Police find blood stains in father's home

Search for boy, 5, takes dire turn

The desperate search for a missing 5-year-old boy in Lynn has taken an ominous turn, as police yesterday found apparently blood-stained objects in the apartment of the boy's father.

State Police executed a search warrant on the home of Ernesto L. Gonzalez Jr., 36, and seized a mop that appeared to be stained with blood and cleaned with bleach, as well as several knives and a cap from a household cleanser that also appeared to be blood-stained, said Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett. The items were sent to a state lab for analysis.

The development comes after police, acting on another search warrant, took a laptop computer from Ernesto Gonzalez's Brightwood Terrace apartment on Monday. Blodgett said authorities still hold out hope that Giovanni Gonzalez will be found alive, but he said the latest evidence puts them on a greater state of alert.

"It certainly heightens our concern," Blodgett said last night. "It makes us all the more determined to find this child."

According to authorities, Giovanni was dropped off at his father's home on Aug. 15, but when the boy's mother went to pick him up two days later, Ernesto Gonzalez said he was never there. The elder Gonzalez is being held on $500,000 bail and has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges.

Blodgett said police would search door to door and set up roadblocks today, handing out literature and photos of the boy. He asks that anyone who may have seen father and son together call police. The FBI has also joined the investigation.

Gonzalez continues to deny he ever saw his son and has not been cooperative with authorities. He has also refused to discuss a cut on his hand.

"We've spoken to his attorney and asked him to convey to his client that we hope he would be more cooperative with us in attempting to find his son," Blodgett said.

The boy's mother, Daisy Colon, of East Boston, said that she did not want to discuss the recently uncovered evidence, saying her only concern was finding her son.

"I just want to thank everyone that's praying and wishing me hope and all that stuff," she said. "I'm not asking [police] about details like that."

John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.