District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett has confirmed neighbor’s suspicions that missing 5-year-old Giovanni Gonzalez was with his father Ernesto Gonzalez before he was reported missing Sunday night.
“Everything tells us that the father and the son were together late Saturday afternoon,” he said.
Ernesto Gonzalez is being held on $500,000 cash bail for allegedly endangering his son, who was last seen Saturday.
Police interviews with neighbors described Ernesto Gonzalez, 36, of 2 Brightwood Terrace #2, as someone who “always seemed mad” and “seemed like a real jerk” in terms of his behavior with his 5-year-old son, Giovanni Gonzalez.
Brightwood Terrace resident Jason Fallis told police he saw Ernesto Gonzalez with a young boy on Saturday just after noontime. He said the pair were playing with a ball outside and when the boy kicked the ball down the street, Fallis said Ernesto Gonzalez cursed at the boy in Spanish.
“He seemed like a real jerk,” Fallis is quoted as saying to police.
Fallis also said Ernesto Gonzalez always seemed mad to him whenever he saw him outside with his son.
Another neighbor, Mary Laing, described Ernesto Gonzalez as “very quiet.”
She told police that she heard a child laughing inside Ernesto Gonzalez’s apartment Saturday night and also heard the sound of a television. When asked by police if she was certain she heard the sound of a child, she said, “I know what a child sounds like.”
Lynn and state police continue to search for Giovanni Gonzalez and plan to step up that search Wednesday with the help of a state police air wing, which will fly over the city using infared equipment in an attempt to locate the boy, Blodgett said.
“We are actively searching for the whereabouts of the young boy,” Blodgett said. “We did retrieve some items from searches and we have been conducting a door-to-door canvas with Lynn police and state police. In addition, flyers had been made up with pictures of the boy and the father and they were printed in both English and Spanish.”
Giovanni Gonzalez’s mother, Daisy Colon of East Boston, called police after Ernesto Gonzalez said the boy wasn’t with him when she went to retrieve him Sunday from a scheduled visitation.
When police interviewed Colon Sunday evening, she told them that she and Ernesto Gonzalez had a Sept. 15 court appearance to iron out custody and visitation rights. She also said Ernesto Gonzalez had visits with Giovanni for the previous two weekends and everything went fine.
“Ernesto has been out of Giovanni’s life, now he wants to be part of it,” Colon told police.
Police said Colon told them that if Ernesto Gonzalez “messes this up” that she would make sure that he would not be able to see Giovanni again.
Suffolk County Probate and Family Court records show Gonzalez agreed in April 2006 to pay Colon $125 a week in child support after the state Department of Revenue moved on Colon’s behalf to bring him to trial for child support enforcement.
The payment was outlined in a support order issued by Probate Court, in which Colon agreed to maintain health insurance for her son.
In June 2008, Gonzalez filed a complaint for custody visitation in Suffolk Probate seeking joint legal custody of Giovanni with Colon. In stating his reason for filing the complaint, he wrote: “Because I am the father of the child.”
After tireless efforts to get Ernesto Gonzalez to tell police what happened Sunday night, Lynn and state police issued an “Endangered Child Advisory” late Monday afternoon.
State Police homicide detectives searched Ernesto Gonzalez’s apartment building Monday night, while nearly 30 units from Lynn and State Police searched the woods near High Rock Tower.
Concern for the boy continues to mount in light of the fact that Ernesto Gonzalez refused to tell police how he suffered a noticeable laceration to his left finger and he has a previous conviction of assault and battery with a knife.
Lynn District Court records indicate Ernesto Gonzalez received a si
