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

She fit everything into a backpack? Wow, she must have left a lot of her stuff back at the hotel to do that. (If she had more than that, cases might have been put in the luggage compartment of the bus) Anyway, if that is all she boarded with, LE could tell how full it was when boarding and then how empty when exiting the bus at the Florida destination. If they show her boarding with a diaper bag or something which could hold one in it and she arrives without that item, then that would be damming evidence. I think all this would be simple for them to iron out and I assume they would have done this first thing. With that in mind, Gabriel must have either remained in Texas---or somebody else transported him elsewhere. JMO.

OR, he was transported someplace else deceased.

I gathered the info on this timeline from our post. How accurate are we?

12-8 Elizabeth and Logan break up and separate.
12-9 Elizabeth called Logan and ask him to sign over his rights. Logan refuses.
Need dates Gabriel is with the Smiths
12-14 Logan files for full custody of Gabriel
12-21 Logan fills out a statement on Custodial Request saying that Elizabeth could and would hurt the baby.
Need date Elizabeth comes and picks Gabriel up from the Smith's
12-21 (?) Elizabeth hires babysitter from Craigs List
12-22 thru 12-27 Elizabeth registers in (2) different San Antonio Hotels
12-26 Gabriel last seen. Time Stamp on photos taken at Home Gate Suites (hotel)
12-27 Elizabeth text-ed Logan that she had killed the baby then goes into detail during phone conversation with him. Gabriel is reported missing this day. The 27th was listed as the checkout date at both motels Elizabeth checked into. (she did not checkout of either one) She is captured sitting alone in her car (about 5mins) on video in the Motel 6 parking lot (she wasn't a guest at this hotel). She gets out with backpack/duffle bag, abandons the car and hops a bus to Florida.
12-28 Due in court. Logan is granted full custody of Gabriel and a warrant is issued for Elizabeth.
12-30 Elizabeth is arrested in Florida. Police are not certain yet where she was between 12-27 and 12-30.
1-5 Car is located with Gabriel's car seat inside in the Motel 6 parking lot.

Home Gate Studio Suites and Quality Inn Fiesta Park Hotels
* Each are under $60.00 a night.
* Elizabeth listed her checkout dates as the 27th at both hotels. (didn't check out of either one)
* Both are near the Airport. (she met the Smith's at an Airport)
* Both are 18 to 20 minutes away from Raymond Russell Park
* Tornado bus station is a straight shot down Interstate 10, about 6 miles. There are 5 other places closer to the hotel where Elizabeth could have hopped a greyhound.
*These Hotels are located about (5 miles) from Six Flags
between (3 and 12 miles) from 4 major shopping malls, San Antonio Zoo, Sea World, Alamo, River-walk, several Museums, Botanical Gardens and Chucky Cheese Pizza Parlor.

All these places she could have met potential parents to adopt Gabriel and she drives to an out of the way state park and just stumbles across some random couple.

How long was the bus ride if she hopped on a bus on the 27th and was arrested on the 30th? I doubt she carried a deceased Gabriel with her on the bus. Someone would have noticed the smell. So he had to have been left in Texas.

nitespinr thanks for those two post showing a time line for us. LE obviously knows more than we do. They have her cell phone and stuff we have not seen results on.

by NiteSpinR Today at 5:30 am Need date Elizabeth hires babysitter from Craigs List

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

Any one know what bus line she took? It would be nice to know how long her trip was by bus.

TEMPE, AZ -- Tempe detectives have processed a GPS device that may have been used by the mother of a missing 8-month-old boy.

Investigators say the information from the GPS, including its origin, cannot be released.

It has been weeks since baby Gabriel Johnson disappeared while with his mother, Elizabeth, in San Antonio, Texas after leaving Tempe.

Gabriel Johnson was last seen around December 26.

Detectives will not say how many people have been questioned involving the search for the boy, but Jack Smith, who is considered a 'person of interest' in the case told ABC15 a family member outside Arizona has been interviewed.

"They (investigators) went to my son's house in Tennessee and asked him a few questions which is all normal stuff, they have to do that and that's ok," said Jack Smith Wednesday night.

Smith went on to say he has no problem being labeled a 'person of interest' and hopes the investigation continues to move forward.

"We're hoping it's (investigation) making progress, I mean it needs to be making progress and we (the Smiths) certainly have faith and hope that's what is going on," said Jack Smith.

Tempe officers say the number of tips they've received in search of missing baby Gabriel has dropped.

"The tips are not coming in at the volume they were a week ago," said Tempe Lt. Mike Horn.

According to Tempe Officers, indications that Gabriel is alive are not as strong as they were earlier in the investigation, however, detectives continue to hold out hope the boy will be found alive.

According to Elizabeth's MySpace page, it appears Elizabeth was posting messages just days after her son went missing.

