Gabriel Johnson -- Missing 12/26/09

MIAMI BEACH, FL--Miami Beach Police have detained an Arizona mother who is suspected of 'custodial interference' of her own baby boy.

Now the search is on for Elizabeth Johnson's 8 month old child.

Arizona authorities say that they know Johnson was in San Antonio, Texas from December 22nd through December 27th.

Her son Gabriel has not been seen since December 26th.

Police arrested Johnson Wednesday night at a youth hostel on Miami Beach.

Johnson was scheduled to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court's Family Court in Phoenix for a Dec. 28 custodial hearing. But authorities say she failed to appear and lost custodial rights to 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.

Authorities say Elizabeth Johnson has yet to reveal the whereabouts of her baby and they also are searching for the car she was driving.

These mothers sure are something. They don't even deserve the privilege of being called "mother".

I hope this woman tells where her little boy is and that he is safely back where he belongs very soon.

Oh my, I hope she hasn't harmed him. What a piece of work.
She needs to be telling where this baby is.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/search-baby-gabriel-arizona-mother-refuses-police-find/story?id=9489263&page=1

Two sets of parents caught up in a bizarre custody dispute are frantic with worry about a missing 8-month-old baby and are begging his mother to tell police the truth about what she did with him.

Gabriel Johnson's biological father, Logan McQueary, said he fears Elizabeth Johnson may have killed their son, despite the lack evidence. But a couple who had been in talks to adopt the baby are sticking by the Arizona mother, saying she hid Gabriel to protect him.

Tammi and Jack Smith told "Good Morning America" today that Johnson gave her baby to an unknown couple while on the run in San Antonio, Texas.

Johnson, 23, of Tempe, Ariz., disappeared before Christmas after McQueary refused to let her adopt out their son. She had lost custody of Gabriel after failing to appear at a Dec. 28 court hearing.

She was arrested Dec. 29 in Miami Beach for interfering with custody -- without Gabriel.

"What she is telling us is that she met a family, a Caucasian man and woman with no child -- young," Tammi Smith told "Good Morning America."

"And she met them in the park. And she was crying and distraught and they came up to her and said, 'How can we help you?'"

When pressed for details about the couple, Smith said Johnson didn't remember much despite having spent three days with them, just that the woman's first name was "Cheryl." Tammi Smith said Johnson told her she purposely tried not to focus on their car or last names so she wouldn't be tempted to change her mind and get her son back.

"She believed she was doing a closed adoption," Tammi Smith said.

In a jailhouse interview Tuesday with a Phoenix CBS affiliate, Johnson reiterated her claim that she had given Gabriel to a couple she met at a San Antonio Park.

"I made a hasty decision and I thought it was OK," she said. "They approached me. I was out alone with the baby at the park. I trusted them, I believe in my heart they are good people."

Johnson is scheduled to be extradited to Arizona this week.

Police have also questioned the Smiths and searched their home but found no clues to indicate where Gabriel might be.

Authorities have said witnesses last saw the child in San Antonio.

The FBI found Johnson's car in a San Antonio motel parking lot Tuesday night. According to ABC affiliate KNXV, investigators were combing the car for evidence but said there were no obvious signs of violence.

The Smiths have said she fled to keep the baby from McQueary.

McQueary, 25, said his fears for his son's life stem from a series of text messages he received from Johnson.

"She basically said, 'There is no way in hell you will see your son again,'" he said at a recent news conference. "She put in the text, 'I killed him."

Johnson has been interviewed at length by investigators but police said she refuses to tell them what happened to her child.

"She was confronted, arrested and interviewed exhaustively about the whereabouts of the child," Miami Beach Police Sgt. Wayne Jones said. "All we know at this point is Gabriel can be anywhere between San Antonio and Miami Beach."

McQueary said he last saw his son days before what would have been the baby's first Christmas.

"I gave him a kiss and put him in his bed and that was the last time I saw him," he said.

Tammi and Jack Smith said Johnson's story about the couple in the park sounds very similar to how they met her.

"We met in an airport. I saw her distraught and crying with a newborn baby," Tammi Smith said. "And that doesn't look like a mother that wants to be a mother."

Jack Smith admitted he thought the entire adoption process with Johnson "felt strange," but that they all lived nearby and they had bonded with the baby after keeping him for a couple of weeks in December.

McQueary has charged that the Smiths pressured him into giving up the rights to his child.

