Angel Who Cares
If you seek an angel with an open heart, you shall
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- Sep 15, 2008
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Posted this at the top of my post as well, so that no one misses it!!!!
*Raw Video: Missing Baby Mom Speaks With CBS News 9:36
http://www.kpho.com/video/22155911/index.html
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Video: Missing Baby's Mom Moved To Ariz, Faces More Charges
http://www.clickorlando.com/video/22202431/index.html
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Johnson behind bars at Maricopa County Jail; couple still persons of interest
Posted on January 8, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Updated today at 6:44 AM
<snipped>
Tempe police booked Johnson into the Fourth Avenue jail at early Sunday. She is being held on $1.1 million cash bond.
Elizabeth now faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
Jack and Tammi Smith tried adopting Gabriel Johnson in December, in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
They maintain they played no role in that disappearance and have no idea where Gabriel is, but investigators believe the Smiths aren't sharing everything they know.
One reason why is a posting from Tammi Smith's Facebook page from December 23 days after Gabriel's mother took him from Arizona.
She wrote "please keep praying for Gabriel and his mommy's safety on the road. She found underground help in Texas that's given her formulas, diapers, and legal formalities."
The Smiths say they're now angry with Gabriel's mother 23 year-old Elizabeth Johnson.
She's still in custody in Miami, not helping police, waiting to be brought back to Arizona.
*Video Included In Article!
Article:
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Couple...aby-case-take-lie-detector-test-81053957.html
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Arizona Couple Takes Polygraph Test in Missing Baby Case
Saturday, January 09, 2010
<snipped>
Jack and Terri Smith spent hours at the Tempe, Ariz., police station answering questions as part of the police investigation into the disappearance of 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.
Police said Thursday they believe the Smiths, who had wanted to adopt Garbriel, may know more about the missing child's whereabouts than they're telling investigators.
"We are getting some indications that Gabriel is alive," Carbajal said Thursday. "We can't say specifically just what those are, but we are getting some indications that those are correct."
The Smiths have given numerous media interviews in recent days where they said they met Johnson at an airport during a long layover and befriended her. Terri Smith said the young mother wanted to give up her baby for adoption but the ex-boyfriend wouldn't go along.
Article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582673,00.html
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Grandfather of missing baby says life was hard on mom
Woman accused in boy's disappearance told relative she wanted better for her son
Jan. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
<snipped>
Elizabeth Johnson's grandfather says she grew up with a drug-addicted father and an alcoholic mother and then bounced around five different foster homes.
She has always been impulsive, secretive and prone to fits of rage. A relative says that as a child, she would break windows in her home and chased her father with a plunger.
Yet she carried a 4.0 GPA through high school, and she was determined to not let her son suffer the same kind of childhood she had.
That is why her grandfather Bob Johnson says he can't believe she would harm her baby, Gabriel, even to get back at the boy's father.
"She's got a spiteful streak," said Bob, who is the person Elizabeth has turned to the most since her parents died.
"She has a pattern of physical destruction," he said. "I don't know why she hates Logan so much. He tried as hard as he could to make her happy, but she's a tough horse to ride."
Court records and interviews show that Elizabeth's fights with McQueary were so violent that she cut up his clothes and broke windows in the apartment they shared. Elizabeth was charged with domestic-violence-related criminal damage and went into a diversion program, court records show.
McQueary got an order of protection against her in September, but it took only days for the couple to make up. He didn't appear in court, and the order was quashed.
When asked if Elizabeth was capable of following through on the threats she made to McQueary, Bob paused.
"I think anybody is capable, including Elizabeth, in a fit of rage," he said.
Article:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/01/10/20100110missingbaby0110.html
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Missing baby's mom extradited to Arizona
01/10/2010
<snipped>
The mother at the center of a missing baby case is back in Arizona.
Maricopa County sheriff's deputies say Elizabeth Johnson was extradited from Miami where she had been held since her recent arrest.
Article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9D4R28O2.html
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Baby Gabriel's Mom Held On $1.1M Bond
Elizabeth Johnson Extradited To Arizona; Still No Sign Of Baby Gabriel
POSTED: 6:09 am MST January 10, 2010
UPDATED: 5:24 am MST January 11, 2010
<snipped>
The mother at the center of a missing baby case is being held on a $1,100,000 cash bond after she was extradited to Arizona and booked on multiple charges, according to the Tempe Police Department.
Late last week, FBI agents in Nashville rushed to a home after getting a tip from agents in Miami that Gabriel Johnson might be there.
Exactly what evidence Elizabeth Johnson offered that led authorities to Nashville is still unclear.
But it was enough to have FBI agents rush to the home in Nashville, a city to which her friends say Elizabeth has never been.
"We went, knocked on the door, and interviewed the occupants and have been unable at this point to locate the child," said FBI Special Agent Keith Moss.
In an exclusive interview with CBS 5 News from her jail cell last week, Elizabeth Johnson said she has no idea where her little boy is.
Johnson said even though she did not harm her baby, she’s not worried about his safety now.
When asked whether she’s worried her baby is dead or alive, she said, “No, I’m not.”
Johnson's first phone call from jail Sunday morning was to her grandfather, Bob Johnson.
Bob Johnson said, "Well my telephone rang and it was my darling granddaughter calling me from the Fourth Avenue Maricopa County Jail."
Just hours after her booking photo was snapped, Elizabeth was calling to say hello.
"She seemed in a very happy, upbeat mood, " Bob Johnson said. "I guess in her mind she's accomplished her goal, which was to adopt her son, give him to somebody."
Johnson said it was a short talk that only lasted a couple of minutes. He said he didn't ask any questions about where 8-month-old Gabriel might be.
He said, "I chose not to, that she had stated what happened and I knew we were on a recorded line and she isn't going to tell me anything on a recorded line that would be of any value."
