Heartbroken mom of missing Lynn boy pleads for his safe return

LYNN – Daisy Colon had one clear message to deliver to her missing son Tuesday outside the Lynn police station: “I miss you a lot, honey.””If you see any reporters, tell them your first name and your last name. Tell them your address. Don’t be afraid, honey.”Colon, 33, of East Boston, made the heartfelt plea for the return of 5-year-old Giovanni Gonzalez on Tuesday afternoon.”I miss you a lot, honey,” Colon said in both English and Spanish. “I love you.”Despite court records showing Colon and the boy’s father, Ernesto Gonzalez, 36, of Lynn, were going through a custody battle, Colon says Gonzalez wasn’t a bad father.”It’s been a surprise. We didn’t expect this,” Colon said. “He treated him good.”Gonzalez is being held at the Middleton House of Corrections on $500,000 cash bail because police say he’s withholding information about the boy’s whereabouts.Colon dropped off Giovanni at about 4 p.m. Friday for a scheduled weekend visit. When she returned to retrieve her son about 4 p.m. Sunday, Gonzalez said the boy wasn’t there and he hadn’t been there all weekend.”I’m going crazy,” Colon said Tuesday. “You see me here (at the police station) all day trying to figure this out.”Authorities say Gonzalez was extremely uncooperative when questioned and eventually arrested him at 3 a.m. Monday for child endangerment. Since then, he hasn’t told anyone where the boy is.A massive search began Monday and lasted into Tuesday night. Authorities initially were looking at Puerto Rico as a possible location for the boy, but backed away from that theory Tuesday.”Puerto Rico has not been ruled out but today’s focus was mostly in Lynn and around that neighborhood [where Gonzalez lives],” said Essex County District Attorney spokeswoman Karen Dawley.Authorities were also concerned because Gonzalez had a laceration on his left finger and provided conflicting explanations as to how he cut himself.”[It] gives us cause for concern,” said Essex County prosecutor John Dawley.Nearly 30 Lynn and state police units searched the woods near High Rock Tower on Monday night while homicide detectives searched Gonzalez’ Brightwood Terrace apartment building. One media report quoted State Police as saying a dumpster outside the apartment building was hauled away as evidence.When asked by a reporter if she thinks Giovanni is still alive, Colon answered: “In my heart, yes.”