"When Gabriel disappeared they said, basically, 'You know, if you care about your son and you want him back, you will sign the paperwork and she will bring him back to us and you will know that he is safe,'" McQueary said.

The Smiths deny the accusation and said they were simply passing on that message from Johnson and that they told McQueary they knew such papers wouldn't hold up because he signed them under duress, though it might bring the baby back.

"The father and Jack and I were in constant contact when we found out Elizabeth fled with the baby," Tammi Smith said. "When we finally got to speak to Elizabeth, she was so angry with the whole situation and told me, 'I have one message to give to Logan.'"

That message, Smith said, was sign the papers and the baby will be brought back.

The Smiths ask anyone who may have seen Gabriel to contact them through their Web site.

Anyone with information about Gabriel Johnson is asked to call the Tempe Police Department at 480-350-8311.

#1. when i saw an interview with the father .. he seemed eerily calm cool and collected... when he discussed the mother TELLING HIM she KILLED the baby, he didnt bat an eye... let alone shed a tear... i personally would be inconsoulable at the mear thought of that possibility..

#2. next thing we will hear is the woman at the camping ground she "gave" the baby to was zaneida fernandez gonzales (sp)... i am sure zanny the nanny has this precious angel too...

#3. bozo is paying her to keep the ZFG story alive for the trial.. if she stole another baby, it is proof of existance..god knows they need SOMEONE to say they saw her.... i bet she is a "10"

i cannot BELIEVE how "normal" these girls look... wool in sheeps clothing.. scary thought!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34745488/ns/today-today_people/

Police hold out hope for 8-month-old whose mother claimed she killed him

By Michael Inbar
TODAYshow.com contributor
updated 9:25 a.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 7, 2010

It’s a missing child case with an odd twist — and, authorities believe, possibly a better outcome in store than many.

Tempe, Ariz., resident Elizabeth Johnson told her estranged boyfriend Logan McQueary she had killed their 8-month-old son Gabriel, then backtracked and claimed she had given the boy to a couple she met in Texas.

For now, the incarcerated Johnson isn’t talking, but Tempe Police Sgt. Steve Carbajal told Meredith Vieira live on TODAY Thursday they have evidence young Gabriel is alive — and, hopefully, well.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

“We are very hopeful, and we are getting information that Gabriel is alive,” Carbajal said. “That’s what’s keeping us going in this investigation, to return Logan’s baby boy to him.”

A frightening message
The missing child case began to unfold Dec. 8, when McQueary split from Johnson and moved out of the couple’s home. The two had experienced relationship problems, many of them involving their child.

Shortly after the baby’s birth, Elizabeth Johnson tried to give the child up for adoption to an Arizona couple, but McQueary fought against it. When McQueary wouldn’t agree to the arrangement, a custody hearing was set for Dec. 28. But two days before the scheduled hearing, he received a text message that chilled him to the bone — Johnson wrote that she had killed their child.

Appearing with Sgt. Carbajal on TODAY Thursday, McQueary said that after receiving the text, he didn’t want to believe his former mate was capable of such an act.

“[I was] scared, and the first thing I did was call her,” McQueary told Vieira. “I kept asking her whether she did it or not. She said ‘yes.’ I didn’t know what to do, so I went to the police.”

‘Emotional wreck’
Police tracked Johnson down in Miami on Dec. 30, but after being arrested on charges of custodial interference, she has refused to give police any indication where the couple’s baby son is. However, Johnson did a phone interview with a Phoenix TV station in which she claimed she handed off Gabriel to a couple she met in a park in San Antonio, Texas. She said her text that she had killed the child was merely a vindictive act intended to hurt McQueary.

“That was the only thing I could say that would hurt him,” Johnson told KPHO Channel 5 in Phoenix from her jail cell. “I was an emotional wreck. I was just completely out of my mind, and just upset because [McQueary] completely ruined my life and he pushed me to run away. We’re human, we make mistakes and we say things we don’t mean, and we don’t realize, you know, we can be held accountable for them.”

Still, the question remains: Where is baby Gabriel? Sgt. Carbajal was measured in his words to Vieira as the investigation continues, but he indicated the child was sighted in San Antonio on Dec. 26 — and that that sighting was after Johnson sent McQueary the text claiming she had killed him.

The priority: Gabriel
Johnson, 23, likely faces even more severe charges than custodial interference, but Sgt. Carbajal told Vieira that that isn’t the police focus right now.

