Tammi Smith and Elizabeth Johnson scheduled to go to trial Aug 9 to face criminal charges in the case of the missing Gabriel Johnson/ / Johnson said she killed her son Gabriel/ Audio of Elizabeth's call to Logan just released 12/14/10

What a waste of time and money. Did they really think they would find him at the Smith's? Or evidence of any kind after all this time has went by? LE is dropping the ball and not doing everything they can to find Gabriel. If I was reading about searches of dumpsters and landfills I would be not be saying that.

lindamarie wrote:What a waste of time and money. Did they really think they would find him at the Smith's? Or evidence of any kind after all this time has went by? LE is dropping the ball and not doing everything they can to find Gabriel. If I was reading about searches of dumpsters and landfills I would be not be saying that.

They are not searching dumpsters and landfills because they know he is not dead and that would be a waste of money and manpower. Even the FBI, who has all the expertise in tracking down missing children and looking for bodies is not initiating a search for a body it would seem. If they weren't so certain the baby is alive, they would be searching for his body.

Sassybtsweet wrote:Im with you terryrose.

It is hard to believe that as badly as she just wanted to give him away that she would harm him otherwise. I think she knew the father was going to get custody before that trial even started. She knew she couldnt even fake to love her son the way a truly doting mother would, and so she took off knowing the only way she was going to give her son a good home (in her eyes a good home was NOT with his dad, it would seem) was to give him away to strangers instead of dealing with a couple or anyone that the father already knew about, etc.

She evidently conducted interviews with candidates who might adopt him. But as far as placing him with strangers goes, she herself was raised by strangers in foster homes. Why would she think there was anything wrong with that? I don't know the story of her parents and why she was a foster child, but I do wonder why this visible grandfather in the media could not have provided a home for her and her brother when they needed one in their childhood.

And if this baby is not found then what? Precious time is going by to find him if her text messages were true. Another HaLeigh Cummings case or Trenton Duckett is what we will have. Do you really think after all this time LE would find anything during a search of the Smiths home?

Myself I think her text message was in anger and spite to her ex. In the Smith's home, I think her computer is what they are after, and as we have learned in other cases brought before us here, even if they have reformatted their hard drive, LE can still retrieve messages and other evidence to prove or disprove their involvement. JMO.

PS: LM, There is the possibility they may never find him because of the help she may have had in the underground network of people who are doing this with the idea of rescuing babies and mothers from harm and abuse, as the link you have posted upthread explains, even some in law enforcement just look the other way because they know many of these children are better off not being found but rather remain in the care of people who have come to their rescue and are giving them a good life.

I hope your correct and that Gabriel is alive. Of course that makes perfect sense to seize the Smiths computers. I did not even stop to think about the computers in the Smiths home. I really hope they find something on the computers that will help find Gabriel. I just think they need to consider all possibilities.

A babysitter who watched Gabriel Johnson the night he and his mother arrived in San Antonio says Elizabeth Johnson seemed detached from her son. 18-year-old Analisa Urias says Johnson contacted her after seeing her babysitter ad on Craigslist and hired her to watch her son on the night of December 21st at the Homegate Studios and Suites on Laureate Drive.
“She was not affectionate towards Gabriel or anything, it did not seem like she really wanted him.” said Urias who says Johnson gave very few instructions to the babysitter before leaving. Urias says there was a sharp knife sitting in the room.
Two hours later, Johnson returned to the room and received a phone call from someone speaking loud enough for Analisa to hear. Johnson told her it was her grandmother and explained her husband was threatening her family because of a custody battle.
The FBI questioned Analisa about her contact with Johnson, but there was no indication where the mother may be going or what she was planning on doing with her son.
“She said she needed to figure out what she was going to do with her life.” according to Urias.
Employees at Homegate told KENS 5 Johnson booked the room for a week, but left behind a car seat and clothes.

http://www.kens5.com/news/Baby-Gabriels-sitter-speaks-out-81782547.html

http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/raymondrussellreservations.asp?res=800&ver=true

If Elizabeth really gave her child to strangers and they dont come forward, then no one can prove the child is dead, but they also cant prove hes alive. She is charged with kidnapping - as she took the child across state lines, thats a federal offense, whats the maximum she could receive if convicted of that charge - anyone know?

