CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A judge found the boyfriend of a Chesterfield woman who went missing more than two years ago and was never found, guilty of neglecting the couple’s five-year-old son.
Zulma Pabon disappeared in June of 2014 and was reported missing when she failed to show up to her job as a nurse.
Her boyfriend, Dr. John Gibbs, never reported her missing.
Gibbs was questioned about Pabon’s disappearance, but never charged with a crime.
John Gibbs (PHOTO: Chesterfield Police)
Police have also previously said that Gibbs did not cooperate with the investigation. They added that was his Constitutional right.
The Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney who handled the case, Erin Barr, confirmed that the couple’s son is showing a lot of behavioral problems since his mom went missing.
He has been suspended from school several times, and even wandered away from the home two separate times.
Zulma Pabon
The second incident resulted in Gibbs’ arrest.
Police said Gibbs left the little boy home along while he attended a parent-teacher conference.
The boy is now living with Gibbs’ sister, but CBS6 reporter Melissa Hipolit talked to Pabon’s sister, Yalitza Soba, by phone and she said she is fighting for custody of her nephew.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Gibbs faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on February 13, 2017.
As for her sister’s case, she said there is no closure yet so it is hard, but they have faith.
The disappearance of Zulma Pabon
Zulma Pabon, described as a Hispanic female, is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 145 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen Friday, June 6, 2014, when she left work at St. Francis Medical Center, where she was a nurse. Co-workers reported Pabon missing when she failed to show up for work on Monday, June 9. Her boyfriend Gibbs did not report her missing.
Pabon’s Nissan was located about 10 days after her disappearance, in the Greenleigh Mobile Home Park off Jeff Davis Highway, some 16 miles from Pabon’s Midlothian home on Terrace Arbor Circle.
Surveillance cameras captured images of a white, newer-model four-door truck towing a white, four-door vehicle on Commonwealth Center Parkway at about 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. Police asked the driver of that truck to contact them immediately, but never released any information about it.
Gibbs was seen returning to their Terrace Arbor Circle home about 6:39 a.m. the morning of Saturday, June 7, according to police. He was alone. Pabon’s white 2009 Nissan Altima was seen leaving the home the couple shared about 15 minutes before Gibbs was captured on a neighbor’s security camera returning to the house.
Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 6:13pm 5400 Block Commonwealth Centre PKWY
Pabon’s sister previously said that there was no way Pabon would leave without taking her son. Chesterfield Police said there was no history of domestic violence calls at the address, nor any indication Pabon had ever disappeared before.
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