"As suspect languishes, case hits a crossroads; Lynn man admitted to killing son, but competency at issue" by Maria Sacchetti | Globe Staff, May 26, 2013
SALEM — Ernesto L. Gonzalez Jr., 41, has been in jail, or a secure mental hospital, for an extraordinary four years and nine months, charged with parental kidnapping and misleading investigators. Though Gonzalez confessed to a Globe reporter three months after the disappearance that he killed the boy, leading to the discovery of a bloodstained knife, he has never been charged with homicide and his 5-year-old son Giovanni has never been found. The boy’s mother believes he is still alive, like the three missing women recently found in Cleveland about a decade after their disappearances.
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Harrowing new details obtained by the Globe only deepen the mystery: Records in Salem District and Superior courts show that Gonzalez overdosed on painkillers four months before Giovanni disappeared, had a childhood history of torturing cats, and confessed to killing his son not once, but twice.
The torturing of animals shows a mental defect.
Investigators are also nagged by the one trash bin that collectors took to an incinerator before police could search it, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett declined to be interviewed for this story, but his spokeswoman said prosecutors are committed to solving the case. She said Gonzalez’s trial has been delayed for several reasons, including legal filings, turnover among his lawyers, and now, his mental health.
“Not a day goes by that the district attorney and others aren’t thinking about this case or aren’t concerned about resolving what happened,” said Carrie Kimball Monahan.
Russell C. Sobelman, Gonzalez’s court-appointed lawyer, said he believes his client is incompetent to stand trial. Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty.
He said Gonzalez rarely answers questions or rants about unrelated matters. Gonzalez has been in Bridgewater, the prison system’s psychiatric hospital, since December.
“I think he would confess to the Lindbergh kidnapping if he could,” said Sobelman, Gonzalez’s third lawyer since his arrest. “Because he’s not in his right mind. He’s in a fantasy world.”
What prescription pharmaceuticals have they had him under?
A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday....
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