25 yrs to life I think. LE seems so certain Gabriel is alive.

Okay and just it has been confirmed LE has checked the trash and dumpsters in every area EJ stayed and tracked it to one landfill that has not been searched YET. Reported on NG tonight.

Well, if this child is alive, after this amount of time, whomever took him isnt going to come forward
unless they realize that she could go to prison
for a long time - and they care enough to do the right thing. Shes in a lot of trouble and she doesnt even realize it.

I heard that on NG too. The girl don't have a clue how much trouble she is in. Over a million dollar cash bond is going to be hard for her to come up with.

There are some really cute pictures of Gabriel on this video

A grand jury handed up an indictment Friday against Elizabeth Johnson, the mother of a missing 8-month-old dubbed "Baby Gabriel," less than 24 hours after Tempe police officers searched the home of two persons of interest in the case.
Johnson was charged with kidnapping, child abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference, authorities said.
Police will not elaborate as to who Johnson's alleged co-conspirators are, and they said Jack and Tammi Smith remain persons of interest.
The Smiths called the police search of their home Thursday night a "scare tactic."
Detectives searched two computer hard drives and confiscated a laptop, the couple said.
"They took and just duplicated everything that was on (the hard drives)," said Jack Smith. "They took a laptop that hadn't been turned on in about eight months."
Though they said the search was unexpected, the Smiths said they have nothing to hide.
The Tempe Police Department said its goal is simply to find Gabriel.
"Based on (Johnson's) statements, she either killed him or handed him off to someone else," police spokesman Mike Horn.
According to an e-mail from Horn, time stamps from the camera indicate the final photographs were taken Dec. 26. Gabriel was reported missing Dec. 27.
Investigators believe the photographs were all taken in a room at the Home Gate Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, Horn said.
Authorities impounded Johnson's digital camera when she was arrested in Miami Beach, Fla.

http://www.kpho.com/news/22251939/detail.html

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.



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

OMG, Quinn has a Christmas outfit like the one Gabriel is wearing in the first pic.

He does not look malnourished to me but tiny for 8 months. No clue what he is holding but he does look sleepy in the one pic. Although, if the shot was taken between him blinking, it could make him look that way.

IDK, I want to believe she didn't kill him but the knife in the room bothers me.

Maybe the knife was for her protection in the night if someone broke into her motel room.

Its possible she just overdosed him on the medicine and he died. She wrapped him in the bag and then threw the bag away. If she was continuously medicating him to keep him from crying in the hotel room, then its very possible she accidentally (on purpose as they say)
killed him.

I thought for sure she did exactly what she texted she did, until last night. For some reason I started thinking about the article posted on the book written about murderers the author labeled "erasers". I don't think this girl fits that description at all. She didn't really care about what others thought of her, didn't pretend to be a good and caring mom. She was willing to give the baby away to anyone who would take him it seems. With that in mind, she must have had some concern for the baby but knew she didn't want to be a mother and didn't want to take care of him by herself. I don't know, but somehow this thinking has got me more hopeful for him being alive. I definitely do not believe the Smiths have told the truth and how extensive their involvment is. jmo

Laga this is a very good post and I think as well she doesnt fit into the category of an eraser. But could she be as dumb as she purports to be? If she was medicating the baby and he died from an overdose
and it really was an accident, and she panicked, would she admit to that now? Would she think anyone would believe her? As long as the baby could be alive and she is prosecuted she might believe her sentence would be considerably lighter than if she confessed to a killing. Why when she is in so much trouble would the people who took the baby keep quiet? If she were to be charged with murder would these people let her rot in jail? I guess if they thought they were going to go to jail for an illegal adoption group they were part of, they might not want to report it, especially if they resold the baby. This is another case that can make you crazy!