On her MySpace bio, Elizabeth calls herself a "proud parent" and labeled her mood as "adventurous" on December 29, 2009, and appears to have last logged-in on December 30, 2009, the same day she was arrested in Miami.

When asked about the MySpace page and visitor postings, Tempe Police Sgt. Steve Carbajal said, "Detectives are using any means necessary to find information and especially Gabriel."

According to detectives, 23-year-old Elizabeth Johnson refuses to tell authorities where the baby is or who may have him or what led her to San Antonio.

Police also confirm to ABC15 there are two, separate, yet parallel investigations involving the disappearance of the toddler.

According to Horn, a team of detectives is working a missing persons investigation and a homicide investigation at the same time because it is unknown if boy's mother gave the child away or possibly killed him.

"It is a very real possibility that Elizabeth killed Gabriel," Horn said. "We are holding out hope that he's alive, but we have to look at every aspect and investigate everything."

Detectives are also looking into the possibility that the missing boy may be disguised as a girl by the people who have him.

"There's one thing we've learned in this investigation and that is that anything is possible," said Carbajal

During a media briefing Monday, Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, pleaded for help in the search for his missing son.

"This is about Gabriel and I want to find my son," McQueary said. "I think about it every single day whether he's dead or alive."

Tempe detectives have also released new photos taken of the baby boy while Gabriel was in a San Antonio motel.

rest of 2 page article here:

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/tempe/story/Tempe-PD-Mother-s-GPS-processed-in-search-for/xgsbK2cK80iD5ZWBC0ifjg.cspx

lindamarie wrote:Any one know what bus line she took? It would be nice to know how long her trip was by bus.

Greyhound - across the street from Motel 6 where she left her car.

Nitespinner, thanks for the timeline and the layout of SA. If you've never been there, it's hard to imagine it. LOL.

Family of Gabriel Johnson's father to hold vigil

Mike Sakal, Tribune

January 21, 2010 - 10:01PM

The paternal family of a missing 8-month-old Tempe boy is holding a candlelight vigil for him in a Scottsdale park on Sunday.

The family of Logan McQueary, the father of Gabriel Johnson, who has been missing since Dec. 26, is inviting the public to the vigil in honor of Gabriel at 6 p.m. Sunday at Chaparral Park. The park is at 5401 N. Hayden Road, and the vigil will be held at the south soccer field.

The baby, Gabriel Johnson, has been missing since Dec. 26 when he was last seen in San Antonio, Texas, where his mother, Elizabeth Johnson took him in the midst of a custody battle with McQueary. The story has received national media attention.

Johnson is being held on a $1.1 million cash bond in the Maricopa County Estrella Jail. She has remained uncooperative with authorities about revealing Gabriel's whereabouts since her arrest in Miami Beach, Fla., on Dec. 30, according to Tempe police.

The McQueary family said they are hopeful that the baby will be safely returned.

Anyone with information about Gabriel's whereabouts can call The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site. I learned about this site last night while reading up on Baby Gabriel, online, and this site has such an awesome group of people, who are trying to solve this case. I love it!

I just got pulled into the Baby Gabriel story last night, for the first time since this story aired. How tragic the whole story is!

Here are my theories: 1) the theory about accidentally giving the baby too much medicine - I would rule this one out. Baby was at the age that he is teething - so - using a lot of Tylenol to ease the pain is totally normal. (I have a 33 month old and a 15 month old & I used Tylenol too.) 2) As for the baby looking groggy - I'm sure the baby was just tired, and mom was insisting on photographing baby - knowing she was giving him up that day. This baby's tired look is really not different than most baby's tired look. People are reading too much into it. 3) The mom had a strategy when she went to St. Antonio. She obviously intended to get rid of Gabriel, and she reached her goal. 3) I don't think she killed the baby. While she may not have bonded for or appreciated having to change her lifestyle for Gabriel, I think she still went through the motions in life to provide for him. He does not/did not look thin to me (my 2 kids are runts by nature - in the 3rd percentile for weight). Gabriel looked very healthy to me in the photos. She dressed him well, too. 4) Had she intended to harm the baby, and not really cared about him, as someone on this group posted - she would not have taken the "mom" measures to make sure baby was centered on the bed, to prevent baby from falling; she would not have brought pain meds to ease baby's mouth pains while likely teething. In one of the photos I see what appears to be a 40 ct sized (appears this size) package of diapers. 5) I think she spent the 2 hours that she had the babysitter babysitting Gabriel - visiting w/whomever took Gabriel. Had she intended to "do away" w/Gabriel, she would not have spent $40 (that is probably a lot of money to her) to have someone watch him for 2 hours, to ensure he would be safe for the hours she was gone. She could have easily left him alone in the bathroom of the hotel room, or she could have killed him the first day she arrived at the hotel (though I could be mistaken, that she may have only been at the hotel one day??). 6) While not acceptable behavior, I understand how she would have felt enraged w/her boyfriend - when she went into her erractic fit and cut up his things (evidently she was mad that he was home late). We don't know the details, and maybe he was out having fun w/his friends, when she was at home w/the child on her own. I am very fortunate b/c my parents help me every week w/my kids (though my husband and I both work full-time). If my parents didn't help us, I would be a mess w/the stress involved with caring for 2 young kids - while working full-time. Elizabeth did not have the resources I have. She didn't have the familial support she needed to raise the child. And from the sounds of it, the boyfriend was a total loser - past burglar. I hate to judge him like that, but, I can see how she wouldn't want someone with a history of crime to raise her child, especially since she came from a broken home/foster care background. Maybe she's seen how ugly it is to be in an unstable environment and didn't want her son to go through the foster care system... . Maybe she figured if she just planted him in one solid permanent home, he would get the stability she never had.

