Missing Baby Gabriel Johnson Victim of Human Trafficking?

With the horrible case of alleged prostitution and possible human trafficking of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis as a reminder of the depravity to which some can fall, it does not take much of an imagination to cast Baby Gabriel Johnson's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, or Jack and Tammi Smith, the Arizona couple that were attempting to adopt Baby Gabriel, as possible characters in a human trafficking play. Given many of the details of the lengths to which Tammi Smith allegedly went to in order to adopt Baby Gabriel, lengths thwarted by the child's father, the casting becomes a bit easier. And then there are the dealings between Johnson and the Smiths, the strange e-mails, and Elizabeth Johnson's cross-country ride to San Antonio, where Baby Gabriel seems to have vanished without a trace.

Barring finding the remains of Baby Gabriel Johnson in the Tessman landfill in San Antonio, where over 30 specially trained investigators have been sifting through and removing nearly fifty thousand tons of refuse, human trafficking charges may be what authorities ultimately pin on Johnson and at least one of the Smiths (Jack Smith, at the moment, seems to have remained outside the knowledge loop of much of the illegalities allegedly occurring between Tammi Smith and Elizabeth Johnson). And with Elizabeth Johnson's own admission that she gave her baby to a couple in San Antonio (a recantation of her admitting to Baby Gabriel's father that she killed the child), there is the likelihood that, if investigators can find anything that could circumstantially link Johnson to human trafficking, they will add the appropriate charges to those of kidnapping, child abuse, and custodial interference to which Johnson has already pleaded guilty.

And then there is the ring...

Logan McQueary, Gabriel Johnson's father, believes that his child, who would be 10 months old now, is still alive and that the San Antonio landfill search will turn up nothing. He also believes that a ruby and diamond ring reportedly found on Elizabeth Johnson when she was taken into custody in Florida (she was arrested on a warrant for custodial interference in Miami on December 29) is proof that Johnson sold the child on the black market. McQueary, who claims that his ex-girlfriend never owned anything like the ring (and he dated Johnson for two years), believes that the ring -- supposedly worth around $20,000 -- was the method of payment for his son.

Logan McQueary and others have thought for some time that the story might have a human trafficking angle as well. McQueary, who holds onto the theory that Johnson sent him the text that she killed Baby Gabriel only to hurt him (her words to Florida authorities as well), retraced the route of Johnson's trip to San Antonio, hoping to find out any detail that might lead him to his son. There is also video surveillance evidence that Elizabeth Johnson and Baby Gabriel were at Six Flags amusement park in San Antonio on December 26, the last day that there is evidence of the baby being in the company of his mother.

Human traffickers often meet their contacts in crowded areas. An expert in human trafficking told the McQuearys, according to Lisa McQueary, Logan's cousin, that girls often went to places like Six Flags to meet the adoptive families. "There's a lot of people in and out there, and there's also security there, and it's a safe place for both the mother and the family to meet, often to bring the child, introduce the child to the family."

Two days before, Elizabeth Johnson posted the line "Excited to start my new life" on her MySpace page.

Is there a connection? Did Elizabeth Johnson sell her child to a couple in San Antonio? Is that why she went to San Antonio in the first place?

According to an expert that wished to remain unidentified to Crimesider, even the hotel, the Homegate Hotel, where Johnson stayed with Baby Gabriel (and where photos timestamped Dec. 26 were taken) was a known waystation for those in the market for underground adoptions.

As easy as it is to picture Tammi Smith and Elizabeth Johnson conspiring to set up meetings with prospective adoptive families in San Antonio, it becomes just as easy to believe that Johnson ultimately exchanged her baby for a diamond and ruby ring. Believable or not, is any of it true?

Johnson's grandfather, who Logan believes was given the ring, maintains that there was no ring among her personal effects.

Elizabeth Johnson has refused to talk to authorities since recanting her text story in Florida. She remains in a Phoenix jail, after having been extradited.

Logan McQueary still hopes for a break in the case as he continues the search for his missing son.

Both investigations, the missing person and the homicide, await developments in San Antonio...

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Source:

"Gabriel Johnson's Family Fears Missing Baby Was Sold...", CBSNews.com