
I promised someone here(can’t remember who) that I would find this thread and post…..well it took me awhile (had surgery last week)…but OMG…this poor baby, what an angel.
Speaking as a divorced parent, with an abusive ex….laws need to change….I would bet that at some point in child visitation hearings, the mother stated she felt uncomfortable leaving her child with him, or he was abusive in the past-towards her.
I am sure if someone really wanted to look up the statistics this is an all too often—fact.
I die slightly every time my ex has my sons….everytime, I hold my breath all weekend….until I have them in my arms.
There is nothing that can be done, he has never physically harmed either one of them……but he is incapable of love, compassion, and sets his sights on rights and wrongs, revenge and anger….
I think that any man who has convictions for DV….or who has a history of DV….needs to have supervised visits ONLY….if that…..
We continue to risk children…..every day…..
Giovanni is a victim of his father……but also a victim of a justice system who continues to put children, defenseless children—at risk……..
I keep checking everyday to see if there has been any news on this precious boy. And as always, nothing. But kudos to LE for not giving up and for all their hard work.
Giovanni, we are all praying for little man, and for your mother, that you come home safe and never have to see that POS so called father ever again.
Thanks Ruby for any and all updates.
The police have expanded their search, as the scum father does not have a car, they are reviewing all tapes from public transportation and area stores. They are wondering if someone assisted the father by taking Giovanni away with their vehicle. I couldn’t find a written report on this but it was on http://www.wbz.com radio this morning. The billboard should be going up any time now.
I have to agree with that one as well, this does not give me a good feeling. Sounds like the father is a wacko who knows exactly where this little boy is.
Minorities are often given less attention than as someone said in Caseyasses case, because she good media attention. Although she is much more evil than Giovanni father, he’s probably just stupid and scared.. Anthonyasses are just evil and manipulating, and lieing, and frauds, and on and on… I hope they break this guy soon., a 5 yr old missing for 2 weeks is never good… I hope they find you little Giovanni, God Bless
I’ve said it before. I hate the fact that because he’s not white, blonde, ect that he doesn’t get the attention he deserves.
I’m still praying little man, I check on you everyday…….
I posted the latest in the Forums this morning, Peeper. Just so you know…
Ok, here is the first article I’ve seen that does specify that the blood they found in Ernesto’s apartment did NOT come from Giovanni. That’s what I suspected, since they kept saying they believed he’s alive, but this is the first confirmation I’ve seen.
I’m trying to keep this boy’s name from sinking into obscurity. We haven’t found him! We don’t know he’s dead! Why is he not a hot topic on this board (or any other)?
It’s a heartbreaking read…my thoughts and prayers continue to be with Daisy Colon and Giovanni Gonzalez.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/21/life_without_giovanni/
Life without Giovanni</strong
By Yvonne Abraham
Globe Columnist / September 21, 2008
Even when it comes, sleep brings no relief to Daisy Colon.
“Last night I dreamed somebody tied me to the bed, and I couldn’t get free,” she says. “The time was flying. The sun was going up and down, up and down, up and down. I was trying to call my mom, but all I could make was this noise.”
She is helpless during her waking hours, too.
Five weeks ago today, Colon went to pick up her son Giovanni Gonzalez after a weekend at his father Ernesto’s place in Lynn. They weren’t there. She waited for them for hours, then called police. They found Ernesto, but there was no sign of Giovanni. The father denied having seen his son at all that weekend.
Desperate, incensed, Daisy confronted Ernesto at the police station. She demanded to know where her son was. Offered not to press charges. Begged him.
“You have him,” he kept saying. “You have him.”
And to this day, even after being charged with child endangerment and jailed on $500,000 bail, Ernesto has nothing more to say about the 5-year-old with the wide smile and the Spiderman obsession.
So Daisy Colon drags herself through the days, separated from her beloved child, frustrated, empty.
She forces herself to eat once a day. She chain-smokes Newports on her East Boston stoop. She hugs her daughter Angie, not yet 2, affecting cheeriness for her sake. She stays out of her son’s room, where all of his toys are in a box in a corner because she can’t bear to look at them.
She plays the same gospel song over and over in her car on the way to see the Essex County DA: “My soul magnifies the Lord. You’re my strength. You’re my shield.” She closes her eyes at stoplights to take in the words. God has a reason for putting her through this, she says.
Every day, every couple of hours, she calls the DA and the Lynn police to ask if there’s anything new.
There is nothing new.
Because Ernesto Gonzalez, sitting in his cell, says nothing.
“Do you think he might read this in prison?” Daisy asks. “If he’s reading this, I want to say something that will catch his attention.”
After 35 days, what could catch his attention?
She pauses, searching.
Finally, she settles on this: “You wanted to hurt me, and you did. It’s killing me inside. But it’s Giovanni’s future, and he needs to show up soon. If you know where he is or if somebody has him, just put him somewhere public - a hospital, a post office, a police station, a mall - anywhere that he can say his name and where he lives.”