As for her comment on killing the child to her boyfriend - I personally think she said it b/c that was the most hurtful thing she could say to him. Again, based on her actions leading up to this point, I don't think she hurt him. Even during her fits of rage, as someone mentioned on this site, she never shook the baby in rage (shaken baby), which is HUGE here. She had self-control and obviously didn't want to harm the baby.

I really think she did find people to take Gabriel. My guess is she may have gone to the library and used their web sites to communicate w/potential adopters - or an undercover group (as someone mentioned earlier). I think the police should see what aliases she has used and see if anyone registered or signed up to use the internet at libraries near her home. She could have also used the internet services provided at the hotel or places near the hotel. Something the police should look into.

I also think police have the ability to trace the computer that was used on the posting someone posted here - the one about "Beth" who posted on a scrapbooking site that she was in San Antonio adopting a baby... . Then they can find who posted that. I think that is a ploy from the adopter/undercover people, to throw the police off. If you look at the content - it is too scripted. Who would write all of that as a blog on a scrapbooking site? (ie: I live in WI, but am in San Antonio now adopting Baby Gabriel...".) Way too scripted and too obvious. Whoever has him knows what is going on and would not be that stupid to expose themself like that online.

To summarize it, I think Baby Gabriel is alive. PRAYING and hoping here.

Thanks for all the wonderful posts. You guys are amazing sleuths!

I personally think the child is

Welcome, Lucy, and thanks for your perspective on this heartwrenching case. If she did in fact give him to a couple, why doesn't she just come out and say it? LE wants to insure Gabriel is first alive, and secondly safe.

I have a lot of problems with this case but I really have a problem with the fact that she would hire a babysitter she doesn't know from CL. That is just not good parenting no matter what. This sitter could have been an axe murderer for all we know.

I can see your point about Gabriel being tired, etc., but you really do have to watch how much Tylenol is given to an infant, and to tell the sitter to just give him more to shut him up doesn't bode too well for the loving mother. I am not saying there were not parts of her that cared for her child. I just don't think she cared enough to do the right thing.

And, her FB comments speak volumes.

I hope you are right and Gabriel is alive. I do think there is a chance. I don't trust the Smith's and think Tami may have helped her go undercover with Gabriel.

Anyway, thanks for the compliments on VH. Part of having a site like this is we can agree to disagree. I hope you will continue to give us your thoughts, comments and suggestions.

Hi Lucy! Welcome to VH, and for your excellent post! :cheers:

I also agree with you that Elizabeth seemed to be a caring mother in many ways, but lacked the skills & support needed to properly raise him on her own. I also hope & pray that Gabriel is still alive. He is such a beautiful child!

Hi Wrapitup! Thanks for responding. I should be in bed as I have to work early, but I was eager to see if anyone would respond to me.

I agree wholeheartedly with you on all your points, and I wasn't trying to condone any of the mom's actions, but rather, try to share another perspective as to why I think Gabriel is alive.

I also agree that Elizabeth should just come clean w/where the baby is.

Also, there has to be a sound reason police wouldn't be checking dumpsters and such already. It's kind of frustrating that they haven't checked.

The only thing that I question is how she described that she put his "blue" body in a bag and threw him out. Maybe I am uneducated, but is it well-known that a body turns blue after suffication? I guess what I'm asking is, could she have used the "blue" adjective to describe his appearance, if she hadn't really seen a blue child? If it's not well-known, then maybe she did kill him. If it is well-known, then I am slow on the uptake! : )

All these stories really sadden me - the Caylee Anthony one, this one, the Shaniya Davis one... . Too many unstable people in this world. : (

Hi Rainbow!

Wrapitup - also, I forgot to mention, I agree 3000% on your comment on the finding a sitter on Craig's List. I would never in a million years have anyone watch my kids that I had never met before. My oldest is 33 mos, and the only people I have ever let watch her are my parents. That's it. I don't even trust the other set of grandparents as they are a little more careless (no stair guards or such).