Raw Video: CBS 5 Interview With Elizabeth Johnson
http://www.kpho.com/video/22155911/index.html
Video: FBI Acts On Hot Tip In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22190897/index.html
Video: Couple Takes Polygraph Test In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22189499/index.html
Video: Nashville Tie Explored In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22182376/index.html
Video: Police Report Released In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22182384/index.html
Video: 'Persons Of Interest' Named In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22178557/index.html
Video: Elizabeth's Grandfather: She's Lying
http://www.kpho.com/video/22171594/index.html
Video: Missing Baby Mystery Deepens
http://www.kpho.com/video/22166183/index.html
Video: Docs: Missing Baby Mom Volatile
http://www.kpho.com/video/22146968/index.html
Video: Mom: I Gave My Baby To Texas Couple
http://www.kpho.com/video/22144213/index.html
Video: Strange Twist Seen In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22128137/index.html
Video: 'Come Home Soon,' Dad Says Of Missing Son
http://www.kpho.com/video/22124556/index.html
Video: Baby Missing In Custody Battle
http://www.kpho.com/video/22108421/index.html
Video: Tempe Baby Missing After Mother's Arrest
http://www.kpho.com/video/22107394/index.html
Article:
http://www.kpho.com/news/22197770/detail.html
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Mother of missing child returned to Valley
January 10, 2010 - 2:40PM
<snipped>
The Valley woman who is not cooperating with police in the search for her missing 8-month-old son has been extradited from Florida to the Tempe jail, police said Sunday afternoon.
Tempe police also announced that Elizabeth Johnson faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference. She is being held on a cash bond of $1.1 million.
The Tempe woman claimed she killed Gabriel Johnson and left him in a dumpster, but police believe the child is still alive. The child’s disappearance has sparked a nationwide search.
Police believe missing Tempe baby is alive
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149226
Tempe baby still missing after mom's arrest
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149018
Eight-month-old Gabriel Johnson and his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, of Tempe.
Article:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149334
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Tempe Mom Charged in Missing Baby Case
23-year-old held on $1.1 million bond
Updated: Monday, 11 Jan 2010, 9:11 AM MST
Published : Sunday, 10 Jan 2010, 3:01 PM MST
<snipped>
Gabriel was last seen with her in San Antonio. She tells police she gave him up to an unknown couple in Texas for adoption.
After arriving in the valley, Elizabeth Johnson telephoned her grandfather, who lives in Scottsdale.
"I can't even imagine Elizabeth hurting that child or anything worse," Bob Johnson told FOX 10. "It's unbelievable she would. She's a stubborn young lady, she has got a plan and I suspect she implemented it."
Authorities are calling a Scottsdale couple "persons of interest" in the case. The Smiths tell police they befriended Johnson at an airport and she offered to give her son to them to adopt -- but the baby's father didn't agree.
*Video Included In Article!
Article:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/tempe-mom-charged-1-10-2010
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Mother of missing baby gets extradited to Arizona
Last Update: 1/10 9:14 pm
<snipped>
According to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Elizabeth was booked into an Arizona jail late Saturday on charges of custodial interference and kidnapping.
Her cash-only bond is set at $1,100,000.
Two other people named 'persons of interest' in the case said they took a polygraph test last week.
Tammi and Jack Smith of Scottsdale said they were willing to take the examination after being named suspects on Thursday.
"There is an enormous amount of peace in the truth and the truth is what it is and I can't fabricate the truth," said Jack.
The Tempe Police Department is leading the investigation. According to Spokesperson Steve Carbajal, investigators believe the Smiths 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."
Carbajal said Elizabeth initially told authorities she gave her baby to a couple she met in San Antonio while on the run after skipping out on a custodial hearing in Phoenix.
"They wanted the baby and she simply gave it to them," said Bob Johnson, Elizabeth's grandfather. "It sounded like a pretty weak story. It was almost on the border of unbelievable that a person would do that with an 8-month-old child."
But Johnson also said he doesn't believe the Smiths had anything to do with Gabriel's disappearance.
Both police officials and the Smiths say they believe Gabriel is alive. Now the challenge is finding him.
Police are now following leads tying the Smiths to the Nashville, Tennessee area.
Elizabeth and Gabriel
Video: Mother of missing baby gets extradited to Arizona
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26396@knxv.dayport.com
Video: 'Persons of interest' in Tempe case take polygraph test
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26391@knxv.dayport.com
Video: Tempe PD getting indications that 8-month-old boy is alive
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26353@knxv.dayport.com
Article:
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/s...adited-to-Arizona/xgsbK2cK80iD5ZWBC0ifjg.cspx
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Court records paint new picture in Tempe missing baby case
Last Update: 6:36 am
<snipped>
McQueary was granted custody after Johnson didn't show up for a custodial court hearing and allegedly fled the state with the child.
He has made many public appeals to find the 8-month-old, but court documents now reveal he may not be Gabriel's biological father.
In her petition for custody on Dec. 14, Johnson wrote that there were "two potential fathers," and requested that both McQueary and another man, Craig Cherry, take paternity tests.
Cherry said he had no comment on the case when reached by phone Sunday.
"If they're looking for a place for Gabriel to go, we have the father, and the father wants his baby boy back," said Sgt. Steve Carbajal. "That's the bottom line of this whole case."
In court documents, Johnson said she feared McQueary would kidnap the baby and leave the state.
Three days earlier, McQuary filed for custody, saying he feared Johnson would kidnap the baby, and that she was neglectful and unstable.
In the statement, McQueary wrote that Johnson would leave Gabriel crying in his crib for hours without changing his diaper, and that she kicked McQueary out of their apartment, saying, "Take that damn baby with you."
According to documents, he had previously filed a restraining order against her, after he said she trashed their Tempe apartment, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Though police say they are confident the baby is alive, McQueary said in his statement that Johnson called him after she disappeared with the boy, saying she was planning to leave the country, and that she would tell him where Gabriel's "blue" dead body was once she had crossed the border.
Video: Court records paint new picture in Tempe missing baby case
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26399@knxv.dayport.com
Article:
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/s...-in-Tempe-missing/6PhW8F-82kSl7PwFqFdGgw.cspx
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Mother extradicted in interstate search for Baby Gabriel
15 hours 24 min 11 sec ago
<snipped>
Recent tips led police to Nashville, Tennessee, where one couple, Jack and Tammi Smith -- persons of interest in the case -- apparently had connections to the boy's mother.
"We found no indication that Gabriel has been in the area, but because of the two ties we have with Elizabeth Johnson and Tammi Smith, obviously we're going to make sure every stone is uncovered and do what we can to find this boy," FBI spokesman Keith Moses said.
Meanwhile, the Smiths, who had hoped to adopt Gabriel, have said they think Elizabeth is trying to protect the child from his father, Logan McQueary. He now legally has custody of Baby Gabriel.
McQueary also has a criminal history -- he was arrested for felony burglary, DUI and drugs.
"He's admitted that, we've admitted that, and that's not something that's a secret," Sgt. Steve Carbajal with the Tempe Police Department said. "But what we're talking about now is Gabriel. So if they're looking for a place for Gabriel to go, we have the father. The father wants his baby boy back. That's the bottom line of this whole case. That's what we're doing here."
