Bob_Ward's Blog

This week's (9/27/08) New England's Unsolved takes an in-depth look at the disappearance of 5 year old Giovanni Gonzalez in Lynn, Massachusetts.

   This is an incredibly frustrating case for law enforcement. Giovanni disappeared during a weekend visit to his father's house. The father, Ernesto Gonzalez, claims he never saw the boy that weekend and he has no idea where Giovanni is right now.

   But police say they have witnesses that can place Giovanni with his father on Saturday August 16th, the day after Giovanni's mother, Daisy Colon, handed Giovanni over to his father.

   Not only that, but Daisy's memory is crystal clear about the handoff on Friday August 15th. Daisy, as well as top law enforcement, is convinced that Ernesto Gonzales knows exactly what happened. But he's done talking to police.

   In fact, Ernesto is held in the Essex County House of Correction on $500,000 bail on a charge of child endangerment. This carries a penalty of two and a half years in jail. And Ernesto is not talking.

   Daisy Colon is so frustrated with Ernesto that she recently showed up unannounced at the Essex County House of Correction and met Ernesto face to face. She put it to him point blank: “Did you kill Giovanni?” Daisy told me Ernesto wouldn't look her in the eye, and wouldn't answer the question.

   Since I conducted my interviews, Ernesto was in court in Salem on Friday September 26th, looking for a bail reduction. And the state presented some interesting facts.

   According to the prosecutor, Ernesto brought Giovanni to a therapy session the day after Daisy dropped him off. A medical professional told police the father was with the son that day.

   The search of Ernesto's apartment revealed two small dinosaur toys that Daisy remembers packing in Giovanni's backpack for the weekend visit. The backpack and Giovanni's clothes are all missing.

   We also learned that around the time Giovanni disappeared (the prosecutor was no more specific than that) Ernesto moved $14,000 to family in Puerto Rico. Investigators have traveled to Puerto Rico talking to Ernesto's family, looking for Giovanni. But there has been no trace of him.

  News reports shortly after Giovanni disappeared talked about a bloody mop and cleaner found in Ernesto's apartment. The test results have come back and it was NOT a match to Giovanni.

   Ernesto does not own a car. I'm told he gets around on foot or by bicycle. Dumpsters, graveyards, ponds, warehouses within walking distance and beyond have been searched with cadaver dogs, and it has all yielded nothing.

   Now, Ernesto tells police that Daisy has her dates wrong. That what she is remembering is a previous weekend visit. This goes against what the witnesses have told police.

   And Daisy's memory is clear. She told me that on Friday, August 15th, as she approached Ernesto's apartment, she called him on his cell and he answered. She parked her car across the street from the apartment, and Ernesto walked across the street to talk to her.

   Daisy told me Ernesto looked very tired. She asked if he was OK, and she asked if he wanted to call the weekend visit off. He said no. And he asked about the cane Daisy was using. Daisy explained her back hurt, but otherwise she was OK.

   The talk, Daisy said, went back and forth for a few more minutes. Then finally, she got Giovanni out of the back seat of her car. She told him to call anytime if he needed too, and the two said goodbye.

   Daisy told me she sat in her car and watched as Ernesto and Giovanni walked into the apartment building together. It was the last she ever saw her son. And he never called her that weekend.

   Even at four minutes in length, my New England's Unsolved was too short to get all of this information across. But if you missed it when it aired Saturday night, please check it out here on myfoxboston.com.

   I've found wherever I go, people are concerned for Giovanni. Essex County DA Jonathan Blodgett, state and local police, federal authorities are all concerned too. And despite the frustrations of this case, they are not giving up.

   If you know where Giovanni Gonzalez is, if you saw Giovanni the weekend of August 15-17, if you saw Ernesto Gonzalez alone that weekend, please call Lynn Police at 781-595-2000.

   Thanks for your interest in this case.

   Bob Ward