Gabriel Johnson #4 2/16/10 - 2/20/11

[Sister]

Thank you Trimm and Northern Rose for these updates.  This is the saddest of the sad.  Alll this legal crap gives me a headache.  Maybe someday the victim's rights will be more important than POS.

[Northern Rose]

After nearly a year, is missing Baby Gabriel still alive?

It’s been nearly a year since a Tempe baby’s disappearance made national headlines as law enforcement in four states, private detectives and family members searched for missing Gabriel Johnson.

Now forensics experts and authorities say they believe the child is dead.

Gabriel’s mother Elizabeth Johnson already twice said — once in a chilling text message and once in a recorded telephone call to her estranged boyfriend and father of the child, Logan McQueary — that she suffocated him and then stuffed his “little blue body” inside a diaper bag before throwing him in a trash bin in San Antonio.

On Dec. 18 last year, the Tempe woman drove her grandfather’s white 1995 Oldsmobile Delta 88 to San Antonio with Gabriel, then 7 months old, in the midst of a custody battle and stayed at a Homegate Inn and Suites motel in San Antonio, where authorities say they last saw Gabriel on Dec. 26.

The next day, Johnson told McQueary she killed Gabriel.

Her motive? To hurt McQueary, she said. Johnson, who has a history of angry outbursts, blamed McQueary for “ruining her life.”

But at the time of Johnson’s Dec. 30 arrest in Miami Beach, Fla., she told an FBI agent that she gave Gabriel to a couple at a motel in San Antonio a day after she met them at a park there, according to a Maricopa County Superior Court document. That statement ignited hope for the McQueary family and a strong belief among private investigators that an underground adoption took place and Gabriel could still be alive.

The best chance to find a missing child alive is within the first 48 hours of its disappearance, according to information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — after that, the chance diminishes every day.

Johnson has been incarcerated in Maricopa County’s Estrella jail on a $1.1 million cash bond for nearly a year on charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference and has not been cooperating with authorities.

Dr. Steven Pitt, a nationally known forensic psychiatrist in Scottsdale who has worked on high-profile cases, told the Tribune that a mother not sharing information about where her child is and not cooperating raises a “huge” red flag.

“Good money says that the child is dead,” Pitt said. “This is not rocket science. You have a defendant who has allegedly made statements implicating herself in the disappearance of her child, but more importantly, has refused to share information about where her child could be. In my business, that’s a clue.

“At the end of the day, the absence of the mother sharing information about the whereabouts of her child is disturbing and very troubling, and the fact that she claims she gave the child away begs the question, to whom?”

Tammi Peters Smith, 38, of Scottsdale, who according to court documents was interested in adopting Gabriel around the time of his disappearance without McQueary’s consent, is charged with forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial interference in connection with the case.

Tempe police believe that Smith and her husband, Jack, had a plan in place, or were devising one, to pick up Gabriel near Nashville, Tenn., where the FBI had questioned an adoption agency they thought was a possible location for the boy to be taken. Jack Smith later was dropped as a person of interest in the case, and authorities now say Tammi Smith is not a suspect in Gabriel’s disappearance.

Gabriel, who has blue eyes and had light brown hair, was born on May 3, 2009, and was crawling at the time of his disappearance. If alive, he now would be 19 months old and would be walking and talking. He also would weigh more, his hair might be darker and he might have been renamed.

However, Gabriel would have no recollection of Johnson or McQueary, according to Dr. Barbara Tinsley, a child psychologist and child development expert who is a professor at Arizona State University’s Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

“His well-being highly depends on if he’s in a good and loving environment and if he has good nutrition,” Tinsley said. “That is critical. If he’s in a deprived environment, his development has been slowed down, including his physical, cognitive and social development. But, if he’s in a good loving environment, he’s in pretty good shape.”

However, Johnson had reportedly confessed a third time to killing Gabriel, this time during a May jailhouse interview with San Antonio police Detective Jesus Salame at the Estrella jail. During the interview, Salame held Johnson’s hand and cried with her. Salame told Johnson he was the only one who cared for her and he was her best chance of being spared the death penalty, according to a Maricopa County Superior Court document.

Johnson’s former attorneys, Nick Alcock and Adam Feldman, said Johnson was under medication at the time of Salame’s interview, which was unauthorized, and they have since resigned from the case. Alcock and Feldman cited that their attorney-client trust with Johnson was destroyed by that interview.

A San Antonio police spokesman told the Tribune on Wednesday that its investigators have discussed seeking murder charges against Johnson with the district attorney’s office there, and are investigating the case as a homicide.

In a recent development in the case, Johnson’s latest attorney, Daniel Raynak hopes to subpoena Salame for testimony in an effort to dismiss the high-profile case during a court hearing in January. Johnson’s attorneys contend that when Salame flew to Arizona and interviewed her in May, he violated her Sixth Amendment rights by interviewing her without her legal counsel present, and that the case should be dismissed.

But Texas authorities aren’t forthcoming with information about that interview with those involved in the case in Arizona. San Antonio police contend they are in the midst of an active homicide investigation and still are working with Tempe police on it.