"Yeah, I screwed up in the past. And pretty much I've been working my hardest to get back on track, and I have been," McQueary said. "All I've been doing is staying out of trouble and going to work, stuff like that. I was right next to Elizabeth and Gabriel the whole time. We were living together, and taking care of them -- working my hardest."
The baby's mother -- who initially said she killed her baby, then said she gave him away to a random couple at a San Antonio park -- has also had prior run-ins with the law.
She was arrested for domestic violence and criminal damage after she allegedly had a tantrum at the Tempe apartment she shared with McQueary.
Video: Mother extradicted in interstate search for Baby Gabriel
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2010/01/10/Mother-extradicted-in/1263173477.html
Article:
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2010/01/10/Mother-extradicted-in/1263173477.html
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Missing Baby "Persons of Interest" Speak
Say They Don't Know Where Gabriel Johnson Is; Can't Imagine His Mother Having Hurt Him; She's Jailed in Phoenix
Jan. 11, 2010
<snipped>
Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, desperately wants his son back, notes "Early Show" national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. Elizabeth sent him a text message saying she had killed Gabriel, but later claimed she gave him away to the strangers in San Antonio.
"I really have a hard time believing she just randomly gave Gabriel, the little prince, to somebody in a park," Bob Johnson remarked.
But, Kauffman says, Elizabeth Johnson had already promised the baby to another couple, Jack and Tammi Smith. She met them in an airport seven months ago and, early last month, they took Gabriel into their home, with adoption an option.
Tammi Smith told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday she and her husband don't have any idea about Gabriel's whereabouts. "I sure wish we did. I sure wish (Elizabeth) told us any name, any -- of anything," Smith said.
"We spent ten years building a successful business here (in Scottsdale)," Jack Smith said, "and, for us to throw that away, or even the thoughts of throwing that away for someone we had known for nine days, that's ludicrous. No, absolutely not."
So why do they think police consider them persons of interest?
"Well, we should be!" Jack responded. "We were the last people to see Gabriel before he left Arizona. So I was not shocked at all that they named us. ... Whatever they have to do and whatever they -- because, we had a week and a day prior to them actually doing it, we asked for a polygraph test. If this will clear up -- 'If you think we don't know something, give us a polygraph test, and then let's go on and focus on where we need to.' And that is to find this baby and give this wonderful, wonderful child back to its rightful family."
They took the test. Results aren't back yet.
Tammi says that, while Elizabeth was never all that affectionate toward Gabriel, she doesn't think Elizabeth could have hurt him. "She seemed to want the best for him," Tammi says.
Video: Video: Search for Missing Baby Gabriel
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx9wKfbqwPQ[/ame]
Video: Search Continues for Baby Gabriel
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk4n-hNOKr0[/ame]
Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/11/earlyshow/main6081837.shtml
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Search for Baby Gabriel: Deception Fueling Frustration as Cops Track Leads
Elizabeth Johnson Extradited and Charged With Kidnapping; FBI Tracks Leads in Nashville
Jan. 11, 2010
<snipped>
An Arizona mother accused of hiding her infant son from his father on a cross-country trip has been charged with kidnapping and child abuse, and she has still not told police where she left the baby or whether he's even still alive.
Elizabeth Johnson, 23, was extradited to Arizona, and investigators are now looking at another couple who had been in talks to possibly adopt Johnson's son, Gabriel, as persons of interest.
Though Gabriel was last seen by witnesses in San Antonio, the FBI went to Nashville, Tenn., to investigate leads that did not, authorities said, turn up evidence on Gabriel's whereabouts.
It was a story she also relayed to Tammi and Jack Smith, the couple who said they were ready to adopt Gabriel from Johnson before she fled. They denied knowing where Gabriel was being kept, but police believe they may be hiding information.
In a jailhouse interview this week with a Phoenix CBS affiliate, Johnson denied harming their son, saying she told McQueary she had killed Gabriel to get back at him.
"He had ruined my life, and he hurt me, and I wanted to hurt him," she said. "And that was the only thing I could say that would hurt him."
She claimed in the same interview that she didn't know anything about the couple she left her son with, other than that they seemed trustworthy.
Johnson's grandfather, Bob Johnson, told ABC News that he doesn't believe his granddaughter's story that she simply left her child with an unknown couple.
"I think that she has given the baby to somebody, and I think she knows who it is," he said. "I think it's in San Antonio in somebody else's house, and she just ain't given it up.
"She has an anger-management problem, and she's working on that," Bob Johnson said.
A search of Johnson's car -- found by the FBI last Tuesday in San Antonio -- yielded no obvious clues or evidence of violence, police say.
Motherhood was never really Johnson's strong suit, Bob Johnson said.
"She discovered after eight months that there's more to this parenting than she wanted to get involved in," he said. "It was not her thing. She was into fashion."
"The father and Jack and I were in constant contact when we found out Elizabeth fled with the baby," Tammi Smith said. "When we finally got to speak to Elizabeth, she was so angry with the whole situation and told me, 'I have one message to give to Logan.'"
That message, Smith said, was sign the papers and the baby will be brought back.
WATCH: Missing Baby's Mom in Jail
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9529040
WATCH: Infant Missing in Adoption Dispute
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9500242
Article:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/lies-fueling-frustration-search-baby-gabriel/story?id=9528705
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Missing Tempe baby's mother extradited to Arizona
Jan. 10, 2010 11:11 AM
<snipped>
Tempe police officers brought Johnson from Miami-Dade County, Fla., and booked her into the Fourth Avenue jail at 2:06 a.m. Sunday. She is being held on $1.1 million cash bond.
Johnson faces felony charges including kidnapping, child abuse ande custodial interference.
Deputy Doug Matteson, a sheriff's spokesman, deferred comment to Tempe police, who are investigating the case. Tempe police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal was not available for comment.
Tempe officials plan to release more information about the case during a 1 p.m. briefing Monday.
Elizabeth Johnson's booking mug, taken Dec. 10, 2009, left, and Elizabeth with baby Gabriel and Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary.
Raw Video: Court Hearing In Miami
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid30311461001?bctid=61157113001
Article:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/01/10/20100110johnsonarrest0111.html
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Mom Charged In Missing Baby Case In Phoenix
Monday, Jan 11, 2010 @09:57am CST
<snipped>
The woman at the center of the Arizona missing baby case has been booked into the Maricopa County jail.
Meanwhile, a couple in Scottsdale, Arizona -- Jack and Tammi Smith -- have been named "persons of interest" in the case.
Police say they too are not being cooperative.