“We’re not worried about charges, we’re not worried so much about prosecution as much as we’re worried about getting Gabriel back to his father,” he said.

While no one has come forward to say they have Gabriel in hand, McQueary told Vieira he is praying his ex’s story that she gave the child away, not killed him, is the true version of events.

“I’m hoping she did [give Gabriel away], and I’m hoping that they’re taking care of him, and I’m hoping they come forward,” McQueary told Vieira. “If they don’t want to get in trouble or anything, just drop him off at a hospital or fire station — anyplace. Just do the right thing.”

When Vieira asked McQueary if he believed his ex was capable of murdering their son, he replied, “She may be. I don’t want to think that she did it. I believe Gabriel is alive and well.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sounds like another Zanny the nannie tale to me! kh

http://www.krem.com/news/national/80962317.html

PHOENIX (AP) — Police in the Phoenix metropolitan area say a couple from Scottsdale, Ariz., who wanted to adopt a young mother's baby may know more about the missing child's whereabouts than they're telling investigators.

Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal said Thursday that Jack and Terri Smith are now "persons of interest" in the investigation into the disappearance of 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.

The boy had been missing for nearly three weeks. He was last seen in San Antonio in December with his 23-year-old mother, Elizabeth Johnson.

Johnson was arrested last week in Florida on suspicion of custodial interference after she didn't show up for a custodial hearing.

She has since told a Phoenix television station that she gave the boy away in San Antonio.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149384

Police said Monday they are continuing to investigate conflicting statements made by a couple involved in the case of a missing 8-month-old Tempe boy.

Mother of missing child returned to Valley

Police believe missing Tempe baby is alive

Police: Indications missing baby is alive

The results of a polygraph test taken Friday by Jack and Tammi Smith of Scottsdale, who wanted to adopt Gabriel Johnson, came back as “inconclusive,” according to Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal.

The Smiths were named persons of interest by police last week because investigators believe they are withholding information that could possibly lead them to the whereabouts of the child.

The baby’s mother, Elizabeth Johnson, was extradited late Saturday from Florida to a Maricopa County jail, where she is being held on a $1.1 million cash bond. Johnson remained uncooperative with authorities about the child’s whereabouts and also is facing charges of kidnapping and child abuse, police said.

The Tempe woman claimed she killed Gabriel and left him in a dumpster, but police believe the child is still alive. The child’s disappearance has sparked a nationwide search.

Gabriel was last seen with his 23-year-old mother Dec. 26 at a hotel in San Antonio. She lost custody of her son to the boy’s father, Logan Scott McQueary, two days later when she failed to show up at a custody hearing.

Johnson was arrested Dec. 30 at a youth hostel in Miami Beach, Fla., and held while awaiting extradition. She told McQueary that she killed the baby and left it in a trash bin. But police have said they believe Gabriel is alive, and they are investigating whether she gave him away.

Results from a polygraph test can be “deceptive,” “truthful” or “inconclusive,” Carbajal said. In this case, the results came back inconclusive.

“It doesn’t really clear things up,” Carbajal said of the Smiths’ polygraph results. “We’re still investigating and asking for leads and looking at everything.”

Kim Hale, commander of investigations for Tempe police, said Monday that Johnson was “very quiet and standoffish” when aboard the plane back to Arizona from Florida.

“She was not forthcoming with any information — and she’s been that way since she was arrested,” Hale said. “At this point, the baby could be anywhere. When asked if she wanted to be helpful in locating where her baby was, she had nothing to say.”

Authorities appealed to whoever may have Gabriel, saying the child can be turned over to a fire station or hospital if that person is afraid to come forward.

If anyone has any information about the boy’s whereabouts, they can call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.

Hi Everyone
I am new to this forum. A good friend directed me here. I am looking around-nice place, btw.
Hope to get to talk to some of you soon.
I have an interest in crime stories and a real soft spot for the missing innocent children.

Welcome to the RC, Gotta Stop. I think you'll really enjoy it here, there's so many great people with the same interests as you.

Welcome to RC Gotta_Stop.

Hi Gotta Stop! Welcome! Let's hope this baby is found alive.

everytime i see a new post here, i PRAY this little one is found safe.. just to have the big letdown when it is not true...



WELCOME gotta...

