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Since You Asked: Azalea sheriff's deputy served prison for 1991 death of toddler son Sunday Nov 13, 2016 at 6:27 PM Nov 13, 2016 at 6:27 PM As I was driving down Interstate 5, the Azalea freeway exit sparked a question about something that happened more than 20 years ago. Whatever became of the case of the missing 2-year-old son of a deputy sheriff who lived near Azalea? — Tom, via email   The body of 2-year-old Tommy Gibson was never found after his disappearance in 1991, but his father was ultimately sentenced to prison in 1995 for the child's death, court records and Associated Press stories tracked down online show. Larry Earl Gibson guilty of second-degree manslaughter in 1995, according to Douglas County Circuit Court records. He had faced murder charges in the child's death. The child went missing on the morning of March 18, 1991. Larry Gibson originally told investigators the child was out playing in their front yard while he went for a jog, though Gibson reportedly told investigators by May of that year that he may have accidentally shot at his son while firing at a neighbor's cat. A 1995 Mail Tribune article said a break in the case came from an in-home childcare worker who heard disclosures from Gibson's young daughter, who made statements to the caregiver's child along the lines of "Daddy broke my brother." The worker, who had relocated to Phoenix months after Tommy Gibson's disappearance and became a hairdresser, was raising funds for a memorial service. — Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. To see a collection of columns, go to mailtribune.com/youasked. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.