Article:
http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=128122
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Did Elizabeth Johnson Give Her Baby to Strangers? Arizona Mom Faces Kidnapping, Child Abuse Charges
January 11, 2010 11:00 AM
<snipped>
Elizabeth Johnson, the Arizona mother at the center of the "baby Gabriel" case involving her missing son, has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
The Tempe Police Department said Sunday that Gabriel Johnson's 23-year-old mother is being held at the Maricopa County jail on the three felony charges after being extradited from Florida, where she was taken into custody Dec. 30 after failing to show up for a custodial hearing in Phoenix.
Police say she's being held on a cash only $1.1 million bond.
PICTURES: Baby Gabriel Johnson Missing
http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2010/01/06/crimesider/photoessay6063007.shtml
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
January 8, 2010 - Couple Who Hoped to Adopt Baby Gabriel Johnson Now "Persons of Interest" In His Disappearance
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/11/crimesider/entry5007040.shtml
January 6, 2010 - Arizona Baby Gabriel Johnson Missing After Road Trip; Mom Refuses to Help Police
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/06/crimesider/entry4996071.shtml
Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/04/crimesider/entry5888789.shtml
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Gabriel Johnson is Missing, Profiler to Nancy Grace: "That Baby is Not with Us"
8-Month-Old Missing Child's Mother Extradited to Arizona -- but Where is Little Gabriel Johnson?
January 11, 2010
<snipped>
Appearing on HLN's "Nancy Grace," Pat Brown, a criminal profiler and author of "Killing For Sport," told Nancy Grace that she did not see the investigation ending well for the child. Although police have not disclosed why they believe Gabriel Johnson might still be alive, Pat Brown said that she could think of nothing that would lead authorities to believe it, either, given what is known about the case and the histories of individuals acting the way Elizabeth Johnson has for the past couple weeks. "My opinion is that baby is not with us," she said.
What led her to such a grave conclusion? First of all, Elizabeth Johnson's own words to the baby's father, Logan McQueary, indicate a cold, vindictive nature. She told him she killed the child, placed his small body in a diaper bag, then put the bag in a dumpster in San Antonio, Texas. That admission might have led Brown to think that Johnson just might have killed her baby. Another good indicator that the baby may be dead was the carseat and baby clothes left behind in a hotel room in San Antonio as if unneeded.
In a taped interview, Logan McQueary said that Johnson had called and told him he needed to sign some papers on December 9. He refused. He said he never saw the papers, but he knew that Elizabeth Johnson was attempting to allow the Smiths to adopt his child.
Offering up various scenarios of the investigation, Brown pointed out to Nancy Grace that at one point Johnson probably "got tired of that baby and wanted vengeance on her boyfriend so she just killed the baby."
Elizabeth Johnson's actions seem strange when looked at in retrospect. Her story of giving her child, a child she professed to love, to total strangers makes little sense, but, then, that was how she originally met the Smiths. They had come upon the young woman, distraught and crying, in an airport. Gabriel lay at her side. She told them she could not care properly for the child and was looking for someone to adopt him. The Smiths gave her contact information and over the course of several months proceeded to work with Elizabeth Johnson to actualize adopting the baby. But Logan McQueary, who was fighting his ex-girlfriend for custody, refused to go along with Johnson's plan.
Although Pat Brown said she believed the child was no longer alive, telling Nancy Grace that she just could not believe that Johnson simply found a couple to whom she gave her baby, until there is tangible evidence, there lingers a bit of hope that that is exactly what Elizabeth Johnson did simply to keep him from her ex-boyfriend. But Tempe Police do know that Johnson spent five days in San Antonio. Tempe Police also have not made public everything they have in the case of the missing child, so it is unclear why they remain optimistic that the missing child is still alive.
Still, the one person who has the most knowledge of the circumstances of Gabriel Johnson's disappearance has decided not to cooperate with authorities. All she has left investigators with are two disturbing possibilities, neither of which bode well for her or Gabriel Johnson.
Article:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2577233/gabriel_johnson_is_missing_profiler.html?cat=8
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Baby Gabriel’s mom ‘played us,’ couple say
‘Persons of interest’ who hoped to adopt baby call his mother ‘deceptive'
updated 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
<snipped>
An Arizona couple who tried to adopt an 8-month-old baby who’s been missing since Christmas say they now feel the mother of the baby duped and used them.
In an interview Monday from their Scottsdale, Ariz., home with TODAY’s Matt Lauer, the Smiths said they once thought Johnson was a good woman who was overwhelmed by being a single mother. That opinion has since changed dramatically.
“I feel like a fool, because knowing what’s up now that all the facts have been laid out in front of me, I see that she was lying to us and playing us,” Tammi Smith told Lauer. “Now, I’m not sure if anything she said to me was true.”
Her husband characterized Johnson as “deceptive.”
Elizabeth Johnson told the father of baby Gabriel that she had killed the child, but then claimed she had given the child away. Police think Gabriel may still be alive.
Today Show Video: ‘Persons of interest’: Missing baby’s mom played us 8:03
Jan. 11: Jack and Tammi Smith, the couple who planned to adopt baby Gabriel prior to his disappearance, tell TODAY’s Matt Lauer Elizabeth Johnson is “deceptive.”
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34802432#34802432
Today Show Video: Where is missing baby Gabriel? 3:53
Jan. 10: Last seen the day after Christmas, authorities are still trying to figure out what happened to the 8-month-old child. NBC's Jenna Wolfe speaks with Jack and Tammi Smith, an Arizona couple who claim the little boy's mother offered to have them adopt him, but have since been named persons of interest in the case.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34791165#34791165
Today Show Video: 'Persons of interest' in missing baby case 3:01
Jan. 9: Authorities named a couple as 'persons of interest' in the case of a 8-month-old baby boy. Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with investigative reporter Michelle Sigona.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34781238#34781238
Today Show Video: Couple named 'persons of interest' in missing baby case 2:00
Jan. 8: In the search for missing baby Gabriel, authorities in Tempe, Ariz., are focusing their attention on Jack and Terri Smith. George Lewis reports.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34767369#34767369
Today Show Video: Where is baby Gabriel? 6:01
Jan. 7: The father of an 8-month-old baby who has been missing since last month talks to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira about the search for the child. The baby’s mother told police conflicting stories about giving the child away.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34745448#34745448
Article:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34802462/ns/today-today_people/
:angel:
*Raw Video: Missing Baby Mom Speaks With CBS News 9:36
http://www.kpho.com/video/22155911/index.html
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Video: Missing Baby's Mom Moved To Ariz, Faces More Charges
http://www.clickorlando.com/video/22202431/index.html
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Johnson behind bars at Maricopa County Jail; couple still persons of interest
Posted on January 8, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Updated today at 6:44 AM
<snipped>
Tempe police booked Johnson into the Fourth Avenue jail at early Sunday. She is being held on $1.1 million cash bond.