Tempe police told a room full of reporters earlier this year that they ended their role in the Gabriel Johnson investigation, but on Wednesday, Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal said Tempe is continuing to work with San Antonio police on the case. Carbajal would not comment on specific aspects, citing an ongoing investigation.

Alcock told the Tribune that he already had tried to subpoena Salame to provide testimony about the interview, but San Antonio’s city attorney replied in a letter that they would not be responding to the subpoena and Salame will not be testifying in an Arizona courtroom.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge will rule in January whether the case against Johnson will be dismissed, but a trial on the charges against her in Arizona currently are scheduled to begin in May.

Amid the drawn-out legal proceedings, it remains unknown whether Gabriel is dead or alive.

“If there was ever a time I’d like to be wrong, it’s this case, but I am not optimistic that they will find this baby alive,” Pitt said.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/article_ac085656-0963-11e0-9db6-001cc4c03286.html

[Northern Rose]

New recordings paint different picture in Baby Gabriel case

PHOENIX - As the one-year anniversary of Baby Gabriel's disappearance approaches, shocking new audio recordings of the boy's mother paint a new picture of what may have happened.

Elizabeth Johnson could be heard on previous audio tapes saying she handed Gabriel over to a couple in a San Antonio park, but in an investigative recording made by Tempe police, she describes to the boy's father how she killed Gabriel.

Logan McQueary: Where are you? And why are you saying you killed Gabriel?
Johnson: You trapped me and you scared me and you left me with no choice.
McQueary: Where are you?
Johnson: I don't exist anymore I'm a ghost. You'd be surprised what a person will do if you push them enough.

Johnson continues describing to McQueary how she suffocated the couple's young son and left his body in a dumpster.

She can also be heard mentioning McQueary's Facebook account and his relationships with other girls.

McQueary: Where are you and where's Gabriel?
Johnson: Killed him this morning. So find some new girl to make you a new baby. You know what I'm capable of and you pushed me anyway.
McQueary: You did not hurt Gabriel.
Johnson: Yes I did, I suffocated him and he turned blue and that's when I put him in his diaper bag and put him in the trash can.

The 24-year-old Johnson has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference in the disappearance of her son, who was 8 months old when he was last seen nearly a year ago in San Antonio.

With her story constantly changing, Johnson, while sitting in jail, will not tell anyone exactly what happened.

She is due in court next month.


http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/new-recordings-paint-different-picture-in-baby-gabriel-case

[Northern Rose]

Did Baby Gabriel's mom confess to killing him over the phone?

PHOENIX – Newly released audio tapes reveal more about the relationship between the parents of a child who has been missing for almost a year.

Elizabeth Johnson is still in jail and the whereabouts of her baby, Gabriel, are still unknown.

The baby was last seen Dec. 27 in San Antonio when he was 7 months old.

On that same day, Gabriel’s father, Logan McQueary, recorded a telephone conversation he had with Johnson where she admits to killing the baby. Johnson is also heard saying McQueary ruined her life and drove her to kill Gabriel.

In the recorded phone conversation McQueary says, “You did not hurt Gabriel.” Johnson replies, “Yes I did. I suffocated him. I suffocated him and he turned blue and I put him in his diaper bag and put him in the trash can.”

Johnson later told police she had given Gabriel to a couple in San Antonio. She remains in custody facing charges of custodial interference and kidnapping.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Did-Baby-Gabriels-mom-confess-to-killing-him-over-the-phone-112042449.html

[Northern Rose]

Elizabeth Johnson's New Lawyers Place Blame  (with video)
Lawyers: Tammi Smith Knows Where Gabriel Is

PHOENIX -- Elizabeth Johnson, the woman accused of either killing her 8-month-old boy, or giving him away to strangers in Texas, now has her third legal team, Phoenix attorneys Dan Raynak and Marci Kratter.

In an interview with CBS5's Pat McReynolds, the lawyers responded to new audio of Johnson confessing to killing Gabriel, before ultimately recanting and saying she was duped into giving him up by her alleged accomplice, Scottsdale woman Tammi Smith.

In the recorded conversation first released by CBS5 News, Elizabeth tells Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, "You destroyed my life. You made me kill my baby boy."

"Why would she ever say something like that?" McReynolds asked Johnson's attorneys.

"If someone is upset and angry, says things out of anger, it does not mean they are true or accurate," said Raynak.

Johnson's new lawyers say their client was simply naive and taken advantage of. They maintain Johnson's alleged accomplice, Smith, arranged for an anonymous couple to take Gabriel from Johnson in a Texas park.

"If you take a young person and you have an older person who is much more schooled in these types of endeavors, they certainly can convince someone to do something that they normally wouldn't do," said Raynak.

"It would be hard to say that Elizabeth didn't take part in this," responded McReynolds.

"If you are asking us who we believe is responsible for all of this, we believe it is Tammi Smith," said Raynak.

"In your opinion, is Tammi Smith what's keeping investigators from finding Gabriel?" asked McReynolds.

"We believe that in terms of baby Gabriel, all roads lead to Tammi Smith," said Raynak.

This strategy contradicts what CBS5 was told by a source close to the investigation last month: that Johnson confessed again to killing Gabriel to San Antonio Detective John Salame in an unauthorized interview last May.

