Theory - Is JM a Possible Middle Man Connection?

[BeanE]

Someone mentioned the Nancy Grace Blog having possible sightings in the comments. http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/201...ill-is-baby-gabriel-buried-in-trash/#comments

There was one that caught my eye that mentions Austin specifically although it is on January 1st. The reason it caught my eye is the poster mentioned that they went to LE not once, but twice....it sounds like LE inferred they had tons of leads (which is contrary to other statements from LE we have heard). The poster says they believe they saw the baby they had seen on TV on January 1st in an Austin airport with a woman in her 30s who met up with a guy in his 30s.
Please see the post on the link, it is dated February 9th, 2010 11:05 pm ET

ETA: Paraphrased comment--sorry didn't know we couldn't copy/paste comments

Many people think that if LE doesn't call them back about a tip, that LE isn't checking it out, but it's not so. They just don't have time, and there's the privacy act, and they have to protect the investigation, so they only call back if they need more info. If they find what you give them, they have no need to call back.

This came up in another case I followed where the grandmother thought that LE should call back every person who called in a tip, and let the person know what they had done in their investigation. They just can't do it.

But... JM taking her daughter to a competition in August Dec 13 - 18 doesn't make me suspicious in and of itself. That's a very normal thing to do, and the timeframe doesn't fit. Is there something that shows she stayed longer?

 

[BeanE]

TS put EJ in touch with JM. Assuming now they decided they should meet, and go over options and paperwork, but JM had a prior engagement in Austin that ended on the 18th...the same day EJ left AZ.
Timeline - Thursday, December 17 through Monday, December 21, 2009 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

I think it's vital to know where JM was during the days EJ drove to TX and arrived at the hotel in SA. If she were involved, she could have been there making certain arrangements.

What date did TS put EJ in touch with JM? I can't remember if it was 12/26 or a few days earlier. I haven't seen anything indicating it was earlier than maybe 12/23.

 

[b4e]

What makes me suspicious is that JM was in the general vicinity (in Texas) when EJ left Tempe. Maybe JM made arrangements (found Hispanic Guy, possibly, or maybe even the 'adoptive' couple) while she was there and then phoned either TS or EJ to let them know things were ready to go.

ETA: Most likely, she would have phoned TS, since they knew each other and TS had not yet put JM in contact with EJ. (That we know of, anyhow.)

 

[BeanE]

I can't stay awake any longer. We need to make sure the JM/EJ calls are in the case calendar. We can add in the competition too. The benefit of the case calendar is that the more you put in there the more connections you see of things going on at the same time that you might miss otherwise. So everytime you have something with a date attached to it, please stick it in the calendar.

Thanks and good night, everyone

Praying for Gabe.

 

[kissdegirl]

JM was probably in a bind, put on the spot while busy with her daughter at a pageant. I imagine if a conversation did happen (and we know TS is not great with dates), then JM would have said I cannot meet before the 18th, which EJ decided she would leave then, and wait for JM. JM had her daughter...she couldn't just up and leave her. She would have had to take her own daughter back home, then arrrange things or go back to SA. MOO.

 

[BeanE]

What makes me suspicious is that JM was in the general vicinity (in Texas) when EJ left Tempe. Maybe JM made arrangements (found Hispanic Guy, possibly, or maybe even the 'adoptive' couple) while she was there and then phoned either TS or EJ to let them know things were ready to go.

ETA: Most likely, she would have phoned TS, since they knew each other and TS had not yet put JM in contact with EJ. (That we know of, anyhow.)

I agree that JM being in Austin just prior to EJ leaving Tempe is notable, and something to be explored as a possibility for a connection. Let's see if we can find anything we can substantiate that indicates she might have been in contact with EJ at that time.

So far, we just have her planning to be in Austin Dec 13-18 for a Little Miss Scholarship competition.

Do we know if she went? Do we know when she left?

 

[BeanE]

Even when they knew Johnson was on the run, they put her in contact with Janet M, an adoption specialist in Nashville, Tenn.

The FBI searched her house as part of the investigation into Gabriel's disappearance.