Elizabeth now faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
Jack and Tammi Smith tried adopting Gabriel Johnson in December, in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
They maintain they played no role in that disappearance and have no idea where Gabriel is, but investigators believe the Smiths aren't sharing everything they know.
One reason why is a posting from Tammi Smith's Facebook page from December 23 days after Gabriel's mother took him from Arizona.
She wrote "please keep praying for Gabriel and his mommy's safety on the road. She found underground help in Texas that's given her formulas, diapers, and legal formalities."
The Smiths say they're now angry with Gabriel's mother 23 year-old Elizabeth Johnson.
She's still in custody in Miami, not helping police, waiting to be brought back to Arizona.
*Video Included In Article!
Article:
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Couple...aby-case-take-lie-detector-test-81053957.html
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Arizona Couple Takes Polygraph Test in Missing Baby Case
Saturday, January 09, 2010
<snipped>
Jack and Terri Smith spent hours at the Tempe, Ariz., police station answering questions as part of the police investigation into the disappearance of 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson.
Police said Thursday they believe the Smiths, who had wanted to adopt Garbriel, may know more about the missing child's whereabouts than they're telling investigators.
"We are getting some indications that Gabriel is alive," Carbajal said Thursday. "We can't say specifically just what those are, but we are getting some indications that those are correct."
The Smiths have given numerous media interviews in recent days where they said they met Johnson at an airport during a long layover and befriended her. Terri Smith said the young mother wanted to give up her baby for adoption but the ex-boyfriend wouldn't go along.
Article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582673,00.html
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Grandfather of missing baby says life was hard on mom
Woman accused in boy's disappearance told relative she wanted better for her son
Jan. 10, 2010 12:00 AM
<snipped>
Elizabeth Johnson's grandfather says she grew up with a drug-addicted father and an alcoholic mother and then bounced around five different foster homes.
She has always been impulsive, secretive and prone to fits of rage. A relative says that as a child, she would break windows in her home and chased her father with a plunger.
Yet she carried a 4.0 GPA through high school, and she was determined to not let her son suffer the same kind of childhood she had.
That is why her grandfather Bob Johnson says he can't believe she would harm her baby, Gabriel, even to get back at the boy's father.
"She's got a spiteful streak," said Bob, who is the person Elizabeth has turned to the most since her parents died.
"She has a pattern of physical destruction," he said. "I don't know why she hates Logan so much. He tried as hard as he could to make her happy, but she's a tough horse to ride."
Court records and interviews show that Elizabeth's fights with McQueary were so violent that she cut up his clothes and broke windows in the apartment they shared. Elizabeth was charged with domestic-violence-related criminal damage and went into a diversion program, court records show.
McQueary got an order of protection against her in September, but it took only days for the couple to make up. He didn't appear in court, and the order was quashed.
When asked if Elizabeth was capable of following through on the threats she made to McQueary, Bob paused.
"I think anybody is capable, including Elizabeth, in a fit of rage," he said.
Article:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/01/10/20100110missingbaby0110.html
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Missing baby's mom extradited to Arizona
01/10/2010
<snipped>
The mother at the center of a missing baby case is back in Arizona.
Maricopa County sheriff's deputies say Elizabeth Johnson was extradited from Miami where she had been held since her recent arrest.
Article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9D4R28O2.html
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Baby Gabriel's Mom Held On $1.1M Bond
Elizabeth Johnson Extradited To Arizona; Still No Sign Of Baby Gabriel
POSTED: 6:09 am MST January 10, 2010
UPDATED: 5:24 am MST January 11, 2010
<snipped>
The mother at the center of a missing baby case is being held on a $1,100,000 cash bond after she was extradited to Arizona and booked on multiple charges, according to the Tempe Police Department.
Late last week, FBI agents in Nashville rushed to a home after getting a tip from agents in Miami that Gabriel Johnson might be there.
Exactly what evidence Elizabeth Johnson offered that led authorities to Nashville is still unclear.
But it was enough to have FBI agents rush to the home in Nashville, a city to which her friends say Elizabeth has never been.
"We went, knocked on the door, and interviewed the occupants and have been unable at this point to locate the child," said FBI Special Agent Keith Moss.
In an exclusive interview with CBS 5 News from her jail cell last week, Elizabeth Johnson said she has no idea where her little boy is.
Johnson said even though she did not harm her baby, she’s not worried about his safety now.
When asked whether she’s worried her baby is dead or alive, she said, “No, I’m not.”
Johnson's first phone call from jail Sunday morning was to her grandfather, Bob Johnson.
Bob Johnson said, "Well my telephone rang and it was my darling granddaughter calling me from the Fourth Avenue Maricopa County Jail."
Just hours after her booking photo was snapped, Elizabeth was calling to say hello.
"She seemed in a very happy, upbeat mood, " Bob Johnson said. "I guess in her mind she's accomplished her goal, which was to adopt her son, give him to somebody."
Johnson said it was a short talk that only lasted a couple of minutes. He said he didn't ask any questions about where 8-month-old Gabriel might be.
He said, "I chose not to, that she had stated what happened and I knew we were on a recorded line and she isn't going to tell me anything on a recorded line that would be of any value."
Raw Video: CBS 5 Interview With Elizabeth Johnson
http://www.kpho.com/video/22155911/index.html
Video: FBI Acts On Hot Tip In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22190897/index.html
Video: Couple Takes Polygraph Test In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22189499/index.html
Video: Nashville Tie Explored In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22182376/index.html
Video: Police Report Released In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22182384/index.html
Video: 'Persons Of Interest' Named In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22178557/index.html
Video: Elizabeth's Grandfather: She's Lying
http://www.kpho.com/video/22171594/index.html
Video: Missing Baby Mystery Deepens
http://www.kpho.com/video/22166183/index.html
Video: Docs: Missing Baby Mom Volatile
http://www.kpho.com/video/22146968/index.html
Video: Mom: I Gave My Baby To Texas Couple
http://www.kpho.com/video/22144213/index.html
Video: Strange Twist Seen In Missing Baby Case
http://www.kpho.com/video/22128137/index.html
Video: 'Come Home Soon,' Dad Says Of Missing Son
http://www.kpho.com/video/22124556/index.html
Video: Baby Missing In Custody Battle
http://www.kpho.com/video/22108421/index.html
Video: Tempe Baby Missing After Mother's Arrest
http://www.kpho.com/video/22107394/index.html
Article:
http://www.kpho.com/news/22197770/detail.html
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Mother of missing child returned to Valley
January 10, 2010 - 2:40PM
<snipped>
The Valley woman who is not cooperating with police in the search for her missing 8-month-old son has been extradited from Florida to the Tempe jail, police said Sunday afternoon.