CritterFan1 wrote:Maybe the knife was for her protection in the night if someone broke into her motel room.

I was thinking the same thing about the knife, Critter.
Laga, I agree with your post, those that say she is just like KC I don't agree with. I think EJ is a totally different type of person. Also, nobody has mentioned finding narcotics, only Tylenol has been mentioned. Yes, one can cause great harm by overdosing on Tylenol, but this woman was quite smart and probably knew that. The sitter using the word "drugged" bothers me when in reference to Tylenol or Motrin because these are frequently given to children for everything these days. "Drugged" implies narcotics or something one shouldn't give a baby, not the common OTC remedies given. Choice of words means a lot for NG's ratings no doubt.

A PS to the above: As I have written before, I would have asked the sitter if his behavior could have been due to teething. I saw a rerun of that interview last night and when the sitter was asked what meds were there for the baby, the answer was the Tylenol and a tube of ORAJEL that NG totally ignored. Orajel is for the pain of teething, but that factor didn't fit with what scenario NG was trying to paint. Since the sitter mentioned it, I am positive now that some of the baby's crying and behavior were in fact due to pain caused by normal teething. (In the pics above, there are teething rings on the bed with him also.) I don't know why NG being the dutiful mother she claims to be and claiming to be so keyed into her twins' every move, would not have immediately recognized this like I have.

Tempe officials confirmed that on Thursday night detectives searched the home of a Scottsdale couple considered 'persons of interest' in the case of missing 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.

On Friday, Jack Smith said police took his laptop computer and made a copy of his business computer's hard drive. He said they also took brochures they had for a foster agency.

Jack Smith said he had "a hard time understanding" the timing of the police activity at his home.

"If they had got here at 6 in the morning, they could have had coffee with me and spent the day with me," he said. "But yet, they had to keep my daughter from going to bed last night until midnight. My daughter is always in bed before midnight."

He said police arrived around 7:30 p.m. to secure the home until the search warrant arrived. Smith said detectives began searching around 11 p.m., finishing around 1 a.m.

The Smiths say they offered to allow police search the home weeks ago.

"Let me tell you how worried I was," said Jack Smith. "I fell asleep on the couch."

Tempe Police Lt. Mike Horn discusses the case

The search warrant came just hours after Tammi Smith voluntarily met with Tempe detectives for more than two hours Thursday.

As she walked out of Tempe Police Department Headquarters, Smith could be heard saying, "That was rough."

She went on to talk to reporters and quickly admitted that she played a role in manipulating paperwork with Elizabeth Johnson, the mother of baby Gabriel.

"I made a poor decision back when I met Elizabeth," said Smith. "I helped her (Elizabeth) file her paperwork so she could get her child support and things like that. There was another name put on there and I helped her (Elizabeth) fill out that paperwork, and because of that it obviously doesn't make me look good."

The name on the paperwork was apparently Craig Cherry, Tammi Smith's cousin, which prompted Tempe police detectives to look into the possibility Cherry was Gabriel's father.

When contacted by phone Friday, Cherry said he does not blame Tammi Smith for helping Johnson use his name on the paperwork, suggesting he was a "potential father" of Gabriel. He said he believed Tammi Smith was trying to protect the baby from his biological father, based on what Johnson told her about him.

"Instead of putting a false name there, I helped her (Elizabeth) put another name," said Tammi Smith.

With her husband, Jack, waiting nearby, Tammi went on to say she and her husband do not have attorneys, but were considering calling one.

While the Smiths are labeled "persons of interest" in the case by Tempe Police, Elizabeth Johnson is considered the prime suspect in her son's disappearance and is not cooperating with detectives.

Officials say Tammi, who had wanted to a adopt Gabriel, spoke to Elizabeth Johnson in jail Wednesday.

Smith said she is confident that baby Gabriel is still alive after meeting with Elizabeth Johnson.

According to Smith, Johnson left the toddler with an unknown couple in San Antonio, Texas on the day after Christmas.