According to court documents, M was once challenged for allegedly stripping a father of his parental rights without properly notifying him -- exactly what the biological father of Tammi and Jack Smith's adopted daughter, Hannah, says the couple did to him.

http://www.kpho.com/news/22213153/detail.html

Here are the court docs:
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/opinions/tca/PDF/074/adoptionplaceOPN.pdf

Connection of this case to JM is supported within the document, wherein JM is named as a principal of The Adoption Place, the entity sued.

 

[BeanE]

Can someone please work on seeing if we can point to a date or date range for this conversation? I'm not sure if this is the TPS/JM conversation on Dec 26, or if this was actually earlier.

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4845267"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Theory - Is JM a Possible Middle Man Connection?[/ame]

I'd like to add it to the case calendar, but give it as narrow a date range as possible. Right now I have a broad range of Dec 21 to Dec 26. Can we narrow that down?

TIA!

ETA: See my post right after this one. Just realized I have nothing to tie this to the 26th. Help! :banghead:

 

[BeanE]

Help please. I thought it had been substantiated early on that the friend in Nashville TPS refers to in this call:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4845303"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Theory - Is JM a Possible Middle Man Connection?[/ame]

was JM. I'm not finding anything in NG transcripts that specifies this was JM. Was there a non-NG interview that anyone remembers that specifies the friend in Nashville was JM?

TIA

ETA: Just noting that I just checked TPS's charging document, and there are no references that would indicate JM in there. Also checked EJ's charging document just in case, and not are there no references to indicate JM, but (O/T) there are not even any references to indicate TPS...

ETA: Noting that I went through the transcript of Eliz's hearing that NMK provided us (see Important Links sticky thread) and no references to JM... or TPS.

 

[BeanE]

Tip Had FBI Searching Nashville Home/Agents Acted On Evidence After Elizabeth Johnson's Arrest In Miami
KPHO.com
POSTED: 8:52 pm MST January 8, 2010
UPDATED: 6:27 am MST January 9, 2010

FBI agents in Nashville rushed to a home after getting a tip from agents in Miami that missing baby 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.

snip

And late Friday night, Tammi Smith told CBS5 she knew what the Nashville search was all about. It was the home of a friend of hers, JM, who she asked to counsel Elizabeth Johnson about what she could face legally if she tried to disappear with Gabriel.

"I called (Elizabeth) and said 'look, you've got to call this girl Janet,' and so Janet basically, she called her and as far as I know, Janet told her the same thing that we've been telling her and begged her to come back. 'And if you don't come back, you could be facing these charges and these charges,'" said Tammi Smith.

http://www.kpho.com/news/22190418/detail.html

 

[chell]

TS admitted to calling JM on 1/8/10 but doesn't say when she actually called her.

Even the date of the conversation that TS willingly admitted to is probably not the only conversation that occured between them. I'd be shocked if TS wouldn't have been asking JM for advice constantly all throughout her attempted aquisition of G and to me, that would be likely even if the adoption were to be completely legit and even if JM's adoption agency were not handling TS's potential adoption of G. Who wouldn't be running ideas and questions past a person they considered an expert--especially if that expert also happened to be a friend!

If the conversation TS admits to is the only call to JM which appears on TS's call records, that's a HUGE red flag to me. There must have been many calls so leaving little to no indication of communication has to have been done on purpose. If we find it is indeed one of very few (or the only) calls from TS to JM on her recognized phone listing, I would feel even more convinced that communications occured on alternate phone/computer devices (probably disposable pay-as-you-go phones and computers that are now hidden) than those in her home or business which, in turn, would cause me to believe that they were doing something they felt required secrecy or knew could get them into legal trouble.

Since TS doesn't actually say what day she asked JM to make this call nor does she confirm at what point JM actually completed the task. Is there a way to look at call records? I'm assuming we can't, but LE certainly can. Having NO calls to each other on each of their call records is as significant as this individual call. IMO.

As far as JM or TS acting as middle woman, I really feel it's worth looking (important even) at who was the agency TS planned to use if she had been allowed to adopt G? If she was honestly as close to going final on an adoption, she must have had an atty and an agency if she planned to adopt him legally. If she has not provided a name of an agency, what does that say? To me, it suggests either there was no attempt to do this placement "by the book" despite what she now says, doesn't want to get a friend/associate into hot water OR "let's hurry up and get this done before someone realizes what we are doing!" Of the three options, none are good!