Tempe police also announced that Elizabeth Johnson faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference. She is being held on a cash bond of $1.1 million.
The Tempe woman claimed she killed Gabriel Johnson and left him in a dumpster, but police believe the child is still alive. The child’s disappearance has sparked a nationwide search.
Police believe missing Tempe baby is alive
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149226
Tempe baby still missing after mom's arrest
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149018
Eight-month-old Gabriel Johnson and his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, of Tempe.
![04upp3h.jpg](/forums/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastvalleytribune.com%2Fimages%2Fphotos%2F2010%2F01%2F10%2F04upp3h.jpg&hash=32949cac2feafb29bfeb7c5b481f966f)
Article:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149334
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Tempe Mom Charged in Missing Baby Case
23-year-old held on $1.1 million bond
Updated: Monday, 11 Jan 2010, 9:11 AM MST
Published : Sunday, 10 Jan 2010, 3:01 PM MST
<snipped>
Gabriel was last seen with her in San Antonio. She tells police she gave him up to an unknown couple in Texas for adoption.
After arriving in the valley, Elizabeth Johnson telephoned her grandfather, who lives in Scottsdale.
"I can't even imagine Elizabeth hurting that child or anything worse," Bob Johnson told FOX 10. "It's unbelievable she would. She's a stubborn young lady, she has got a plan and I suspect she implemented it."
Authorities are calling a Scottsdale couple "persons of interest" in the case. The Smiths tell police they befriended Johnson at an airport and she offered to give her son to them to adopt -- but the baby's father didn't agree.
*Video Included In Article!
Article:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/tempe-mom-charged-1-10-2010
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Mother of missing baby gets extradited to Arizona
Last Update: 1/10 9:14 pm
<snipped>
According to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Elizabeth was booked into an Arizona jail late Saturday on charges of custodial interference and kidnapping.
Her cash-only bond is set at $1,100,000.
Two other people named 'persons of interest' in the case said they took a polygraph test last week.
Tammi and Jack Smith of Scottsdale said they were willing to take the examination after being named suspects on Thursday.
"There is an enormous amount of peace in the truth and the truth is what it is and I can't fabricate the truth," said Jack.
The Tempe Police Department is leading the investigation. According to Spokesperson Steve Carbajal, investigators believe the Smiths 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."
Carbajal said Elizabeth initially told authorities she gave her baby to a couple she met in San Antonio while on the run after skipping out on a custodial hearing in Phoenix.
"They wanted the baby and she simply gave it to them," said Bob Johnson, Elizabeth's grandfather. "It sounded like a pretty weak story. It was almost on the border of unbelievable that a person would do that with an 8-month-old child."
But Johnson also said he doesn't believe the Smiths had anything to do with Gabriel's disappearance.
Both police officials and the Smiths say they believe Gabriel is alive. Now the challenge is finding him.
Police are now following leads tying the Smiths to the Nashville, Tennessee area.
Elizabeth and Gabriel
![Story.jpg](/forums/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc15.com%2Fmedia%2Flib%2F88%2Ff%2F2%2F1%2Ff21552d9-3782-4fd9-8229-abe983880600%2FStory.jpg&hash=f322522c3dc2fe64b2e883f2b8056408)
Video: Mother of missing baby gets extradited to Arizona
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26396@knxv.dayport.com
Video: 'Persons of interest' in Tempe case take polygraph test
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26391@knxv.dayport.com
Video: Tempe PD getting indications that 8-month-old boy is alive
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26353@knxv.dayport.com
Article:
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/s...adited-to-Arizona/xgsbK2cK80iD5ZWBC0ifjg.cspx
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Court records paint new picture in Tempe missing baby case
Last Update: 6:36 am
<snipped>
McQueary was granted custody after Johnson didn't show up for a custodial court hearing and allegedly fled the state with the child.
He has made many public appeals to find the 8-month-old, but court documents now reveal he may not be Gabriel's biological father.
In her petition for custody on Dec. 14, Johnson wrote that there were "two potential fathers," and requested that both McQueary and another man, Craig Cherry, take paternity tests.
Cherry said he had no comment on the case when reached by phone Sunday.
"If they're looking for a place for Gabriel to go, we have the father, and the father wants his baby boy back," said Sgt. Steve Carbajal. "That's the bottom line of this whole case."
In court documents, Johnson said she feared McQueary would kidnap the baby and leave the state.
Three days earlier, McQuary filed for custody, saying he feared Johnson would kidnap the baby, and that she was neglectful and unstable.
In the statement, McQueary wrote that Johnson would leave Gabriel crying in his crib for hours without changing his diaper, and that she kicked McQueary out of their apartment, saying, "Take that damn baby with you."
According to documents, he had previously filed a restraining order against her, after he said she trashed their Tempe apartment, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Though police say they are confident the baby is alive, McQueary said in his statement that Johnson called him after she disappeared with the boy, saying she was planning to leave the country, and that she would tell him where Gabriel's "blue" dead body was once she had crossed the border.
Video: Court records paint new picture in Tempe missing baby case
http://www.abc15.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=26399@knxv.dayport.com
Article:
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/s...-in-Tempe-missing/6PhW8F-82kSl7PwFqFdGgw.cspx
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Mother extradicted in interstate search for Baby Gabriel
15 hours 24 min 11 sec ago
<snipped>
Recent tips led police to Nashville, Tennessee, where one couple, Jack and Tammi Smith -- persons of interest in the case -- apparently had connections to the boy's mother.
"We found no indication that Gabriel has been in the area, but because of the two ties we have with Elizabeth Johnson and Tammi Smith, obviously we're going to make sure every stone is uncovered and do what we can to find this boy," FBI spokesman Keith Moses said.
Meanwhile, the Smiths, who had hoped to adopt Gabriel, have said they think Elizabeth is trying to protect the child from his father, Logan McQueary. He now legally has custody of Baby Gabriel.
McQueary also has a criminal history -- he was arrested for felony burglary, DUI and drugs.
