Police Say Mom of Missing Gabriel Johnson is Standoffish & Refuses to Cooperate

January 13, 2010. Tempe, Arizona. Investigators for missing eight-month-old Gabriel Scott Johnson believe he is alive. Commander Kim Hale of the Tempe Police Department said today in an interview with CBS affiliate KPHO, "We have some photographs... time-stamped photographs. We also have statements made by people." Commander Hale did not reveal what the dates are on the time-stamped photos or the locale where the photos were taken. However, they may simply be from the time period in which Gabriel was seen with his mother in Texas from Dec 20-26, 2009.

Tempe police are certain that Elizabeth Johnson knows what happened to missing her infant son. But according to Commander Kim Hale in the same KPHO interview, the single mom has remained adamant in her standoffish absolute refusal to co-operate. He said, "She has not assisted us in any way." However, later today, Johnson did say of her son, "Yes I'm sure he's alive." She was visited by Tammi and Jack Smith, the couple who had expected to adopt Gabriel. Police are analyzing the Garmin Global Positioning System (GPS) that was left in Johnson's grandfather's Oldsmobile- the vehicle that Johnson drove to Texas.

Gabriel Johnson was taken by Johnson, to San Antonio, Texas in December 2009. Before leaving, she put his collapsible crib into her shed. The jobless single mom reportedly drummed up cash for the road trip by using rent money from the lodger in her trailer home (rent $400) and by selling her two Yorkies through Craig's List. She also sold her jewelry and laptop.

Even if Johnson started out her trip with $2,000 cash as some reports say, she would unlikely have had $500 left after her road trip expenses when police arrested her on December 30, especially since according to KLHN'S Nancy Grace, Johnson went shopping that day and had her nails done.

Missing Baby Gabriel was last seen, with Johnson, on December 26, 2009 in San Antonio. On the next day, December 27, Johnson's GPS signal was picked up heading for Mexico. Her abandoned vehicle was found on January 5, 2010 by an FBI agent near a San Antonio Motel 6 not far from the Tornado Bus Station off Interstate 35 (South Pan Am Expressway). Heading south on I35 is a direct route to Mexico. The Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo is approximately 147 miles (236km) from San Antonio.

Johnson was arrested on December 30 with $500 on her (she initially had $1,200) at the International Fun Hostel on 20th Street in Miami Beach, Florida on a custodial interference charge. She is being held in the 4th Avenue Jail in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona on three felony charges- custodial interference, kidnapping, and child abuse. A cash-only bond of 1.1 million-dollar assures her continued incarceration. There are two case numbers. The bond was combined- $1 million applies to one case; $100,000 applies to the other.

An essential reason as to why Law Enforcement continue to hold Jack and Tammi Smith as 'persons of interest' is that Tammi Smith's omission in mentioning that one of the two men named by Johnson as a potential father of Gabriel, Craig Cherry, is a first cousin of hers- the other man being Logan McQueary, who is named on the birth certificate. The two cousins have a close relationship and often talk on the phone. Cherry told police that he doesn't know Johnson, has never met her, and has never spoken with her.

Maricopa County Superior Court declared Logan McQueary as baby Gabriel's natural father on December 17 without honoring Johnson's petition for parentage testing. Johnson had petitioned the court, on December 14, for a subpoena to order a paternity test for McQueary.

^{Sources: kphovideo.com; kpho.com}