She told reporters after the meeting that "according to Elizabeth, these people are going to try to hide this baby because they believe that in a few years nobody will notice who this baby is."

Smith also said Elizabeth told her the couple came to Elizabeth's hotel room in Texas with a new car seat, placed Gabriel in the car seat, and abruptly left.

"She did definitely describe the people and what they look like, they're definitely in San Antonio, she (Elizabeth) did sign paperwork, but they did not notarize it or anything like that," said Smith.

According to Smith, Elizabeth also told her during the nearly 45-minute jail house visit that the couple did not "buy" Gabriel and the man and woman were both white in their 30s.

In the meantime, police say a reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for the safe return of the Tempe toddler who disappeared with his 23-year-old mother last month.

The reward is being offered through Crime Stoppers in San Antonio, Texas.

The Tempe Police Department is leading the investigation. According to spokesperson Steve Carbajal, investigators believe Tammi and Jack Smith have undisclosed information that will lead them to baby Gabriel Johnson.

"We should have been persons of interest from day one," Jack said. "We are persons of interest. We were probably the last people to see Gabriel before he left town."

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/tempe/story/Tempe-PD-Photos-from-moms-camera-show-missing/xgsbK2cK80iD5ZWBC0ifjg.cspx

"I made a poor decision back when I met Elizabeth," said Smith. "I helped her (Elizabeth) file her paperwork so she could get her child support and things like that. There was another name put on there and I helped her (Elizabeth) fill out that paperwork, and because of that it obviously doesn't make me look good."

She has that right.

Who knows that the knife in the room hadn't been used to cut up fast food into little pieces that she shared with her baby?
I also like to see that, in the pic of Gabriel laying on the bed, he is in the center of the big bed. A good Mom would place a baby in the center so that he wouldn't roll off and get hurt. There appears to be also a children's book in addition to the teething rings. He is on the thin side but does not look malnourished and sickly to me. A picture paints a thousand words. Why were these pics taken? Possibly to remember him by with fondness in her heart, or possibly to show the potential adoptive parents the baby that was up for adoption in an interview with them. And I suspect the less than 2 hour appointment she kept that she hired the sitter for could have been an appointment for an interview with the interested couple wanting to adopt him and maybe they are the ones that she gave the baby to on another day.

TR,Think you are right about the two hrs being for her to interview the prospective parents, and to get a down payment for the baby too.

The police need to put it out into the media that the couple (if they are in fact real) that EJ gave the baby too can bring in the baby and no charges would be filed against them. It seems to me at this point at least this would settle once and for all if that baby is alive. Because these people, if they exist might now be terrified to bring in the child as they have waited so long. It might go against LE's grain to not file charges against the couple but its more important to get the baby back isnt it?

http://www.myspace.com/lowgs3211
logan McQueary
He has lots of pictures of Gabriel. His profile is not private yet.

If she were going on an interview to give up Gabriel, wouldn't she take Gabriel with her?

Also, how could she have had $500 left on her person when arrested in Miami Beach and how did they find her in MB??

TR, I completely agree with everything you said. I noticed, too, that Gabriel was placed in the middle of the bed, he had TEETHING toys, a book, he was dressed warmly, he did NOT look mal-nourished.

When the Babysitter described how she was dressed when she left for her "meeting" the first thing that came to mind was she was maybe pimping her self out... IDK, I mean, why would she dress like that for any other reason. We all know darn well she wasn't going to the club at 11:45 in the morning.

I know alot of people in the world right now are looking down on this lady. If in fact she did kill him, my whole opinion would change on her...but i've noticed the same thing everyone else has noticed about these pictures, etc. She cared enough she didnt want him to get hurt, she was obviously medicating him for his teeth NOT just to do it for nothing...is he dirty? he looks pretty sleepy in one pic and dirty in the next around the mouth, but does that make her a HORRIBLE mom?