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/local/tempe/babysitter_gabriel_johnson_011410

Updated: Friday, 15 Jan 2010, 6:31 AM MST
Published : Thursday, 14 Jan 2010, 10:25 PM MST

A baby boy from Arizona has been missing for more than two weeks, and police believe he may still be alive.

New details have emerged from a woman who says she was hired by the baby's mother, to babysit little Gabriel Johnson in Texas.

Police are hoping she can help provide them with some sort of clue as to what happened to that little boy.

FOX 10's Miriam Garcia reports.

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/81719207.html

Police have searched a couple’s home in the hunt for a baby who hasn’t been seen since he and his mother made a trip to Texas last month.

PHOENIX (January 15, 2010)—Police in Tempe, Ariz. have confirmed that officers executed a search warrant Thursday night at the home of a Scottsdale, Ariz. couple considered "persons of interest" in the case of a missing infant who hasn’t been seen since he and his mother made a trip to Texas last month.

Tempe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Mike Horn said the warrant was specific to the investigation of 8-month-old Gabriel
Johnson.

Horn said Friday the investigation is active and detectives are not releasing any further information at this time.

Jack and Tammi Smith have said Gabriel's mother Elizabeth Johnson, 23, wanted to give up her baby for adoption, but her ex-boyfriend wouldn't go along with it.

Tammi Smith spent Thursday afternoon at Tempe police headquarters.

She told reporters she requested the meeting to try and help police with the investigation.

Johnson remains in custody in Phoenix on charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.

Crime Stoppers of San Antonio is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads the infant’s safe return, police officials in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe announced Wednesday.

Anyone with any information can call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP (210-224-7867).

Tips may also be submitted online.

San Antonio Crime Stoppers Web Site

The San Antonio Police Department has opened a missing person investigation into the disappearance the infant, who was last seen on Dec. 26 in San Antonio.

Investigators said his mother drove to Texas from her home in Tempe, stayed in San Antonio for about a week, and then took a bus to Florida without her baby son.

She was arrested Dec. 30 in Miami Beach and was returned to Arizona to face kidnapping and child abuse charges.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/New-Pics-81822177.html













by Jared Dillingham

Posted on January 15, 2010 at 9:08 PM

Updated yesterday at 9:22 PM

******

TEMPE - Late Friday, Tempe Police released a series of pictures, showing 9-month-old Gabriel Johnson alive in a San Antonio motel. A couple of the photos are date-stamped "December 26th," which is the last day police can confirm Gabriel was alive.

Most of the pictures show Gabriel playing on a bed or crawling around, but others are troubling. In two of the pictures, Gabriel is seen grasping what appears to be a medicine dropper. Tempe Police say they can't confirm what the baby is holding, but a Texas woman who says she babysat Gabriel claims he appeared to be groggy from medicine. Analisa Urias, an 18-year-old from San Antonio, says Gabriel's mother told him to "give him more medicine if he starts to cry."

The newly-released pictures also reveal Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, brought family photos when she fled. Tempe Police say it looks like Johnson's mother and brother are in picture frames placed on a motel nightstand.

Meanwhile, investigators continue combing through evidence seized when they served a search warrant on the home of Tammi and Jack Smith. The Smiths tried adopting Gabriel in December, in the weeks leading up to his disappearance. Police have labeled the couple "persons of interest" in the missing baby case, and believe the Smiths could be hiding information.

Tammi Smith says she invited police to her home to search her files. They left the Smith's North Scottsdale home at 12:45am Friday with a laptop, other computer files, phone records, and documents.

They're going to find evidence that we were following the law. Nothing shady," said Tammi Smith.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Police-investigate-online-posting-claiming-Baby/MjR0_sgZtk-TqUkNDUSB0w.cspx?rss=68

TEMPE, Arizona -- Police in Arizona are now looking into an online posting from someone claiming to have adopted a child they called "Baby Gabriel."

Gabriel Johnson was last seen in San Antonio December 26th. Investigators said Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson abducted him from Tempe, Arizona eight days earlier.

The online posting is said to be from a woman from Wisconsin named "Beth" who claims she was here in San Antonio January first to adopt a little boy. Elizabeth Johnson was already in jail in Florida by that time. She claims she gave the boy to a couple she met here at a park. Elizabeth Johnson remains in an Arizona jail on multiple charges.

If you have any information about Gabriel Johnson, please immediately call 1-800-THE-LOST or Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP (7867). Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to the safe return of Gabriel Johnson. CLICK HERE to find out more.