Gabriel Johnson -- Missing 12/26/09

TAMMY SMITH ARRESTED RE: BABY GABRIEL

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/150179


Tammi Smith arrested in Baby Gabriel case

Mike Sakal, Tribune
February 2, 2010 - 11:47AM
updated: February 2, 2010 - 12:10PM

A woman at the center of an investigation involving missing 9-month-old Gabriel Johnson was arrested Tuesday morning in connection to the case, Tempe police announced.

Tammi Smith, 37, of Scottsdale, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit custodial interference, custodial interference and forgery, according to information from Tempe police.

Smith was arrested at 11:10 a.m. at her residence in north Scottsdale, police said.

Smith and her husband, Jack Smith, who have been in the national media spotlight involving the story of Gabriel Johnson, were once interested in adopting the child. And as the investigation evolved, the couple was named “persons of interest” in the case. Police believe the Smiths are withholding information that could lead them to the whereabouts of the boy.

Gabriel was last seen in a motel room on Dec. 26 in San Antonio, where his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, took him in the midst of a custody battle in mid-December. On Dec. 27, Johnson told her estranged boyfriend and the baby’s father, Logan McQueary, through a cell phone call and text message that she killed the baby.

Johnson, 23, of Tempe, was arrested on Dec. 30 in Miami Beach, Fla. at a youth hostel without the child and was extradited to Arizona last month.

Johnson also told an FBI investigator that she gave the baby to a couple in a park in San Antonio, and then later said she gave the baby to a couple inside the motel room before signing adoption papers.

Johnson, who was charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference, is being held in Maricopa County’s Estrella Jail on a $1.1 million cash bond.

Johnson remains uncooperative with authorities in revealing the whereabouts of the child, according to Tempe police.

Tammi Smith is being transported to the Tempe City Jail, and later will be booked into a Maricopa County jail, police said.

Jack Smith, who was contacted by the Tribune on Tuesday morning, wouldn’t immediately comment.

Uh Oh!

I am praying that she gave the baby to someone....I don't understand what Tammi S. has to do with it but hopefully being in jail will make her tell what she knows. Baby Gabriel looks neglected to me...this makes me very sad for him. Babies should be loved and protected, my heart bleeds for those who suffer....

Dis- I know, I know. He's just a lil baby! kh

Wow, I hope LE finds this child soon. I bet that if this woman wanted to adopt him, then he's safe somewhere. (At least we can all hope so) but I do find this as a surprise, that she was arrested.

I sure hope he's somewhere safe. I wonder what the forgery charge could be? Custody papers, birth certificate?

Fysty, Piper, Dis~ My hopes are actually up a little that he may be somewhere safe. Saying a silent prayer that this ends well. kh

I've been praying that he is OK and will be found soon. Hopefully Tammie can help LE to find him.

This is a strange event... I cant see what LE want with Tammie S ... I do agree that she should have involved LE way bak but since that time, I doubt she has any knowledge of that she wud withold it if she did...

Police: Scottsdale woman released in baby Gabriel case

by Associated Press - Feb. 3, 2010 01:33 PM

A Scottsdale woman who wanted to adopt an Arizona baby missing for more than a month has been released from a Phoenix jail.

Police say 37-year-old Tammi Smith was not connected to the boy's disappearance and that she and her husband likely don't know where the boy is.

Smith was interviewed at Tempe police headquarters Tuesday and later booked into Maricopa County jail on charges of custodial interference, conspiracy to commit custodial interference and forgery.

Lt. Mike Horn said the charges stem from Smith's repeated and apparently desperate attempts to adopt 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson, not from the boy's Dec. 26 disappearance in San Antonio.

As she was leaving jail, Smith told reporters the Tempe Police Department is trying to create a case. Smith said it doesn't mean those charges leveled against her "are going to stick. Doesn't mean those charges are true."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2010/02/03/20100203woman-missing-baby-case-released.html

It seems like LE have bigger fish to fry in this case??? Not sure why they are persuing this at least now??

Maybe they thought she knew something and wanted to scare her into telling what she knows??

Kh~I am praying extra hard too. I have a feeling the baby is alive and she sold him to someone. I hope so anyway. She could have killed him at any time in the last eight months, why wait till someone is willing to take him off of her hands for a small fee??

I hope that baby Gabriel is found soon, and alive. If his mother killed him to punish his father, then she deserves to pay with her life. The number of children murdered by a parent seems to be escalating.

Baby Gabriel's father thinks SA police aren't doing enough to find his son

Reported by: Leila Walsh
02/06/2010

SAN ANTONIO - The father of a missing Arizona baby, last seen here in San Antonio, is in town to look for the little boy. Logan McQueary arrived at the San Antonio Airport Friday night. He plans to start searching for baby Gabriel Johnson first thing Saturday morning.