 

[BeanE]

JM's plan to attend competition Dec 13-18 in Austin, and Tammi having a friend from Nashville call EJ Dec 26 added to case calendar.

 

[Prof]

As far as I recall, and perhaps I am wrong, but the only reason LE looked at JM in the first place was because they saw some kind of indication that EJ and JM had contact, so they must have looked at phone records to get that information? I do remember that her TN home being searched was discussed here, and TS did not make her excuses for the contact between JM and EJ until after the search of the home--

Off to search for that info

ETA oh the information came from Miami agents-- so either EJ said something in Miami to FBI or they had a phone she was using?
http://www.kpho.com/news/22190418/detail.html

EATA they searched JM's home the day after EJ was arrested in Miami -- so I have to guess she had a phone on her and the TN number showed up?
http://www.wsmv.com/news/22189120/detail.html

 

[fran]

SMITH: Well, OK, in — from the beginning, in talking to the police, they asked us, you know, did we ever try to help her. And I said, Well, the only way we ever tried to help her was, you know, before we knew she could change her — whether or not she could change jurisdictions. She was telling us that she was going to run. She was go into hiding, change her Social Security number.

And so we panicked at that point, and we did not want that baby to vanish into thin air for the rest of his life. And so we were grabbing at straws, like the police are right now, trying to figure out how to keep that baby still surfaced, you know? And so we had thought of scenarios, and we talked to a couple of friends and people about the scenarios of — you know, we have a house in Tennessee, and you know, things like that, that maybe she can go stay there. We can let her stay there. We could help her and all this, and while she`s changing jurisdictions.

Well, by the next day, after doing research throughout the next day, we realized, Oh, she cannot change jurisdictions. It`s illegal. So immediately, we started, you know, telling her, You need to come back, you can`t change jurisdictions.

And that`s when I called Janet M. (ph) from Tennessee and said, Hey, she`s not coming back. I don`t know what to do. Can you please tell her what her legal rights are and get her back here? And that`s exactly what Janet did. And so the cool thing about that is our computer will corroborate that entire story.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1001/15/ng.01.html

I haven't read all of this thread, but just wanted to say something. THIS interview is very telling to me. It was TS CYA! I recall the first day that it was dicussed on tv about LE checking Tn, TS and JS both said, 'I have no idea why they're checking there.' I don't know exact words, but it was close to that.

Yet, the next day they start with the CYA. They knew they'd been caught in yet ANOTHER LIE!

Why did they lie? Why did TS say in the phone conversation to EJ something to the effect, it was almost like reminding her, 'you don't know their name, you don't know how to get in touch with them.' It was like reminding her, 'hey, there's no way they're going to find out who these people are as long as you stick to your story.'

I think this Tn gal is part of the big picture. I also think the hispanic guy is too, maybe a lawyer or baby broker, arranged by the gal from Tn. I hope LE has spoken to her since their initial contact.

Ok, I'll go back where I was reading to catch up on this thread.

JMHO
fran

 

[kissdegirl]

I haven't read all of this thread, but just wanted to say something. THIS interview is very telling to me. It was TS CYA! I recall the first day that it was dicussed on tv about LE checking Tn, TS and JS both said, 'I have no idea why they're checking there.' I don't know exact words, but it was close to that.

Yet, the next day they start with the CYA. They knew they'd been caught in yet ANOTHER LIE!

Why did they lie? Why did TS say in the phone conversation to EJ something to the effect, it was almost like reminding her, 'you don't know their name, you don't know how to get in touch with them.' It was like reminding her, 'hey, there's no way they're going to find out who these people are as long as you stick to your story.'

I think this Tn gal is part of the big picture. I also think the hispanic guy is too, maybe a lawyer or baby broker, arranged by the gal from Tn. I hope LE has spoken to her since their initial contact.

Ok, I'll go back where I was reading to catch up on this thread.