For me the big question is where was she during the 2 hrs that the sitter watched Gabriel?

Also, who called her that upset her, that the babysitter noticed? (Was it Logan? I don't think so, b/c she said that Logan didn't reach out to her once, when he knew she had taken off w/Gabriel.)

Also, my last two cents, that I really have to get to bed - the babysitter had stated that there were no toys or books for the baby; however, the photos show a book on the bed and a few age appropriate toys. I think a few of you said it best that Nancy Grace sort of "framed" the content of the babysitter's discussion..., meaning that she may have put words in the babysitters mouth, to sku things to reflect whatever point Nancy was making.

Ok. Good night.

Will catch up tomorrow.

(This is a lot more fun than Facebook! Thanks everyone!!!)

Hi - I'm back! I was trying to add another post last night but my computer was acting up & I had to shut it down. Anyways, it's working today!

All I wanted to add is: Although I am hoping & praying that Gabriel is still alive somewhere... I am also glad that LE is investigating to see if he was murdered. Elizabeth did tell her boyfriend that she had killed him, so whether that is true or not, it needs to be considered as a very real possibility.

Hi Rainbow and a hearty welcome from me to Lucy!

I have enjoyed reading both of your thoughts above. Lucy, you seem to voice what thoughts I have had on this case.

The CL babysitter may have been hired because there would have been nobody else she could call upon to watch the baby while she went to an appointment. Strange town and she didn't know anyone personally. Her options could have been only 2: Hire a sitter you don't know from a list, or leave the baby alone and unattended for 2 hours in a motel room. If these were the only 2 options she had, the better of the choices would have been to hire the sitter even though she didn't know anything about her.

Rainbow and Lucy a big hearty welcome. It is always nice to see some new posters and hear their thoughts.

I was interested in hearing about how you thought Gabrial might still be alive. I was thinking maybe she doesn't know who she gave the baby too. She was a girl in a hurry and maybe didn't get that detail. Using Craigs list for a babysitter could be the kind of gal not too interested in "details". I donno.

Personally I think little Gabriel is gone. Long gone. He was fussy and she was tired. I think she did him in like she told the father and moved on.

What a shame if that happens to prove to be true.

I think too that a crying baby in a hotel room for two hours might just draw the attention of the staff and she would be reported to child protective services by the hotel. Just my opinion.

Jeanne that was my thought - she couldnt leave the child unattended, if found out by hotel staff which could have gotten into the room easily with their pass key, she would have been in trouble.

My fiance and I were planning to attend the vigil for Gabriel on Sunday, but the weather has been really bad in AZ with a lot of road closures. Lots of flooding in the Phoenix area. (lots of snow where I am--measuring in feet instead of inches--lol). I wonder if they will still have the vigil on Sunday as scheduled. It's supposed to start to clear later tomorrow so hopefully...

Ok that was weird, right after I sent my prior msg I received a goole alert about the vigil.

Baby Gabriel's father plans vigil for his son

by 3TV / azfamily.com
Posted on January 22, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Updated today at 2:01 PM

TEMPE – The father of a missing Tempe infant plans to hold a candlelight vigil for him this weekend.

Logan McQueary and his family and friends plan to gather at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale on Sunday evening.

The vigil will start at 6 p.m. McQueary's son, Gabriel Johnson, disappeared after Christmas while in his mother's custody in Texas.

Elizabeth Johnson is under arrest but has not told authorities where the child is.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/national/Baby-Gabriels-father-to-hold-vigil-on-Sunday-for-his-son-82400207.html

Hopefully the roads will open up so we can make it down there on Sunday.

I was thinking about the number of young women in jail and the number of little children affected. What is going on in our world?

But...wheere did she go for those 2 hrs? If it were to meet prospective parents for her baby she would certainly bring the baby with her...no?

Cherylz I honestly thought she was meeting a JOHN.

Dressed for clubbing and two hours. That was my thought. If you were meeting prospective parents you would take the baby and dress down.

She was familiar with Craigs list. Is it too late to go back and view ads from those dates. I am not that good but I wonder if you can do that.

I had a couple more questions NG could have asked the babysitter. Was she drinking was one. NG is pretty good. I wonder if that babysitter is blogging somewhere. I bet she has more to tell.

Police were at a landfill Friday that officials previously said they might want to search in connection with the case of a missing 8-month-old baby.

Gabriel Johnson was last seen in San Antonio on December 26th. Last week, investigators informed the operators of the Allied Waste - Tessman Road Landfill located at 7000 IH-10 East about the possibility of a search.