If in fact, she did not kill him, i really think she was just...a mom. Thats it. She didnt want to be a mom, she didnt go out of her way to win 'mother of the year', and she didnt want to spend the rest of her life raising him. But did she love him?....who can really say she didnt? just because she didnt want him with his bio father? We dont know both sides. maybe all she knew about her ex was that he treated HER like garbage and she wouldnt take the chance he'd do the same thing to her son. Maybe she didnt want him raised by single parents, maybe she wanted her son to have a two parent home, with two stable loving adults...

Should he be playing with tylenol like in the first picture? um..probably not. However, 8 months old...i really doubt if the lid was on properly it would present much of a risk to him, since that brand of tylenol is child proof.

Sassy,-----

by Megan Boehnke - Jan. 17, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The longer 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson is missing, police say, the less likely it is that authorities will find him - dead or alive.

The chubby-cheeked, towheaded baby has captured the attention of the nation, and his disappearance nearly a month ago has puzzled police.

For three weeks, Tempe police have been following up leads locally and in Texas. The FBI has fanned out across Nashville, Boston and Louisiana. The San Antonio Police Department has opened its own missing-person case. Together, they are getting 20 to 30 tips a day.

"If the child is in good hands, and that's a big if, then the child will still be around," said Tempe police Cmdr. Kim Hale. "But the longer we go, it doesn't help us as far as trying to recover him, wherever the child is, whether that is in a home, or the child has been taken across the border to Mexico, or if he's in the bottom of a landfill."

A broken family

Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, 23, is a product of the Boston foster-care system. She lived with five different families before coming back to the Valley at the age of 12 to stay with her father, a recovering drug addict, according to her grandfather, Bob Johnson.

Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, 25, has a felony record that includes burglaries dating to 2004 and was in jail on parole violations before and after his son's birth.

Johnson and McQueary first met at Mohave Middle School in Scottsdale. She was later expelled from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, although Bob Johnson said she was a high-achieving student with a nearly perfect grade-point average. She enrolled in a charter school in Tempe and transferred to a school in Boston for her senior year.

Her path would cross McQueary's again after he became friends with Johnson's twin brother, Richard.

McQueary and Johnson grew closer, Bob Johnson said, when McQueary's mother died about a year after Elizabeth's father died. Logan and Elizabeth were together off and on when they could afford it. She sometimes worked at a CVS in Scottsdale. He took work as an electrician.

After McQueary had a falling out with his boss, he and Elizabeth moved to Fort Smith, Ark., Bob Johnson said.

It was there that Gabriel was conceived.

When the couple returned to Arizona, Johnson told her grandfather she had considered terminating the pregnancy. After Gabriel was born, the couple discussed adoption before deciding to raise the boy, the grandfather said. The next time he heard the word "adoption" from his granddaughter, it was December.

It seemed the life she and McQueary tried to build together was crumbling.

Relationship deteriorates

In custody documents filed in December in Maricopa County Superior Court, McQueary said he ended the relationship. In July, he alleged, she became enraged when he didn't return home from work on time and took a knife to his clothing, the couch and the baby crib. She broke dishes and took a cooking pan and smashed the TV while the baby was in the Tempe apartment.

They were forced to move into another apartment.

McQueary said Johnson got out of control again in September when she got mad at her brother on the phone. She cut up the baby's clothes and the crib and broke every window in the apartment. Johnson spent the evening in jail and went through a diversion program on the criminal-damage charges, according to Tempe Municipal Court records.

McQueary wrote in custody documents that he tried to work out their differences, downplaying the order of protection he got against Johnson.

It wasn't enough.

When he broke up with her in mid-December, she told him to take the baby. Then she called police to report Gabriel had been kidnapped.

McQueary petitioned for full custody of Gabriel on Dec. 11 and followed up three days later with an emergency request for temporary custody without notice to the mother.

"She has said several times in the past that she doesn't want the baby," he wrote in his petition, filed on Dec. 14. "She's yelled and screamed at him when I would go to work. When I would go to work, I would put the baby in his room and when I would get home five hours later he would still be in the room (with) no changed diaper and crying and I would ask her what she was doing and she would just yell at me and say go shut that thing up."

