Giovanni Gonzalez

On August 1, 2008, five-year-old Giovanni Gonzalez was dropped off by his mother, Daisy Colon for a weekend visitation with his dad, Ernesto Gonzalez Jr. in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Daisy was unable to contact Ernest and Giovanni by phone all weekend. When she went to pick up Giovanni at Ernesto's apartment on Sunday, nobody answered the door. She called the police, who came over to the apartment, but Ernesto and Giovanni weren't there. Giovanni's toys were found inside the apartment, but not his clothes or backpack.

When Ernesto was questioned about Giovanni's whereabouts, he said that he wasn't aware of any scheduled weekend visitation and hadn't seen him since August 10, 2008; but witnesses at the Lynn Behavioral Clinic say that Giovanni was with Ernesto at a scheduled appointment between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on August 16, 2008. Ernesto's neighbors also heard a child's voice coming from his apartment later that day.

On August 18, 2008, Ernesto was arrested and charged with child endangerment. He refused to cooperate with the investigation into Giovanni's disappearance. Several days after Ernesto was arrested, police searched his apartment where they discovered knives, a bloodstained bottle of household cleanser and a bloodstained mop that had been cleaned with bleach. Testing proved that the blood didn't belong to Giovanni.

Ernesto has a history of violent behavior and substance abuse. He had been arrested three times, was convicted of multiple assaults charges and served three months in jail.

In November of 2008 (in an interview with the Boston Globe), Ernesto confessed to stabbing Giovanni to death, dismembering his body in the bathtub and discarded his body parts in trash bins around Lynn, Massachusetts. The police have found no evidence to support his claims.

In December of 2008, Ernesto was charged with misleading the police and parental kidnapping. The child endangerment charge was dropped and the kidnapping charge was dismissed in June of 2011, but restored a year later. He was also charged in November of 2011 for assaulting a cellmate in jail.

In October of 2013, Ernesto was declared incompetent to stand trial. He currently resides at the Bridgewater State Hospital and is unable to face the criminal charges against him until he is pronounced competent.

As of 2023, Giovanni remains missing.