News 4 WOAI have been checking the site each day. When News 4 WOAI crew pulled up to the site Friday, several officers were there along with search dogs. However, police would not answer any questions.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Exclusive-Police-expected-to-search-landfill-for/zwNXyG1pAkyavvRY9wVmZg.cspx

cherylz wrote:But...wheere did she go for those 2 hrs? If it were to meet prospective parents for her baby she would certainly bring the baby with her...no?

It's anybody's guess, but we can only estimate that the appointment she kept would have been for about 1 hour. This could have been a doctor for a condition she has, meeting prospective parents maybe before they see the baby---kinda checking them out, visiting the library to get on the internet for something important for her to do, a job interview----I think we can come up with a lot of reasons, but the less plausible one in my mind is out clubbing as has been suggested by NG----at around high noon to 1 PM?----and only an hour spent doing that?---just doesn't seem like it could have been that. Another thing NG likes to say is that she was out getting her nails done at some point in time in that particular week, but Jack Smith said, when he visited her in jail her nails were not done, so that kind of beauty appointment is also not believable.

Just as with Caylee every day I have more questions than answers.
I'll start with the Craigs List Babysitter.
I looked up child care on Craigs List in San Antonio. So far during the month of January there are over 20 listing in the Household Services Category. Fewer listings in the Austin Area.

**Several news sources report that Elizabeth was in San Antonio the 22nd-27th.
So how did she hire the Babysitter on the evening of the 21st?
Was she surfing the web from her cell phone in the car before she got to SA?
Did she use a computer in the hotel lobby before she checked into a room?
Could she have located a Texas babysitter while she was still in Arizona?

**The Craigs List Babysitter said that Elizabeth acted upset because she was late.
To me this suggest that Elizabeth had some sort of prearranged appointment and wasn't just randomly going out to party. (For those who think she was out looking for a good time because of the way she was dressed, there is a Pool Hall and Bowling Alley near the hotel. HA!)
**The babysitter said Gabriel seemed scared and unhappy.
Maybe that's because Elizabeth was driving non stop, rushing to an appointment in SA and wasn't taking time out to care for him in the back seat.
**The babysitter said there wasn't anything for the baby to play with in the hotel room. Maybe that's because Elizabeth rushed right out to her appointment and hadn't had the chance to unpack yet.

The Pictures On The Digital Camera
Are time stamped December 26th, 5days after she arrived in San Antonio and the day before she fled the state.
This means the pictures weren't for perspective adoptive parents Elizabeth may have met with on the 21st.
I'm betting there are other pictures of Gabriel taken on an earlier date that she shared with them instead of those.
(for instance the one of her with the baby propped up in the bed.) (that plastered smile on her face totally reminds me of Casey.)
In these pictures dated the 26th, IMO Gabriel shows no signs of jaundice (no yellow skin, no yellowing of the whites of his eyes) so I'm ruling out the over dosing of Tylenol.
The baby is seen wearing different clothing, with toys, teething rings and medicine. Did the Smith's pack these items for Gabriel or did Elizabeth?

Here are my big questions

1) If Elizabeth is with Gabriel at the Home Gate Studio Hotel on the 21st when the babysitter came and there still on the 26th when she took those pictures of Gabriel... then why was she also checked into the Quality Inn Fiesta Park?
What was the purpose of the second hotel room? :scratch:

2) It's been reported that Elizabeth has spoken with her Grand Father from jail and asked him to get the cash and an expensive ring she was wearing when she was arrested. Could the ring have been payoff for the baby?

jeanne1807 wrote:Cherylz I honestly thought she was meeting a JOHN.

Dressed for clubbing and two hours. That was my thought. If you were meeting prospective parents you would take the baby and dress down.

She was familiar with Craigs list. Is it too late to go back and view ads from those dates. I am not that good but I wonder if you can do that.

I had a couple more questions NG could have asked the babysitter. Was she drinking was one. NG is pretty good. I wonder if that babysitter is blogging somewhere. I bet she has more to tell.

Jeanne, you are the bomb!! That really could answer the two hr time frame question. She would have needed cash to buy the bus ticket the next day.
Re: Him looking well fed, clean and well dressed, remember, she had been involved with the Smith's, I would bet the clothes were bought by Tammie, they looked brand new. Also, if she were scamming the Smiths and she knew she was going to murder Gabriel, she would have bought a small pack of diapers. I'll bet upon questioning the Smith's bought the diapers also. They thought they were getting him soon.

Lucy, Rainbow, so glad to see you posting and your ideas, theories, nice to have new points of views.
Rainbow, I know that you have been a member for awhile, so glad you feel at home now and are commenting!! Love your opinions.

I love seeing the new posters here on VH. Welcome.
Maybe I did not go back far enough in the thread to see if anyone knows what bus line Elizabeth took to Florida?

Upthread it was mentioned that there were two options: 1) Leave Gabriel alone in the motel room. 2) Hire a sitter.