Her heart tells her Giovanni is alive. Even when police found a blood-stained mop at Ernesto’s place, Daisy refused to believe her son had been hurt. Investigators found that the blood was not Giovanni’s.
“My mind has a lot of those thoughts, but my heart is straight on one thing,” she says. “He’s OK.”
Still, he has missed out on the start of kindergarten at the Samuel Adams School. He must miss his precious Superman suit with the padded chest muscles. He must be asking questions.
As police follow a host of so-far fruitless leads, Ernesto seems ready to stay right where he is - saying nothing, waiting everybody out. He hasn’t sought a bail reduction. He seems utterly disconnected, not even bothering to use all of his telephone privileges.
They can’t hold him forever. He has a court date in November to answer the charges. Even if convicted, he faces a maximum of 2 1/2 years in a house of correction.
Maybe he’s figuring 2 1/2 years isn’t that long to endure, if it means getting away with whatever it is he may have done.
But every minute of Giovanni’s life is precious. And for Daisy, every minute without him is torture.
The minutes pile up by the thousand, and the sun goes up and down, up and down.
Yvonne Abraham can be reached at Abraham@globe.com
This just keeps getting more bizarre. Reports state Ernesto had no car and no friends or family in the area. If Giovanni is still alive, that almost certainly means there is someone else involved. But who? Someone willing to take responsibility for kidnapping, apparently.
And who the hell’s blood was it? Why was there enough of it to have to use a mop to clean it up?
Oh, when I read about the bloody mop I just assumed foul play. So yeah who the hells blood is it… Did daddy punch the brick wall and bust up his knuckles … where is Giovanni ? Oh Daddy likes the free rent ?
?
A neighbor said they heard the father and son saturday through the apartment walls.
Oddly brings me back to the Gonzalez thingy …. Zenaida took him to PR. grrrrrrr
Not much to report, but a local TV station did a significant piece on the case to keep it in the public eye, so kudos to them. Here’s the link:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7526221&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1
Father confesses. http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2008/11/25/breaking_news/doc492e113527c38442851423.txt
Heh. You must have posted this while I was updating the story. No shocker, I guess. Sad, though.
Oh, my God. Another GONZALEZ!
Oh, my!! Poor baby. I am sorry for his mother. She must be in Hell over this whole ordeal… GUH!
Being a meat cutter, he would know how to dismember the body. Why are police so skeptical? What doesn’t “fit”? This asshole murdered this poor kid, cut him up, put him in trash bags then rode his bike to different dumpsters (I’d assume) to get rid of the evidence. He obviously knew exactly what he was doing.
RIP sweet boy. So, so sorry for the mom. Very small consolation - at least now she knows. May Ernesto rot in hell for this.
I was praying by some miracle this child would turn up alive and well, but as we see her on d’d, we know that doesn’t happen very often.
I would like to know if this bastard is telling the truth about stabbing and dismembering his son. I would not doubt that he figures he is in prison, and thinks he can make some kind of name for himself by playing up the story and adding grisly details. He is evil bastard, either way his son is dead but I would not like to seem him get any kind of special attention over his terrible death.
Rest in peace little Giovanni at peace…I pray.
This story is still too bizarre for words. Ernesto did finally talk, but not to his lawyer or the police; he spoke to a Boston Globe reporter. The police don’t believe him. He says he stabbed the boy to death, and dismembered him in the apt, then disposed of the pieces. Nothing they found in the apt showed any signs of blood or tissue. In short: the police still don’t believe he’s telling them the truth.
Weird. Why would you confess to dismembering your son if you didn’t do it? And if he didn’t do it, where’s Giovanni?
I hate this case.
to hurt the ex wife …
if he put 6 bags around town in different spots - cadaver’s would of picked up on something when they were doing the rescue searches.
when they say riding his bike I hope they mean his harley - not his tri cycle he has a mentality of a two year old… Stab your own son… wtf - what a fucking looser. God Bless his mother and family - what a nitemare to be living.
He wants death row… Babydaddy must of got a taste of what it will be like in general population. But still his way of rubbing salt in the wound. To Punish the Ex.
Ernesto Gonzalez, 36, of Lynn, was indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury on charges of willfully misleading a person in the furtherance of a continuing investigation and parental kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty Thursday in Salem District Court.
The first indictment carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison. Parental kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of one year in the House of Correction, officials said.
this is today’s update.
I can’t imagine this guy has the brains to dismember his son and then clean the apartment so good that there’s no evidence. Don’t forget, they found a bloody mop, which didn’t seem to help with evidence, but you’d think he’d have cleaned that up or disposed of it also. I’m thinking he confessed to murdering his son so his poor ex-wife will stop looking for her son and in the mean time, Giovanni is in another country, wondering why his Mom hasn’t come to get him.
I would have to agree.
Ironically, way back in the beginning of this story, there were parallels drawn between the Caylee case and this case….there was so much press and releases with Caylee’s case, meanwhile Giovanni’s case was lost or back paged….
And today, I log on to read the update on Caylee’s body being found and there in the newly updated links to my left are an array of postings concerning Giovanni….
These poor children…..