Missing Baby Gabriel Johnson: Unremorseful Mom Could Walk Free in 2 Weeks

Missing eight-month-old Gabriel Johnson (born May 3, 2009), whose parents are Elizabeth Johnson and Logan McQueary, was last seen on December 26, 2009- two days after his first Christmas- with his mother in San Antonio, Texas. He went officially missing as of December 27 when his father called the police upon receiving a text message from Johnson stating that she had killed their baby. Johnson was arrested and jailed. Baby Gabriel is believed to still be alive.

On Friday, January 8, 2010, Scottsdale couple Jack and Tammi Peters Smith- who had hoped to adopt Gabriel and are 'persons of interest'- took polygraph tests. The tests followed their January 7 appearance on the HLN nighttime show Nancy Grace- when they said they had volunteered for polygraphs a week earlier but had not yet heard back. Tempe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal has saidinvestigators believe the Smiths' polygraph responses have revealed data that will lead to baby Gabriel Johnson. The test results are being analyzed.

According to McQueary, after his son disappeared, Jack and Tammi Smith told him that if he cared about his son and wanted him back... and wanted Johnson to bring him back, he should just sign the paperwork. During a KPHO interview, the Smiths said they were simply relaying Johnson's messages. In e-mails, Tammi Smith pleaded with Johnson to simply come back with Gabriel. At one point, Johnson agreed to do so but then something happened and she changed her mind. For that story, read 'Elizabeth Johnson Shocker: She Agreed to Return Home with Baby Gabriel'- she planned to return without McQueary's agreement to sign papers.

Tammi Smith first met Elizabeth Johnson at an airport. Johnson, who suffered from postpartum depression, had then-one-month-old Gabriel with her. She was depressed and crying. Smith, feeling concerned, approached her. Johnson let her hold Gabriel. A discussion arose about adoption- something Johnson had considered (according to a CVS co-worker) while she was pregnant with Gabriel. The two women exchanged contact info.

Smith said she had no other encounter with the single mom until December 8 at 10pm when Johnson phoned and asked if she was interested in adopting Gabriel. Smith, whose adoption for a newborn had just fallen through, said she was. Johnson gave the Smiths legal guardianship of Gabriel the next day and Gabriel when to live with the Smiths and their four-year-old daughter, from December 9 through 18.

On December 17, a judge awarded joint custody of Gabriel to Johnson and alleged father Logan McQueary. On December 18, Johnson asked the Smiths to drop him off. She drove away with Gabriel from Tempe Arizona in a 1995 Oldsmobile Delta 88. They arrived in San Antonio, Texas and stayed in a couple of motels over the Christmas holidays. Johnson said she gave her baby to two strangers, a couple. On December 27, leaving the Oldsmobile abandoned, she took a bus to Florida. She was arrested at a Miami Beach youth hostel on December 30, 2009. How a jobless single mother afforded gas for a 978-mile road trip and bus tickets is yet unknown. Some theorists believe she sold her baby.

In an exclusive interview from her Dade County jail cell with CBS affiliate KPHO, Johnson explained how she gave up her son. She said she was alone with baby Gabriel in a park, near Fiesta, Texas. A couple saw that she was depressed and crying. They approached her. They seemed to really care. Johnson said, "I trusted them... I believed in my heart they were good people."

When asked during the KPHO interview why she had sent a text message to the infant boy's father that she had killed their baby [December 27], Johnson replied, "Because he had ruined my life and he hurt me and I wanted to hurt him... and it was the only thing I could say that would hurt him." The Smiths said they received a call from Johnson relating what she had texted to McQueary and that it wasn't true- she and the baby were fine. Tammi Smith said she heard Gabriel gurgling in the background.

Johnson also told KPHO that McQueary was ugly- he's a felon-he can't support himself- his parents support him. According to a Tempe Municipal Court spokesperson, Johnson has a history of domestic violence and was in a diversion program, which is designed for law offenders to avoid criminal charges and a criminal record.

In the court document re the July incident, McQueary wrote, "She [Johnson] has said several times in the past she doesn't want the baby, has yelled and screamed at him when I would go to work, I would put him in his room, and when I would come back five hours later, he would still be in the room with no changed diaper and crying. I would ask her what she was doing, and she would just yell at me and say 'shut that thing up'."

In another incident- according to McQueary's December request for full custody of baby Gabriel, filed with the Maricopa County Superior Court- Johnson hid Gabriel and accused McQueary of taking him. The police did a search and found the baby at the Smiths. They scrutinized the Smiths' guardianship papers and left the baby with them.

One person who disagrees with Johnson regarding McQueary's ability to care for baby Gabriel is the man who introduced the estranged couple- her twin brother, Robert Johnson. While he says he is supportive of his sister, he also says he believes that McQueary- his friend of ten years- is capable of raising Gabriel. He wants to tell his sister that he loves her but she has not yet called him from her jail cell. While Robert believes she did not hurt Gabriel, he disbelieves she has given the child to a Texas couple.

During her interview with KPHO, when asked if she saw a problem with handing Gabriel over to strangers and with not really knowing if he is alive, Johnson said she did not. She reiterated that she had trusted the couple. Yet, she also said, "How can I know anything? I'm in jail." But, today, Johnson waived extradition to Arizona and unless Arizona authorities pick her up within two weeks, she walks free.

Logan McQueary's father, Frank McQueary, has described the state of affairs as very scary. He said, "We need her [Elizabeth] to come forward and tell us what she's done." Logan has made a televised public plea for his son, baby Gabriel Johnson, to the Texas mystery couple, or to whoever has him: "Don't worry about getting in trouble or anything like that. Take him to a fire station or hospital. I'm just asking, please."

^{_{Sources: abc15.com; kpho.com; uspolicejobs.com; cnn.com; en.wikipedia.org;}}