I say 3) Take the baby with you if you are not doing something illegal or going clubbing. And really, why would it be so important for her to go clubbing? It seems to me as though she had an appointment.

Also, I would love to know who she was talking to on the phone per the babysitter saying, "What am I supposed to do, go back?"

CritterFan1 wrote:Lucy, Rainbow, so glad to see you posting and your ideas, theories, nice to have new points of views.
Rainbow, I know that you have been a member for awhile, so glad you feel at home now and are commenting!! Love your opinions.

Thanks Critter! I enjoy this site, and wish I could do more posting... but as a single mom, it is hard to find the time. So, I jump on whenever I can. I enjoy reading all of your posts - it is interesting to read the different theories and ideas. I just hope & pray for some closure very soon on this case (and all the other ones too). I can't imagine what Gabriel's father & grandfather must be going through! I know that Gabriel's father had been in trouble with the law before, and I really hope that he has straightened his life out - if Gabriel is still alive and is found, he may have another chance to be a good father.

rainbow I love your signature. Thanks BJ I got it "greyhound". I am off to research her bus ride to Florida. Stops and times etc.

I can tell you it would be basically SA to Houston, Houston to Baton Rouge to New Orleans to Mobile, etc. Been there, done that. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!

The trip took 21 hours if they went straight through with no stops which is doubtful. So Elizabeth was not in Florida very long before she got arrested.

They would have changed buses in Houston and Mobile. It's one longggggg trip. I still want to know how they found her in Miami Beach. Did they know she was on a Greyhound? Because if they did, they could have stopped the bus anywhere.

I think she got on the bus with a fake name, so I would bet any Greyhound coming from the West was being watched in Florida.

I wish they would release more information. They did not start looking for her until the 28th after the custody hearing is what I am remembering.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the welcome again. I am excited to be on this site! You are all so resourceful!

About what she did over those 2hrs, I think she was meeting w/prospective parents. I don't think she would have been "clubbing," as she would have waited to get rid of Gabriel to party it up. Instead, it was definitely a prearranged appt. If she was meeting w/a John, wouldn't she have killed Baby Gabriel first, and get him off his hands, so that she could sell herself and make a boatload of money? She already had $500 on her, right? So for her, that was probably enough money to get her to her next point/destination.

Lucy : )

Wrapitup wrote:Upthread it was mentioned that there were two options: 1) Leave Gabriel alone in the motel room. 2) Hire a sitter.

I say 3) Take the baby with you if you are not doing something illegal or going clubbing. And really, why would it be so important for her to go clubbing? It seems to me as though she had an appointment.

Also, I would love to know who she was talking to on the phone per the babysitter saying, "What am I supposed to do, go back?"

Correct me if my memory is wrong, but wasn't it said on NG that the caller was Tammi Smith? And wasn't it said that she told the baby sitter, upon hanging up the phone, "Sorry about that, it was my grandma" and explained there was a bitter custody battle going on or something to that effect? Does anyone else remember this to verify?

Correct me if my memory is wrong, but wasn't it said on NG that the caller was Tammi Smith? And wasn't it said that she told the baby sitter, upon hanging up the phone, "Sorry about that, it was my grandma" and explained there was a bitter custody battle going on or something to that effect? Does anyone else remember this to verify?

What? I am so confused, I do not remember hearing this but if I missed it (which is HIGHLY likely) I want to know MORE about it please!!!

lindamarie wrote:rainbow I love your signature. Thanks BJ I got it "greyhound". I am off to research her bus ride to Florida. Stops and times etc.

Thanks Lindamarie! (I love all the emoticons... so much fun!)

mommyof3kids wrote:

Correct me if my memory is wrong, but wasn't it said on NG that the caller was Tammi Smith? And wasn't it said that she told the baby sitter, upon hanging up the phone, "Sorry about that, it was my grandma" and explained there was a bitter custody battle going on or something to that effect? Does anyone else remember this to verify?

What? I am so confused, I do not remember hearing this but if I missed it (which is HIGHLY likely) I want to know MORE about it please!!!

The babysitter said she had about a 5 min call with someone where she could here a WOMAN yelling on the line but could not understand what the woman was saying. The babysitter said that all she heard EJ say is "What, so I should turn around and go back"?? When EJ got off the phone, she told the babysitter she was talking to her grandmother. LE questioned the grandmother and the grandmother said "No, she did NOT talk to EJ". I never heard NG or anyone say she was actually talking to Tammi Smith.

Focus of lost-baby case shifts to what-ifs
Police weigh how to deal with mother if child is never found

by Megan Boehnke - Jan. 24, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Though the search for Gabriel Johnson continues, questions have turned to what happens to the missing baby's mother, Elizabeth, if the child is never found.