News 4 WOAI asked McQueary if he believes that he will find evidence in San Antonio that will lead to Gabriel.

"I think there is a big possibility," said McQueary. "I think everything is here. That's why we came to San Antonio. Everything leads to San Antonio and I think we can find all the answers here in San Antonio that will lead us to Gabriel."

McQueary told News 4 WOAI that he is scheduled to meet with the San Antonio police chief and detectives. He feels they are not doing enough to look for his son.

While McQueary said he's hopeful Gabriel is still alive, he believes the police should have already searched a San Antonio landfill for the boy's body. McQueary wants police to search that area so they can rule out a connection to the landfill and move on to other leads.

Baby Gabriel was last seen with his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, back in December at a hotel near I-10 and Huebner. She is in jail in Arizona and is charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.

Johnson told the boy's father she killed Gabriel, stuffed his body in a diaper bag and threw it in a dumpster. She later changed her story to say she gave the baby to a couple she met in a park. Police say Johnson is not cooperating with their investigation.

While McQueary feels that San Antonio Police officers are not doing enough to look for the baby, San Antonio police say they are doing a lot of work on the case. They say the investigation is very active and detectives are following up on leads. A spokesman for the department said officers look forward to meeting with McQueary and talking to anyone who may have information about Gabriel.

After his meeting with police, McQueary plans to retrace the steps that the baby's mother took in San Antonio. He plans to visit the hotel where she was last seen with the baby and the motel where her car was found on the South Side.

If you have any information about this case, please call Crime Stoppers at 224-STOP.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Baby-Gabriels-father-thinks-SA-police-arent-doing/kxAoPJJ0gk-dMxiZYRH3zg.cspx?rss=68

" While McQueary said he's hopeful Gabriel is still alive, he believes the police should have already searched a San Antonio landfill for the boy's body. McQueary wants police to search that area so they can rule out a connection to the landfill and move on to other leads"

Here is another sad case of a missing child and one that likley met his fate at the hands of his own mother.

Why is is some LE will thoroughly check the landfill, to either find the person, or rule it out? By many article we have seen in this case, it is reported that LE has checked the landfill, yet it seems you have to read between the lines, as there will usually be an article that explains what they did... In other words it seems to boil down to often, that the actaul landfill was not checked...

Residential garbage that had been picked up, may have been but is this sufficient?

How many times do we hear that remains were found in a landfill? Often enough IMO, that it should be checked far mor thoroughly than in many cases (Namely Haleigh's case) ....

Clearly Logan does not think the search (that LE claimed to have made) is not good enough...
I wish Haleighs family would get on the same band wagon as Logan... ask the question of exactly what was checked at the landfill, and what else could/should be done....

What I especially noted in this article, is that THE REPORTER is actually doing his job, by going right to the landfil to ask the question, see the work so they can actually put down on paper what has been done...

Whyhave no reporters done this in Haleighs case??? Its easy to call the landfill...anyone can... Why arent they going the extra mile....????

Baby Gabriel search focused on missing green bag

by Marvin Hurst / KENS 5
Posted on February 12, 2010 at 11:07 AM

SAN ANTONIO -- Sources have revealed to KENS 5 that when Elizabeth Johnson vacated her hotel room at the Homegate Inn & Suites in late December, she left behind all of her son's personal belongings.

But there reportedly was one item investigators could not find: a green diaper bag that belonged to Gabriel Johnson. Of course, the 8-month-old was missing, too.

A joint investigation involving authorities in San Antonio and Arizona led to a portion of the Tessman Road Landfill being roped off.

Johnson allegedly sent the baby's father, Logan McQueary, a text message saying she had killed their child, placed him in a bag and put his body in a dumpster. Trash from her hotel would come to the area where San Antonio police are currently searching.

That's where sources said police are looking for a green diaper bag or suitcase that could contain the child's body.

San Antonio police have called the case both a missing person case and a capital murder investigation.

Sources said the young mother's text to Gabriel's father declared she would direct him to their child's blue body if the garbage does not take him prior to that alert.

Johnson allegedly came to San Antonio trying to elude child custody issues with McQueary. Sources said she wanted to adopt little Gabriel to a Tempe, Arizona, couple, Jack and Tammi Smith.

KENS 5 has learned that police have evidence of communication between the Smiths and Johnson while she was in San Antonio.

According to sources, they allegedly were discussing ways to conduct an illegal adoption. But police reportedly have not been able to conclude that such an adoption ever happened.

