The GPS

[Simply Caustic]

Back on-topic....

I've not seen any intimations on the model/version of the GPS, other than the TS mention on the NG (IIRC) show...that it was a Garmin. Pricing varies based upon this from what I can see, doing a quickie search on Best Buy, but even the cheapest model seems to run about $100 bucks.

I just find it hard to believe that EJ would personally own a GPS prior to all this: She had to borrow her Grandfather's car, which to me suggests no need for a GPS, prior? Why spend the money on a GPS herself, when she didn't have a car? Maybe the S's did provide it...MOO

 

[BeanE]

I don't think we need to keep saying this over and over. There may be inacuracies, but the news has had a lot of them also and this author on AC has put out some decent articles on Gabriel's case. If any content should be suspect, it's what came from Yami, Tammi, and Nancy Grace.

I disagree. I don't think we can say it often enough when it is referenced as a source for information. Websleuths emphasizes working on confirmed and reliable facts. Where any of us know a source is simply a blog, is unreliable, is known to frequently have inaccuracies, it is critical that we alert other posters about that.

:cow:

 

[OneLove]

Has it ever been asked if her grandfather gave her the GPS? After all, it WAS his car, and he has admitted that he knew she was preparing to take off with Gabriel. Maybe he bought it for her so she would be safe on the road?

 

[debloree]

Has it ever been asked if her grandfather gave her the GPS? After all, it WAS his car, and he has admitted that he knew she was preparing to take off with Gabriel. Maybe he bought it for her so she would be safe on the road?

I think that's a great question! Wish we could find out if Grandpa knew anything about a GPS. Evidently Logan had no clue about how she got it either?

 

[~PrinceSSa~]

More NG GPS stuff. I'm happy to grab the links if anyone wants them. I just grabbed these snippets from a text file I have all the NG transcripts in for quick searching.

T. SMITH: When I asked her about the GPS and I said that I believe you knew exactly where you were going and at that point, I believe everything that she told me was a lie and I almost didn`t even listen to half of what she was saying, her excuses were, because I didn`t believe her.

also

CASAREZ: Had they told you anything about that GPS that you say was on Elizabeth Johnson`s car? If it was the type that would have capability of showing exactly where she rode, if it was on, or if it wasn`t on?

T. SMITH: No, I just told Detective Ramirez about it last night, and I told the other detectives about it today. Because I just — after talking to Yani yesterday afternoon I was in a rush to get here and didn`t know the directions and I was like, oh my gosh, my GPS is dead. And then I turned and said, oh my god, she had a GPS in her car. And so it goes from there.

BBM

oh my gosh yeah she just conveniently remembered after much rambling and looking for words. Uh huh. Okay so Tammis GPS was dead. Was it really dead? Or just NOT THERE? Because maybe she gave it to Elizabeth?
Something fishy in that story. (I have a GPS and cannot for the life of me think of the brandname!) But Tammi knew the make? Speculation of course.

 

[time]

I don't see the implication that the Garmin info came from Yami. <snip>

It seems clear to me

TAMMI SMITH: Well, I -- since I did get to talk to the detectives and give them the information that Yami from Fox News -- I`ve become really good friends with Yami with Fox News in San Antonio, and she is our digger. She searches and searches for information. And so I was able to give them the information that she [Yami] gave me. Finally, I was able to give that to them because it`s very hard to get in touch with anybody over there.

CASAREZ: And what is that information?

TAMMI SMITH: I can give you some of the information, but some I cannot. One piece of information is when Elizabeth left, she had a Garmin,

 

[BeanE]

It seems clear to me

Aaaaahhhh. Okay. Now it's clear. Thanks, time

Now what's not clear to me is how she actually saw the Garmin lit up on Eliz's windshield back on Dec 18th, but didn't know Eliz had a Garmin until Yami told her until Jan 4th or so...

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4770476"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - The GPS[/ame]

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4770469"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - The GPS[/ame]

Translation of Tammispeak:
"I knew Eliz had a Garmin on Dec 18, but I failed to tell LE about it yet, so now I'm gonna try pretendin' that Yami just now told me about it, and nobody will notice anything else I said about it. Uh hmm. Yep. It's gonna work because I'm smarter than everybody else in the world."

 

[time]

Now, Bean, you know nothing is ever clear with Tammi!

I think we need a separate timeline just for her GPS statements! These are just so indicative of how she has talked about other stuff.

Jan 4: Tammi says Yami says Eliz had a Garmin

At some point she says this (I think at a later date)

T. SMITH: I don`t know if they`ve recovered it, but I know that she definitely had it, because when I dropped the baby off to her at that church it was dark outside. She had the GPS on the windshield lit up.


Now exactly how was Yami supposed to know Eliz had a GPS (found out by her digging) if it was even known if it was recovered?