JMHO
fran

And I hope they have pulled her phone and business records!

 

[momtective]

Here are some of my notes on JM

I think I'm also finding The Adoption Place associated with Coordinators 2 Inc (last on the search page) [ame]http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...&aq=f&aqi=&oq= but I can\\'t be sure of that because the page in the search engine isn\\'t cached. But running it down http://www.c2adopt.org/[/ame] there could certainly be a connection.

Janet can be found on Tammi's fb

Aug 4 08 Janet joined FB
First contact from Tammi on FB was Mar. 14th 2009 when Tammi wished JM a Happy Birthday.
Next contact from Tammi to Janet on FB was Oct. 15th 2009 when Tammi asks JM if she’s still working adoptions.
The only other contact between Tammi & Janet was yesterday when Tammi posted her daily copy and paste Gabriel is missing.
Those are the only three posts on Janet’s FB by Tammi and I’m not seeing any response from JM on any of them.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1585061919

 

[BeanE]

According to this post:
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4656130&postcount=577"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - AZ - 8 mo. old Gabriel Johnson missing since 12-26-09, #3[/ame]

The Adoption Place is no longer in business.

(Need to confirm and get date they went out of business)

 

[artsy1]

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache...tml+"(615)+473-5153"&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://www.whitepages.com/search/ReversePhone?full_phone=+615-288-4046

http://www.onetruegift.com/home-study-providers/tn

Hmm, just throwing spaghetti against the refrigerator to see if it sticks.... My questions tie together several threads' postings.

What if ... JM IS the middle man, and uses the Little Miss Scholarship program to travel the country working the adoptions?

What if ... TPS is also connected to the scholarship program? It's interesting that the world headquarters is in Baton Rouge, LA!

What if ... JM's posting about shuttle availability for 1 more was to set up her alibi that she was in Austin through the 18th? Could she have picked up a rental car at the airport on the 18th to drive to SA? (Did anyone actually see her board a plane on the 18th?) If she had a witness in Austin, then any questions coming up about her being seen in TX could be dismissed through the alibi....

What if ... EJ bought her SA cellphone at the Cricket store next to the hair salon where she had her hair done? What if EJ went to THAT hair salon to meet up with JM? If that salon catered to the program, no one would think twice if they had seen JM there.

What if ... Gabriel was supposed to be delivered back to TPS disguised as a girl through the program? Someone posted on another thread that the big competition MIGHT be held in Phoenix, so who would question just another cute baby coming along for the competition?

Just thinking out loud.... :waitasec:

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I haven't read all of this thread, but just wanted to say something. THIS interview is very telling to me. It was TS CYA! I recall the first day that it was dicussed on tv about LE checking Tn, TS and JS both said, 'I have no idea why they're checking there.' I don't know exact words, but it was close to that.

Yet, the next day they start with the CYA. They knew they'd been caught in yet ANOTHER LIE!

Why did they lie? Why did TS say in the phone conversation to EJ something to the effect, it was almost like reminding her, 'you don't know their name, you don't know how to get in touch with them.' It was like reminding her, 'hey, there's no way they're going to find out who these people are as long as you stick to your story.'

I think this Tn gal is part of the big picture. I also think the hispanic guy is too, maybe a lawyer or baby broker, arranged by the gal from Tn. I hope LE has spoken to her since their initial contact.

Ok, I'll go back where I was reading to catch up on this thread.

JMHO
fran

I love the part where she says "The cool thing is that our computer will corroborate the whole story."

People who aren't making up a story don't talk about the events of their lives as "a story." They would say, "The computer will back up what we said and what we did." But she is telling a story, aka a giant whopping lie.

 

[Gin]

I love the part where she says "The cool thing is that our computer will corroborate the whole story."

People who aren't making up a story don't talk about the events of their lives as "a story." They would say, "The computer will back up what we said and what we did." But she is telling a story, aka a giant whopping lie.

I think she's one of those people who has habitually bamboozled "friends" and family forever. I smile when I read of statements like the above. (BBM). I have to believe whenever LE hears something like this they immediately start going backward word for word to find each and every whopper. It's like she's waving a flag and saying, "LE, look at me!"