Sources said police did find witnesses who saw Johnson shopping without Gabriel the day she abandoned her grandfather's vehicle at a south-side Motel 6.

Investigators say that's when she used a fake last name to buy a bus ticket to Miami, Florida. Sources said the child did not make the trip. Johnson was arrested on child custody charges in Florida.

Police have said the mother was uncooperative. She reportedly said Gabriel was given to a couple in a San Antonio park, but sources said subsequent questioning of the toddler's mother revealed inconsistencies in her story.

http://www.khou.com/news/Exclusive-Baby-Gabriel-search-focused-on-missing-green-bag-84227292.html

Missing Baby Gabriel Johnson's Story Might Sound like a Movie Drama, but it is All Too Real
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2692911/baby_gabriel_johnsons_father_victim.html?cat=17


It is beginning to read like a mystery thriller, a Lifetime movie, this search for Baby Gabriel Johnson, especially now that the father, who has set off on a cross-country retracing of the route that the mother took to San Antonio with his 8-month-old son, has become the victim of a suspicious burglary in the Texas city. Some believe that Logan McQueary may have stirred up some of the underground element that deals in human trafficking and/or illegal baby adoptions in the area by asking questions about his missing son. Because it does seem strange that the thief (or thieves) that broke into McQueary's vehicle took only one thing and left other items that might be considered valuable.

The thief (or thieves) took a GPS system.

It doesn't sound like much and under normal circumstances, the GPS system being stolen from a vehicle might not mean much. But in this case, considering that Baby Gabriel Johnson's story has made national headlines and been covered on numerous current affair programs, it was common knowledge that Logan McQueary was retracing the route taken by Elizabeth Johnson in late December. It was also known that McQueary was using the coordinates gathered from the GPS system in Elizabeth Johnson's vehicle. And Logan McQueary had been asking around about illegally adopting babies in San Antonio...

Could the thief (or thieves) have thought they were protecting themselves by taking McQueary's GPS, not knowing that he was following the coordinates of a GPS (and that the GPS was not the original with Johnson's coordinates)? Could the thief (or thieves) have been trying to protect whoever has Baby Gabriel Johnson?

The theft is suspicious in that bags of luggage and portable radios sitting in the truck's seats were left undisturbed.

Logan McQueary and his family have been warned by police to refrain from interviews for awhile.

Other than a vague description of the couple she supposedly gave her son to (or may have sold him to) in a park in San Antonio, Elizabeth Johnson refuses to cooperate in the finding of her missing baby. Investigators do not know whether to believe the San Antonio giveaway story or the story she gave Miami authorities when she was picked up on a custodial interference warrant on Dec. 29. She retracted what she had texted Logan McQueary on Dec. 27 that she had killed and disposed of Baby Gabriel Johnson's body. Johnson told Miami authorities that she had only texted McQueary such a horrible message for revenge, for his having ruined her life.

In the meantime, authorities in Arizona and Texas have been conducting a dual investigation: missing person and homicide.

But the story does read like a dramatic thriller: a young man searches for his missing son, while the forces arrayed against him conspire to keep his son from him. No doubt the story will one day be made into an actual movie. And the missing GPS might be an important part of the story -- or it might be a simple petty theft. Unfortunately for Logan McQueary, his family, and the authorities involved in the investigation, the plot is all too real, the storyline one of actual events unfolding.

And the search for missing Baby Gabriel Johnson continues...

Search for 'Baby Gabriel' could enter second phase

Web Posted: 02/17/2010 12:09 CST
By Valentino Lucio - Express-News

While San Antonio police continued looking for a missing Arizona baby at an East Side landfill, officials said Tuesday the second phase of the search could begin later this week.

Along with the police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshal's Service will aid in the search for 9-month-old Gabriel Johnson, who last was seen Dec. 26 in San Antonio with his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, said police department spokesman Matthew Porter. During the second phase, authorities will begin “sifting through layers of garbage in search of possible evidence,” according to a department media advisory released last week.

Since several organizations and companies have donated personnel, equipment, funding and services, Porter said there wouldn't be any cost billed to taxpayers for either phase.

The baby's father, Logan McQueary, returned to Arizona after spending about a week in San Antonio searching for clues in his son's disappearance, said Jay J. Armes, the El Paso private investigator who took on the case earlier this month. McQueary could not be reached late Tuesday, but Armes said he has been speaking with the father daily. Armes said McQueary was “very optimistic” about his search in San Antonio and that he and McQueary are planning to return soon.

He also said he's been getting up to 70 “good leads” each day, some that have led the investigation into Mexico.

“We have a good feeling the boy's still alive,” Armes said.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Search_for_Baby_Gabriel_could_enter_second_phase.html