He asked again for temporary full custody six days later and told the court she "will run with Gabriel Johnson and hide."

On Dec. 21, in a petition to enforce child-custody determination, he wrote, "When Elizabeth gets mad, she can and will hurt the baby."

By then, she had been away from her home in a Tempe trailer park for three days.

Media frenzy

Since the first news release, when Elizabeth Johnson was found without her baby in Miami, Fla., the media circus has focused on an eager cast of characters.

McQueary was the first to come in front of the cameras, speaking to local reporters and then making brief appearances on cable-news telecasts and network morning shows, pleading for the return of his son.

Then came Jack and Tammi Smith, who met Johnson and Gabriel in the summer in a Boston airport, where Tammi offered to adopt the boy. Smith spent months working with Johnson to gain custody of Gabriel, but McQueary never agreed to surrender his rights.

The Smiths' role in the story never quite seemed clear to police, who on Thursday executed a search warrant on the Smiths' upscale home in the north Scottsdale desert. The search came after investigators named the couple "persons of interest" and insisted the pair knew more than they let on.

Then there's Elizabeth Johnson, perhaps the only one who can shed light on the case. She was seen with her son by motel clerks in San Antonio. She is seen on surveillance footage leaving town on a bus without him. There are the text message
and phone call in which she told her estranged boyfriend she had killed Gabriel.

Since Johnson's arrest, she has refused to speak to investigators, and it's unclear whether the mystery will ever be solved.

"Time is not on our side when it comes to the recovery of this child," Hale said. "The recovery chances grow much more dim as time goes on."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/01/17/20100117missingbaby0117.html


It sounds to me like Elizabeth has some issues that are completely out of control. If she even served jail time for smashing up her apartment with Gabriel present, the police report and pics taken at the apartment will show her manic state. Could she have been manic enough to kill her son?

Sassybtsweet wrote:I know alot of people in the world right now are looking down on this lady. If in fact she did kill him, my whole opinion would change on her...but i've noticed the same thing everyone else has noticed about these pictures, etc. She cared enough she didnt want him to get hurt, she was obviously medicating him for his teeth NOT just to do it for nothing...is he dirty? he looks pretty sleepy in one pic and dirty in the next around the mouth, but does that make her a HORRIBLE mom?

If in fact, she did not kill him, i really think she was just...a mom. Thats it. She didnt want to be a mom, she didnt go out of her way to win 'mother of the year', and she didnt want to spend the rest of her life raising him. But did she love him?....who can really say she didnt? just because she didnt want him with his bio father? We dont know both sides. maybe all she knew about her ex was that he treated HER like garbage and she wouldnt take the chance he'd do the same thing to her son. Maybe she didnt want him raised by single parents, maybe she wanted her son to have a two parent home, with two stable loving adults...

Should he be playing with tylenol like in the first picture? um..probably not. However, 8 months old...i really doubt if the lid was on properly it would present much of a risk to him, since that brand of tylenol is child proof.

Sassy, I completely agree with you. However, if she got into a manic state and "lost it", it IS possible she killed him. My gut tells me he is alive. But it is clear that she has some issues.

Elizabeth Johnson Calls Grandfather
CBS 5 Is Only Station There
Elizabeth Erwin
Reporter, KPHO.com

POSTED: 7:53 pm MST January 16, 2010
UPDATED: 8:02 pm MST January 16, 2010

PHOENIX -- It's been more than a week since we've heard from Elizabeth Johnson, the mother of missing 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.

Gabriel has been missing for nearly a month, and Johnson sits behind bars at a Valley jail. She made one phone call Saturday night, and CBS 5 was there when it happened.

Elizabeth Johnson called her grandfather. Bob Johnson. It was the first time they've spoke in nearly a week. The two only spoke for a couple of minutes, talking about items she wanted him to pick up from jail. Johnson asked her grandfather to pick up the $300 she had when she was arrested in Florida, as well as an expensive ring she said she was wearing.

The call came just minutes after Bob told CBS 5 he wasn't sure his great-grandson was still alive.

