Missing boy's mother makes appeal

Urges son to call 911; Lynn police scour the city

Police released a photograph of Ernesto L. Gonzalez Jr. holding his son, Giovanni.

LYNN - The anxious mother of a missing 5-year-old boy - last seen with his father - urged her son yesterday to call 911, so he could be found and returned to their East Boston home.

Daisy Colon spoke to reporters as she left Lynn police headquarters, where she had spent the day waiting for the result of the intense search for Giovanni Gonzalez, who was last in the care of his father, Ernesto L. Gonzalez Jr. at the father's home, a few blocks north of Lynn City Hall.

"Giovanni, I miss you a lot, honey, " Colon, 33, said. She urged her son to call police. "Don't be afraid to ask for help. OK, honey?"

In Spanish, she told her son: "I love you. Be strong. Because soon we are going to be together again."

Late yesterday police released a photograph of Gonzalez holding his son, in hopes of sparking someone's memory and generating new leads amid concerns about the child's well-being. They also distributed missing person fliers in English and Spanish in the North Shore city.

Under an informal custody agreement, Colon had allowed her son to spend weekends with his father and had dropped him off Friday evening, expecting to pick up the boy Sunday afternoon about 4, according to court records.

But when Colon arrived at Gonzalez's home on Brightwood Terrace on Sunday, her knocks went unanswered and her son was nowhere to be found. She summoned police, who eventually broke in and found Gonzalez inside. He denied seeing the boy the entire weekend.

Gonzalez, 36, was arrested and charged with child endangerment. He has been held on $500,000 cash bail since his arraignment Monday in Lynn District Court.

Jack Dawley, first assistant district attorney for Essex County, said yesterday that State Police and Lynn police are re-interviewing neighbors, scouring the immediate area around Gonzalez's residence for the boy, and searching for people who may have spotted the pair over the weekend.

He also said they are checking with restaurants and stores near the father's residence in hopes an employee might have spotted the boy. They are also checking whether the father and son were recorded on a surveillance camera.

Colon told police she had dropped off Giovanni at Gonzalez's apartment the two prior weekends and had the child returned to her without difficulty. On Friday, when she and Gonzalez discussed weekend plans, Colon told police she warned Gonzalez to keep his word.

"She told him if he messes this up that she would make sure he would not be able to see him again," police said in the report.

A hearing on visitation was scheduled for Sept. 15 in Suffolk Probate and Family Court, a move sought by Gonzalez, who was ordered to pay $125 a week in child support in 2006, records show.

Gonzalez denied talking with Colon on Friday, but her cellphone showed they had a 19-minute conversation, police said.

Two of Gonzalez's neighbors told police they saw him with a young boy Saturday about 1 p.m. The child was happily playing with a ball while his father stood nearby.

The neighbor said "the boy kicked the ball down the side of Brightwood Terrace, and Gonzalez cursed the boy in Spanish," police said in a report.

According to a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, the child protection agency received two reports of neglect - one against each parent - that were not substantiated. The dates and times of those complaints were not available last night.

In 2001, Gonzalez was arrested by Lynn police after fighting with his girlfriend at the time, threatening her with a knife, vandalizing her car with a knife, threatening a neighbor with a knife, and then threatening police officers with a knife. He was convicted on multiple assault and battery charges and was sentenced to three months in the Essex County House of Correction in 2003, records show.

Globe Correspondent Jeannie M. Nuss contributed to this report.

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.