Psychologist Sought in Girlfriend’s Death

The FBI joined a police search Tuesday for a child psychologist suspected of killing his 25-year-old girlfriend in his suburban townhouse, then abandoning their 18-month-old son in an industrial area 90 miles away.

Folsom police said there was a history of domestic violence between James Dewayne Nivette, 54, and Gina Barnett, whose bullet-ridden body was found at Nivette’s home in a quiet, wooded cul-de-sac about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday.

Authorities found Nivette’s car, a 1998 Volkswagen convertible, parked at the San Francisco airport. Folsom Police Sgt. Terry Solgas said the FBI is investigating the possibility that Nivette may have fled to France, where he is reported to own or lease property.

San Bruno police asked Folsom authorities to check on the home after a man whom Solgas characterized as another boyfriend of Barnett identified a news photograph of toddler Tyler Nivette and directed them to the Folsom address, Solgas said.

The boy was found crying on a sidewalk by a San Bruno woman as she drove through an office complex area early Monday.

Television stations broadcast photographs of the abandoned boy, clad in blue, fuzzy pajamas and a denim jacket, and several people from the couple’s former Sonoma County neighborhood telephoned to identify him, Solgas said.

“Our suspicions are that something triggered another domestic violence episode,” Solgas said.

Police don’t know whether the child witnessed his mother’s killing, Solgas said, “but you hope and pray he didn’t.”