Bob Johnson said, "The more days that go by, the more concerned I get for the health and welfare of baby Gabriel. It would seem that whoever she gave the child to, under the assumption she did indeed give the child to someone, those people would be scared out of their mind by now."

Johnson also said he's having trouble getting the car Elizabeth took off in back to Arizona. He said FBI agents gave him the all clear to come to Texas and pick it up, but Johnson said Tempe police told him they're going to hang onto it in case this turns into a homicide.

Elizabeth Johnson was officially charged with kidnapping, child abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference Friday.

http://www.kpho.com/news/22256806/detail.html

I agree with the above posts that, from the above pictures, baby Gabriel looks well-cared for. Yet, in the bottom photo... there does appear to be a bruise on his left forehead. Am I seeing things? Of course, he cuold have bumped into something, or fallen off the bed.

My opinion: I think Elizabeth loved her son, but was young, immature & self-centered. What she really needed was a mother, or mother figure, who could show her how to be a mother - and help her out when needed. I think she was feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility & not getting enough emotional support. Esp. if her & the baby's daddy were not getting along.

I do pray that baby Gabriel is alive & being well-cared for... but I'm also thinking that it may be too late. Spending Christmas with her baby in a motel room may have just sent her over the edge. I pray that I am wrong!

My opinion: I think Elizabeth loved her son, but was young, immature & self-centered. What she really needed was a mother, or mother figure, who could show her how to be a mother - and help her out when needed. I think she was feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility & not getting enough emotional support. Esp. if her & the baby's daddy were not getting along.

I can't feel sorry for Elizabeth. Yet I feel sad for her.
She had people that she could have gave Gabriel to. Like his Dad if she did not want him or could not have taken care of him. Who I am feeling really sorry for is Elizabeth's Grandfather. That poor Man.

I think Elizabeth's heart just was not there in raising a baby. She said she wished she had aborted. I wonder why she didn't. Religious issues maybe? If so, I think she is in worse shape now if she murdered her son.

I really do believe she gave the baby to some couple who will NOT come forward. I DO think she knows their names. Has she offered to take a poly? If she did NOT kill her son, she needs to take a poly - otherwise, she could be up for murder charges in the very near future.

I do NOT feel sorry for her. She could have given the baby up for adoption from the get go. She could have done many things that would not land her in jail.

I don't know how many of you have experienced someone who is ill in a manic phase. It is quite scary. It took two people to make that baby and the Father has a right to raise his Son if he wants. And from the court documents he want's to. He should have taken Gabriel when he left was his first mistake. Please explain to me having sex with and making babies with Men that a girl would not want to be a Father to the babies they make? Maybe they should not be sleeping around with Men who would not make the best Fathers in the first place.

Just catching up on all of this. Wow. I keep hopeing I will see that somebody has come forward with baby Gabriel.
Everything in this girls life went South. No parents to speak of, five foster homes and who knows what happened to her there. A baby nobody really wanted and no real home. Not much family support and I suspect this girl was in need of some counseling and medicine. She was beautiful and smart but darn..never a chance.
LM I too think of the grandfather in all of this. He certainly has his cup full at his age.
I am curious about where she would go in the afternoon for two hours dressed for "clubbing". I wonder if since she got the babysitter on Craigs list she might have found "work" there too. Just a thought. I wonder if they have checked those postings back then.
Little Gabriel never looks like a really happy baby. Kind of "on his toes" even at his young age. He doesn't look bad but from the beginning his little eyes look like they have seen a lot.
I would like to blame the babysitter for not alerting somebody but I can't. She was paid to babysit and that she did. I am sure she has babysat for some real losers before and if she reported them all they would probably arrest her just to shut her up.
Poor little baby Gabriel..where are you?

Yep, Lindamarie...too much "free sleeping around". If you don't want children why not... 1.) use birth control or 2.) abstain! Makes sense to me. Maybe lots of these children would still be alive today if their parents wanted them in the 1st place! I can think of quite a few...in fact, far too many, right now.