"He's admitted that, we've admitted that, and that's not something that's a secret," Sgt. Steve Carbajal with the Tempe Police Department said. "But what we're talking about now is Gabriel. So if they're looking for a place for Gabriel to go, we have the father. The father wants his baby boy back. That's the bottom line of this whole case. That's what we're doing here."
"Yeah, I screwed up in the past. And pretty much I've been working my hardest to get back on track, and I have been," McQueary said. "All I've been doing is staying out of trouble and going to work, stuff like that. I was right next to Elizabeth and Gabriel the whole time. We were living together, and taking care of them -- working my hardest."
The baby's mother -- who initially said she killed her baby, then said she gave him away to a random couple at a San Antonio park -- has also had prior run-ins with the law.
She was arrested for domestic violence and criminal damage after she allegedly had a tantrum at the Tempe apartment she shared with McQueary.
Video: Mother extradicted in interstate search for Baby Gabriel
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2010/01/10/Mother-extradicted-in/1263173477.html
Article:
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2010/01/10/Mother-extradicted-in/1263173477.html
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Missing Baby "Persons of Interest" Speak
Say They Don't Know Where Gabriel Johnson Is; Can't Imagine His Mother Having Hurt Him; She's Jailed in Phoenix
Jan. 11, 2010
<snipped>
Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, desperately wants his son back, notes "Early Show" national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. Elizabeth sent him a text message saying she had killed Gabriel, but later claimed she gave him away to the strangers in San Antonio.
"I really have a hard time believing she just randomly gave Gabriel, the little prince, to somebody in a park," Bob Johnson remarked.
But, Kauffman says, Elizabeth Johnson had already promised the baby to another couple, Jack and Tammi Smith. She met them in an airport seven months ago and, early last month, they took Gabriel into their home, with adoption an option.
Tammi Smith told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Monday she and her husband don't have any idea about Gabriel's whereabouts. "I sure wish we did. I sure wish (Elizabeth) told us any name, any -- of anything," Smith said.
"We spent ten years building a successful business here (in Scottsdale)," Jack Smith said, "and, for us to throw that away, or even the thoughts of throwing that away for someone we had known for nine days, that's ludicrous. No, absolutely not."
So why do they think police consider them persons of interest?
"Well, we should be!" Jack responded. "We were the last people to see Gabriel before he left Arizona. So I was not shocked at all that they named us. ... Whatever they have to do and whatever they -- because, we had a week and a day prior to them actually doing it, we asked for a polygraph test. If this will clear up -- 'If you think we don't know something, give us a polygraph test, and then let's go on and focus on where we need to.' And that is to find this baby and give this wonderful, wonderful child back to its rightful family."
They took the test. Results aren't back yet.
Tammi says that, while Elizabeth was never all that affectionate toward Gabriel, she doesn't think Elizabeth could have hurt him. "She seemed to want the best for him," Tammi says.
Video: Video: Search for Missing Baby Gabriel
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx9wKfbqwPQ[/ame]
Video: Search Continues for Baby Gabriel
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk4n-hNOKr0[/ame]
Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/11/earlyshow/main6081837.shtml
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Search for Baby Gabriel: Deception Fueling Frustration as Cops Track Leads
Elizabeth Johnson Extradited and Charged With Kidnapping; FBI Tracks Leads in Nashville
Jan. 11, 2010
<snipped>
An Arizona mother accused of hiding her infant son from his father on a cross-country trip has been charged with kidnapping and child abuse, and she has still not told police where she left the baby or whether he's even still alive.
Elizabeth Johnson, 23, was extradited to Arizona, and investigators are now looking at another couple who had been in talks to possibly adopt Johnson's son, Gabriel, as persons of interest.
Though Gabriel was last seen by witnesses in San Antonio, the FBI went to Nashville, Tenn., to investigate leads that did not, authorities said, turn up evidence on Gabriel's whereabouts.
It was a story she also relayed to Tammi and Jack Smith, the couple who said they were ready to adopt Gabriel from Johnson before she fled. They denied knowing where Gabriel was being kept, but police believe they may be hiding information.
In a jailhouse interview this week with a Phoenix CBS affiliate, Johnson denied harming their son, saying she told McQueary she had killed Gabriel to get back at him.
"He had ruined my life, and he hurt me, and I wanted to hurt him," she said. "And that was the only thing I could say that would hurt him."
She claimed in the same interview that she didn't know anything about the couple she left her son with, other than that they seemed trustworthy.
Johnson's grandfather, Bob Johnson, told ABC News that he doesn't believe his granddaughter's story that she simply left her child with an unknown couple.
"I think that she has given the baby to somebody, and I think she knows who it is," he said. "I think it's in San Antonio in somebody else's house, and she just ain't given it up.
"She has an anger-management problem, and she's working on that," Bob Johnson said.
A search of Johnson's car -- found by the FBI last Tuesday in San Antonio -- yielded no obvious clues or evidence of violence, police say.
Motherhood was never really Johnson's strong suit, Bob Johnson said.
"She discovered after eight months that there's more to this parenting than she wanted to get involved in," he said. "It was not her thing. She was into fashion."
"The father and Jack and I were in constant contact when we found out Elizabeth fled with the baby," Tammi Smith said. "When we finally got to speak to Elizabeth, she was so angry with the whole situation and told me, 'I have one message to give to Logan.'"
That message, Smith said, was sign the papers and the baby will be brought back.
WATCH: Missing Baby's Mom in Jail
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9529040
WATCH: Infant Missing in Adoption Dispute
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9500242
Article:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/lies-fueling-frustration-search-baby-gabriel/story?id=9528705
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Missing Tempe baby's mother extradited to Arizona
Jan. 10, 2010 11:11 AM
<snipped>
Tempe police officers brought Johnson from Miami-Dade County, Fla., and booked her into the Fourth Avenue jail at 2:06 a.m. Sunday. She is being held on $1.1 million cash bond.
Johnson faces felony charges including kidnapping, child abuse ande custodial interference.
Deputy Doug Matteson, a sheriff's spokesman, deferred comment to Tempe police, who are investigating the case. Tempe police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal was not available for comment.
Tempe officials plan to release more information about the case during a 1 p.m. briefing Monday.
Elizabeth Johnson's booking mug, taken Dec. 10, 2009, left, and Elizabeth with baby Gabriel and Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary.
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Raw Video: Court Hearing In Miami
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid30311461001?bctid=61157113001
Article:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/01/10/20100110johnsonarrest0111.html
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Mom Charged In Missing Baby Case In Phoenix
Monday, Jan 11, 2010 @09:57am CST
<snipped>
The woman at the center of the Arizona missing baby case has been booked into the Maricopa County jail.