An then we have the weird use of 'because' which indicates Tammi is saying that the evidence it was there was simply due to her seeing the light :innocent: She needs to 'see the light'.

At any rate - this probably should go into the psych section as a partial qualitative analysis of Tammi's interviews to detail how she lies and manipulates (by verbal of course - who uses that term for talking on the phone anyway?)

 

[BeanE]

Too funny. The car wasn't recovered until the late afternoon of Jan 5.

:banghead:

 

[time]

Too funny. The car wasn't recovered until the late afternoon of Jan 5.

:banghead:

astute observation ... cripe, next thing we know she'll be able to defy gravity

 

[BeanE]

astute observation ... cripe, next thing we know she'll be able to defy gravity

BOMBSHELL TONIGHT!!!!

:floorlaugh:

 

[captdj]

FBI agents in Florida were able to locate Johnson at a youth hostel by tracing her through a computer she was using there and at a nearby library to message Tammi Smith&#8217;s MySpace page on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30. Police confiscated a new cell phone, a GPS tracking device and a knife from Johnson, according to the court document

OK are they saying when she was arrested in Miami , she had the cell phone and the GPS in her possession... This may clear up where the phone was
Do we have this court document? Can someone link it for me please???

And a knife :-(

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/150453

 

[Kamille]

Well it does appear as though she took the GPS with her which is how Yami knew about it because she read those court documents. And of course when Yami mentioned it to TPS, that's when that old lightbulb went off in her head that EJ had a GPS with her the night the Smiths dropped Gabriel off to her.

What I find interesting is that the knife is also on that document. And of course NG made sure that the babysitter mentioned seeing that knife on the bedside table when she was on her show.

The cell phone information is a little too vague to determine whether it was her new SA cell phone that she had with her or whether she had once again picked up another pay as you go phone in Florida during her makeover and clothing shopping spree.

 

[Concernedmomarizona]

FBI agents in Florida were able to locate Johnson at a youth hostel by tracing her through a computer she was using there and at a nearby library to message Tammi Smith’s MySpace page on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30. Police confiscated a new cell phone, a GPS tracking device and a knife from Johnson, according to the court document

OK are they saying when she was arrested in Miami , she had the cell phone and the GPS in her possession... This may clear up where the phone was
Do we have this court document? Can someone link it for me please???

And a knife :-(

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/150453

I thought the same thing about a knife, but I think if she had used it to do harm, she would have dumped it. It truly could be for "protection".

 

[chell]

Adding to a question I posted on the busride thread, what would she have needed a GPS for if she actually rode a bus? Any ideas? Since she left other valuable things that could weigh her down and seemed to bring only a minimal list of things it is intersting that a GPS was one of the things she had on her when she was arrested in Miami. Of course it might have helped her alot if she was traveling in a car or in multiple modes of transport.

 

[not_my_kids]

Adding to a question I posted on the busride thread, what would she have needed a GPS for if she actually rode a bus? Any ideas? Since she left other valuable things that could weigh her down and seemed to bring only a minimal list of things it is intersting that a GPS was one of the things she had on her when she was arrested in Miami. Of course it might have helped her alot if she was traveling in a car or in multiple modes of transport.

Maybe someone programmed the directions to the hostel into it for her while she was in SA?

 

[captdj]

Adding to a question I posted on the busride thread, what would she have needed a GPS for if she actually rode a bus? Any ideas? Since she left other valuable things that could weigh her down and seemed to bring only a minimal list of things it is intersting that a GPS was one of the things she had on her when she was arrested in Miami. Of course it might have helped her alot if she was traveling in a car or in multiple modes of transport.

Maybe Elizabeth had other places on her horizon... South Beach could have been a stopping off place.....or she had plans on returning it to the person she borrowed it from.....

 

[kissdegirl]

Maybe Elizabeth had other places on her horizon... South Beach could have been a stopping off place.....or she had plans on returning it to the person she borrowed it from.....

You beat me to it, lol.

 

[BeanE]

I thought the same thing about a knife, but I think if she had used it to do harm, she would have dumped it. It truly could be for "protection".

She had a rough childhood. Sometimes people with rough childhoods feel generally unsafe because they lacked the stability children need, and they develop habits that reflect a feeling of needing to protect themselves. I wonder if she had a habit of carrying a knife or something to protect herself.

 

[chell]

If it was a weapon cited in the charges from the incident with LM, maybe she was just taking it with her so it couldn't be used against her. The pictures of the knife that circulated with the early reports about her Dec incident with LM included a picture of a knife and a pic of a smashed mirror. I assume the knife is the same. I agree about her childhood impacting some decisions and resulted in courses of action that don't make alot of sense to the average person. I had a friend once who was a product of the foster care system and though she turned out fine, I was always amazed, when she recounted some of her experiences, that she survived and seemed pretty normal. I realize there are some decent people providing foster care but there are some true tragic stories as well.