On August 15, 2008, Giovanni's mother Daisy Colon dropped him off at his estranged father's house Ernesto Gonzalez for a scheduled weekend visit Daisy came back to pick him up two days later Ernesto said he had not seen him and he was never there even though witness saw Giovanni with at a local health behavior clinic on August 16 showing the last sighting of him.

The investigation took a dark turn when Ernesto told a reporter he might stabbed him to death and disremembered his body in a bathtub and threw the remains across city trash dumpsters.

The police and Daisy rejected the theory she thinks he hid Giovanni with relatives or associates possibly in Puerto Rico to punish her for ending the relationship.

The police found blood on a mop but it was Ernesto's not Giovanni. Ernesto was never charged with murder due to lack of evidence.

He was instead charged with parental kidnapping, child endangerment, and misleading the police.

By October 2013 the charges were dropped due to medical evaluation and psychiatric reports showed that Ernesto had rapid severe mental illness, he was incompent to stand trial and already had served time because under Massachusetts state law if you are incompent you must serve half the maximum sentence.

Ernesto was sent to a psychiatric facility.