Meanwhile, a couple in Scottsdale, Arizona -- Jack and Tammi Smith -- have been named "persons of interest" in the case.
Police say they too are not being cooperative.
Article:
http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=128122
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Did Elizabeth Johnson Give Her Baby to Strangers? Arizona Mom Faces Kidnapping, Child Abuse Charges
January 11, 2010 11:00 AM
<snipped>
Elizabeth Johnson, the Arizona mother at the center of the "baby Gabriel" case involving her missing son, has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
The Tempe Police Department said Sunday that Gabriel Johnson's 23-year-old mother is being held at the Maricopa County jail on the three felony charges after being extradited from Florida, where she was taken into custody Dec. 30 after failing to show up for a custodial hearing in Phoenix.
Police say she's being held on a cash only $1.1 million bond.
PICTURES: Baby Gabriel Johnson Missing
http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2010/01/06/crimesider/photoessay6063007.shtml
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
January 8, 2010 - Couple Who Hoped to Adopt Baby Gabriel Johnson Now "Persons of Interest" In His Disappearance
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/11/crimesider/entry5007040.shtml
January 6, 2010 - Arizona Baby Gabriel Johnson Missing After Road Trip; Mom Refuses to Help Police
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/06/crimesider/entry4996071.shtml
Article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/04/crimesider/entry5888789.shtml
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Gabriel Johnson is Missing, Profiler to Nancy Grace: "That Baby is Not with Us"
8-Month-Old Missing Child's Mother Extradited to Arizona -- but Where is Little Gabriel Johnson?
January 11, 2010
<snipped>
Appearing on HLN's "Nancy Grace," Pat Brown, a criminal profiler and author of "Killing For Sport," told Nancy Grace that she did not see the investigation ending well for the child. Although police have not disclosed why they believe Gabriel Johnson might still be alive, Pat Brown said that she could think of nothing that would lead authorities to believe it, either, given what is known about the case and the histories of individuals acting the way Elizabeth Johnson has for the past couple weeks. "My opinion is that baby is not with us," she said.
What led her to such a grave conclusion? First of all, Elizabeth Johnson's own words to the baby's father, Logan McQueary, indicate a cold, vindictive nature. She told him she killed the child, placed his small body in a diaper bag, then put the bag in a dumpster in San Antonio, Texas. That admission might have led Brown to think that Johnson just might have killed her baby. Another good indicator that the baby may be dead was the carseat and baby clothes left behind in a hotel room in San Antonio as if unneeded.
In a taped interview, Logan McQueary said that Johnson had called and told him he needed to sign some papers on December 9. He refused. He said he never saw the papers, but he knew that Elizabeth Johnson was attempting to allow the Smiths to adopt his child.
Offering up various scenarios of the investigation, Brown pointed out to Nancy Grace that at one point Johnson probably "got tired of that baby and wanted vengeance on her boyfriend so she just killed the baby."
Elizabeth Johnson's actions seem strange when looked at in retrospect. Her story of giving her child, a child she professed to love, to total strangers makes little sense, but, then, that was how she originally met the Smiths. They had come upon the young woman, distraught and crying, in an airport. Gabriel lay at her side. She told them she could not care properly for the child and was looking for someone to adopt him. The Smiths gave her contact information and over the course of several months proceeded to work with Elizabeth Johnson to actualize adopting the baby. But Logan McQueary, who was fighting his ex-girlfriend for custody, refused to go along with Johnson's plan.
Although Pat Brown said she believed the child was no longer alive, telling Nancy Grace that she just could not believe that Johnson simply found a couple to whom she gave her baby, until there is tangible evidence, there lingers a bit of hope that that is exactly what Elizabeth Johnson did simply to keep him from her ex-boyfriend. But Tempe Police do know that Johnson spent five days in San Antonio. Tempe Police also have not made public everything they have in the case of the missing child, so it is unclear why they remain optimistic that the missing child is still alive.
Still, the one person who has the most knowledge of the circumstances of Gabriel Johnson's disappearance has decided not to cooperate with authorities. All she has left investigators with are two disturbing possibilities, neither of which bode well for her or Gabriel Johnson.
Article:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2577233/gabriel_johnson_is_missing_profiler.html?cat=8
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Baby Gabriel’s mom ‘played us,’ couple say
‘Persons of interest’ who hoped to adopt baby call his mother ‘deceptive'
updated 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
<snipped>
An Arizona couple who tried to adopt an 8-month-old baby who’s been missing since Christmas say they now feel the mother of the baby duped and used them.
In an interview Monday from their Scottsdale, Ariz., home with TODAY’s Matt Lauer, the Smiths said they once thought Johnson was a good woman who was overwhelmed by being a single mother. That opinion has since changed dramatically.
“I feel like a fool, because knowing what’s up now that all the facts have been laid out in front of me, I see that she was lying to us and playing us,” Tammi Smith told Lauer. “Now, I’m not sure if anything she said to me was true.”
Her husband characterized Johnson as “deceptive.”
Elizabeth Johnson told the father of baby Gabriel that she had killed the child, but then claimed she had given the child away. Police think Gabriel may still be alive.
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Today Show Video: ‘Persons of interest’: Missing baby’s mom played us 8:03
Jan. 11: Jack and Tammi Smith, the couple who planned to adopt baby Gabriel prior to his disappearance, tell TODAY’s Matt Lauer Elizabeth Johnson is “deceptive.”
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34802432#34802432
Today Show Video: Where is missing baby Gabriel? 3:53
Jan. 10: Last seen the day after Christmas, authorities are still trying to figure out what happened to the 8-month-old child. NBC's Jenna Wolfe speaks with Jack and Tammi Smith, an Arizona couple who claim the little boy's mother offered to have them adopt him, but have since been named persons of interest in the case.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34791165#34791165
Today Show Video: 'Persons of interest' in missing baby case 3:01
Jan. 9: Authorities named a couple as 'persons of interest' in the case of a 8-month-old baby boy. Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with investigative reporter Michelle Sigona.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34781238#34781238
Today Show Video: Couple named 'persons of interest' in missing baby case 2:00
Jan. 8: In the search for missing baby Gabriel, authorities in Tempe, Ariz., are focusing their attention on Jack and Terri Smith. George Lewis reports.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34767369#34767369
Today Show Video: Where is baby Gabriel? 6:01
Jan. 7: The father of an 8-month-old baby who has been missing since last month talks to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira about the search for the child. The baby’s mother told police conflicting stories about giving the child away.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34745448#34745448
Article:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34802462/ns/today-today_people/
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