"We have to look at: Did Elizabeth kill Gabriel like she said she did?" said Sgt. Steve Carbajal, a Tempe Police spokesman.

Johnson originally told former boyfriend Logan McQueary 25, the boy's father, in text messages and phone calls that she smothered the boy, stuffed him in a baby bag and left him in a dumpster on Dec. 27. She later said she did not kill the child.

While police initially believed the child was alive, signs supporting that conclusion have weakened and new tips have slowed, authorities said.

Elizabeth Johnson has refused to speak to investigators, and without a body, prosecuting a homicide case is difficult. So far, she has been charged in Maricopa County with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.

Suspects have been arrested in only a handful of missing-body cases in Maricopa County. Some cases have been successfully prosecuted, usually aided by a confession and extensive forensic evidence. Other cases never result in charges, even if police believe they know who committed the crime.

Investigators, including a team from Tempe, have searched dumpsters in San Antonio, where the child was last photographed. So far, there has been no luck in finding Gabriel or his body.

Anything else police might have found, they are keeping close to the vest.

Statements of murder

After telling her ex-boyfriend she had killed the child, Johnson said she was leaving the country, according to court documents. She said she would call McQueary to tell him where he could find the "blue-colored" baby.

While those statements give detectives investigative leads, experts consider it debatable whether they would hold up in court.

"Generally, there has to be some sort of corroborating evidence," said attorney Dale Baich, with the Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix, who specializes in matters of habeas corpus. "I'm not sure making those statements by itself would be enough. There may be explanations and reasons why she would say what she said."

Johnson recanted the statement in an interview with a local television station, saying she only claimed to have killed the boy to get back at his father for "ruining my life." She said she gave the child to a couple she met in a park in San Antonio.

But police keep returning to the possibility that Johnson killed her son, especially as other leads of him being alive run out.

To corroborate the initial statements, police would need evidence that could include the child's body before they could pursue homicide charges. Without his body, the prosecution must somehow prove the boy is dead.

3 cases, 3 outcomes

"In court, the prosecutor has to tell a story to the jury, and the problem with not having a body is you're missing part of the story," said retired Tempe Police Detective Allen Reed.

Reed was the lead detective in the case of Cookie Jacobson of Tempe, who disappeared in 1998. The Police Department has long believed her 16-year-old son killed her and enlisted his 13-year-old sister to help dispose of the body. But no charges have been filed.

Classmates heard the teenager talk about wanting to kill his mother. Results from a polygraph test suggested the boy had lied to police.

In an interview with police, he said he found his mother dead in her room and with the help of his younger sister, wrapped Jacobson's body in a yellow sheet and placed it in a garbage container in an alley near their home. Police found Jacobson's blood in the garbage can.

It wasn't enough evidence. Police arrested the two siblings, but the County Attorney's Office ordered their release because of a lack of evidence. About 32 police and public works employees sifted through trash at the Butterfield Landfill in Mobile, but never found the body.

The lack of a body, Reed said, meant police could never determine exactly how she was killed.

In a second, more recent case, prosecutors in 2002 persuaded a jury to convict David Lamar Anthony of Peoria of killing his wife and her two children, without a confession or the three missing bodies. Prosecutors painted Anthony as a cheating husband who molested his stepdaughter. They also found a 2-by 3-foot stain of his wife's blood under the carpet in the family's home office.

The verdict was knocked down by the Arizona Supreme Court, which ruled the molestation accusations should not have been included as evidence. A construction crew has since dug up the bodies in two 55-gallon drums. It's unclear how evidence from the bodies will be used in the second trial. The children were unidentifiable, but their mother's body was intact and showed signs of blunt-force trauma.

In an Ahwatukee Foothills case, a 13-year-old was convicted of second-degree murder in 1997 for shooting a friend and waiting two hours for him to die before stuffing him in a trash bin. Police searched landfills but never found the body. Jeremy Bach admitted shooting the boy but claimed it was an accident. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Unfazed by accusations

Elizabeth Johnson, however, doesn't seem concerned about the possibility of being charged with homicide, said her grandfather, Bob Johnson. He visited Elizabeth in jail on Jan. 14 and has spoken to her on the phone about every other day since, he said.

"At this point, it's common sense that the longer something like this drags out, the worse it looks for the victim, in this case Gabriel," he said. "But I don't think she would have harmed the child, let alone killed him, and have the attitude she has."

Bob Johnson said his granddaughter seems convinced the most serious charges she is facing, kidnapping and child abuse, won't be lessened if the boy is found alive.