I've said it before. Many of these babies are just the result of 2 people having sex. I don't even know if you could call it making love......mostly it's just sex; an urge they need want to satisfy, without any thought that it could result in an unwanted pregnancy and total chaos in their lives. If you think it might feel good, do it, seems to be the way so many of these young people live their lives. Do they have no one to guide them? Is there no one in their lives that they are worried about disappointing? Is there no one that expects more than this of them?

Yep, BJ...it's called respect for themselves and others. Accountability. Sure, mistakes are made, but if it happens these "parents" have to make it "right".

I don't meant to sound "preachy", but now that I am older and "wiser", it's sort of a "no-brainer".

Cherylz, you don't sound "preachy" to me at all. You sound realistic. Big difference. It IS a no-brainer and it's also called being a responsible, mature adult.

All the above posters----I so very much agree with you! I fear that the adoptive or foster parents she gave the baby to (if that is what she did) will never come forward since they would put themselves in jail at this point and also maybe jeopardize a well-meaning network of people who work to protect abused mothers and children. I do not think that father should get his son back. There is something not ideal about him too. I do, however, agree with him that, if they want to help with the case against EJ, they could just drop him off at a fire station or hospital and thus protect themselves from prosecution. I do feel sorry for EJ who has spent her entire life without the help she has needed and herself having grown up without a loving mother and father she just doesn't know how to be one herself. Add to that an apparently severe mental illness. It just surprises me that in spite of her breaking and cutting things up in a fit of rage on occasion, the baby was not harmed by her. The lengths she went to to try to find him a good home with adoptive parents speak volumes to me about her inner conscience and state of mind. Would she lose it and do the worst in a spell of mania? IDK, but there is no indication that she has ever harmed him when in that state of mind in the past.

by cherylz Today at 11:52 am Yep, BJ...it's called respect for themselves and others. Accountability. Sure, mistakes are made, but if it happens these "parents" have to make it "right".

I have a dear friend that got pregnant when she was 16 and the father was 21. They got married and went on to have 3 more children. The father worked and supported his family; it was THEIR family and THEIR responsibility. Not the responsibility of their parents or the system. They just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary and have 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. They made it right and they made it work. It's called being grown up.

BJ in OR wrote:

by cherylz Today at 11:52 am Yep, BJ...it's called respect for themselves and others. Accountability. Sure, mistakes are made, but if it happens these "parents" have to make it "right".

I have a dear friend that got pregnant when she was 16 and the father was 21. They got married and went on to have 3 more children. The father worked and supported his family; it was THEIR family and THEIR responsibility. Not the responsibility of their parents or the system. They just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary and have 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. They made it right and they made it work. It's called being grown up.

Yes, it can work when the parents mature, but in the meantime it is rough on everybody until they do.

The same thing could be said of EJ - that she simply take the baby into an agency, a LEGAL agency, and give the baby up for adoption. What ever she thought of the father, he was entitled to be interviewed as well and if not suitable, even though he might not want adoption
there would at least have been a legal solution for the child. Eveyone is focused on Elizabeth what of the childs welfare? He had some bond with his mother
and then he is passed around like a football? Is he supposed to bond with these new people, then he will be given back to strangers again if they were to "turn him in" and then -where? foster care? What effect on that poor little tyke? She might have taken care of him physically but what has she done to him emotionally?
That is why I blame her, for the upheavel she has put this child thru giving him away to strangers like she gave her dogs -I wouldnt give my dogs away to strangers
let alone a baby.

argal wrote"---there would at least have been a legal solution for the child. Eveyone is focused on Elizabeth what of the childs welfare? He had some bond with his mother
and then he is passed around like a football? Is he supposed to bond with these new people, then he will be given back to strangers again if they were to "turn him in" and then -where? foster care? What effect on that poor little tyke? She might have taken care of him physically but what has she done to him emotionally?"

Even if he has been passed around like a football, he might still have a great chance for a healthy, happy life---if he has not been abused by anyone and he has now found caring people who will give him a good home. JMO