"I tell her the easiest way for her to get out of here, the fastest way for her to get out, is to tell them where Gabriel is at," Bob Johnson said. "The quicker he shows up alive, the quicker you can get out of here."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/01/24/20100124baby0124.html

Hello,

I'm sure one of a few of you may already be ahead of me in this thought process, but I thought about it today, and here are my latest thoughts -

One question was "why did EJ book 2 hotel rooms?" Now that I think of it - she had to have been planning to meet up w/people to sell herself for sex. That seems to be the only logical reason for booking 2 rooms. One for herself and child to stay in, and the other to have sex in w/the John(s). She may have had sex w/several men?? And left Gabriel alone even, and possibly only called the sitter the one time???

Maybe she got the ring for sex? Or was the ring she had a special ring her mom may have left her when her mom died?

My thoughts have changed, and now I have had a change of heart : ( . I no longer think she spent the 2 hrs/1 hr meeting w/a prospective adopter. I think you guys are right. Had it been a prospective adopter, she would have brought the child. (Unless she thought it could have been an undercover police sting of sorts.) Also, she would have brought the child w/her and just given it up at that time. The only thing she could have been doing, from the sounds of it, is selling herself. And likely she met the party in the other hotel room.

I think that she was feeling that since she took off from San Antonio and was going to be starting a new life, that she needed money. This was a lifestyle she could easily get into to make money.

I wish they would just search the landfills, hardcore, and search continuously. I don't know why they aren't doing this as they should be. The longer they wait, the more they are going to have to sift through. It's almost as if they just don't want to sit in the cold to do this. I don't get it. I personally would head over there to sift through landfill; though I live in MN, have a few kids, and work full-time! If I could, I totally would be there.

The part that has made me have a change of heart is her use of the adjective "blue" to describe the baby's body. I had never heard that dead bodies turn blue. I don't know that she would have been educated enough to know that. I think that was what she truly saw, and therefore, what she told the boyfriend.

I am losing faith over here. Unfortunately. I was feeling so positive. : (

Lucy, I think many, including LE, are losing faith little Gabriel is alive.

Also, I would wonder if she sold herself to get money if this person or persons wouldn't come forward just to save an innocent child.

Many get that horrible pit in their stomach like they do with the Caylee Anthony case.

Arizona police would have trouble bringing homicide charges against missing baby Gabriel Johnson's mother if the child is never found, legal experts say.

Elizabeth Johnson has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference, but prosecuting a homicide case without a body would be difficult, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday.

Johnson allegedly first told the child's father, Logan McQueary, 25, in text messages and phone calls that she had smothered Gabriel, put his body in a bag and placed it in a trash bin on Dec. 27 after fleeing Tempe, Ariz., with the child during a custody dispute.

She then changed her story, saying she gave the child to a couple she met in a park in San Antonio, Texas, the Republic said.

To corroborate Johnson's initial statements about killing the child, police would need evidence that could include the child's body before pursuing homicide charges.

"In court, the prosecutor has to tell a story to the jury, and the problem with not having a body is you're missing part of the story," retired Tempe Police Detective Allen Reed said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/01/24/Police-weigh-charges-in-missing-baby-case/UPI-22361264389117/

by Megan Gordon - Jan. 24, 2010 09:06 PM
The Arizona Republic

With tears in their eyes, family and friends of Logan McQueary prayed for the safe return of his son, Gabriel.

Eight-month-old Gabriel Johnson has been missing since mid-December, when his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, 23, took off with him.

About 150 people attended a vigil Sunday at Chaparral Park in Scottsdale. The vigil was organized by Logan McQueary and Gabriel's aunt and uncle.

"It's sad that it's come to this," said Kelli McQueary, Gabriel's aunt. "It's something we needed to do to give back to the community who has done so much for us."

The vigil was full of local news media, which have been following the story since Gabriel's disappearance.

Through the media, the family pleaded to the public for Gabriel's homecoming.

"Return him to Logan so he can grow up with his family," said Kim Harvey, McQueary's long-time family friend.

Gabriel's great-grandmother, sitting in a wheelchair and covered with blankets, also asked for Gabriel's safe return.

"We don't want to get you in trouble. We just want him back," Dorothy Woodard said. "We're not giving up, not for a minute."

Police initially believed Gabriel was alive, but signs supporting that conclusion have weakened, authorities said.

Johnson originally told Logan McQueary, her former boyfriend, in text messages and phone calls
that she smothered Gabriel stuffed him in a baby bag and left him in a Dumpster on Dec. 27. She later said she did not kill the child.

Since her arrest, faced with charges that include kidnapping and child abuse, Johnson has invoked her right to remain silent.

At the vigil, Gabriel's dad appealed to Johnson through the media.

"I want her to stop being so stubborn," Logan McQueary said. "Just tell us what happened."

The vigil ended with Gabriel's cousins releasing white balloons and his dad releasing a green balloon in honor of Gabriel.

Everyone watched as the balloons floated away into the night.

Please click on here to see pics of the vigil. So sad!!!!!!!!

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2010/01/24/20100124vigil0124-ON.html