"Detective Salame has not turned over any of the information, so I don't know how anyone could report actually that she had confessed. And second, it wasn't allegedly unauthorized, it was without question unauthorized," said Raynak.

"He has declined to come to Arizona, he has declined to be interviewed. He has declined to turn over the tape. That puts that in question." said Kratter.

"Is Elizabeth doing all she can to help investigators find Gabriel?" asked McReynolds.

"We believe she is and we believe that she has fully cooperated and we hope and pray that Tammi Smith ends up doing the same," said Raynak.

Tammi Smith maintains she has no idea where Gabriel is. Kratter and Raynak are following through with a motion from Johnson's previous lawyer: that because Salame interviewed Johnson without permission, the whole case against her should be thrown out.

Salame will soon be traveling to Phoenix to be deposed, but what he will reveal about that meeting with Johnson is anyone's guess.

http://www.kpho.com/valleynews/26176237/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Almost 1 Year Since Gabriel Went Missing

PHOENIX - This month marks one year since baby Gabriel was seen alive in the valley.

Gabriel's mother Elizabeth Johnson is accused of kidnapping the child and taking him to San Antonio. What came next has been a mystery.

Elizabeth Johnson remains in a Phoenix jail, charged with kidnapping, but she refuses to tell police what happened to Gabriel.

Tempe Police have released some chilling recordings between Johnson and the baby's father, Logan McQueary, where she talks about some of what happened.

[Press play to hear the recordings.]

Police have not been able to verify if Elizabeth Johnson killed Gabriel or not, which is why she is facing only kidnapping charges.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/1-year-baby-gabriel-12-17-2010

[Belmom]

Elizabeth Johnson's New Lawyers Place Blame  (with video)
Lawyers: Tammi Smith Knows Where Gabriel Is

PHOENIX -- Elizabeth Johnson, the woman accused of either killing her 8-month-old boy, or giving him away to strangers in Texas, now has her third legal team, Phoenix attorneys Dan Raynak and Marci Kratter.

In an interview with CBS5's Pat McReynolds, the lawyers responded to new audio of Johnson confessing to killing Gabriel, before ultimately recanting and saying she was duped into giving him up by her alleged accomplice, Scottsdale woman Tammi Smith.

In the recorded conversation first released by CBS5 News, Elizabeth tells Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, "You destroyed my life. You made me kill my baby boy."

"Why would she ever say something like that?" McReynolds asked Johnson's attorneys.

"If someone is upset and angry, says things out of anger, it does not mean they are true or accurate," said Raynak.

Johnson's new lawyers say their client was simply naive and taken advantage of. They maintain Johnson's alleged accomplice, Smith, arranged for an anonymous couple to take Gabriel from Johnson in a Texas park.

"If you take a young person and you have an older person who is much more schooled in these types of endeavors, they certainly can convince someone to do something that they normally wouldn't do," said Raynak.

"It would be hard to say that Elizabeth didn't take part in this," responded McReynolds.

"If you are asking us who we believe is responsible for all of this, we believe it is Tammi Smith," said Raynak.

"In your opinion, is Tammi Smith what's keeping investigators from finding Gabriel?" asked McReynolds.

"We believe that in terms of baby Gabriel, all roads lead to Tammi Smith," said Raynak.

This strategy contradicts what CBS5 was told by a source close to the investigation last month: that Johnson confessed again to killing Gabriel to San Antonio Detective John Salame in an unauthorized interview last May.

"Detective Salame has not turned over any of the information, so I don't know how anyone could report actually that she had confessed. And second, it wasn't allegedly unauthorized, it was without question unauthorized," said Raynak.

"He has declined to come to Arizona, he has declined to be interviewed. He has declined to turn over the tape. That puts that in question." said Kratter.

"Is Elizabeth doing all she can to help investigators find Gabriel?" asked McReynolds.

"We believe she is and we believe that she has fully cooperated and we hope and pray that Tammi Smith ends up doing the same," said Raynak.

Tammi Smith maintains she has no idea where Gabriel is. Kratter and Raynak are following through with a motion from Johnson's previous lawyer: that because Salame interviewed Johnson without permission, the whole case against her should be thrown out.

Salame will soon be traveling to Phoenix to be deposed, but what he will reveal about that meeting with Johnson is anyone's guess.

http://www.kpho.com/valleynews/26176237/detail.html
[/quote

[Belmom]

When I saw that video last week I almost leaped for joy. This is huge! Finally EJ has a lawyer who is protecting his client and acting like he cares where Gabriel is. EJ passed attorneys seemed to not give a care for the child. I have always believed that TPS set it up. All she did in January was give interviews to trash Logan McQueary. She was one desperate woman. IMO she would done anything to get him. But it all backfired when Logan went to the police. Ms. Smith claims that she doesn't where he is. That maybe true. The question is does she know who has him? She called so many people in those last days. She has been so clever in her answers. It is time for that woman to realize that EJ is going to testify against her. It is almost over. If I were JS I would try hard to get the truth out of her and kick her butt to the curb.

I wonder how far will TPS go to protect herself? Would she let EJ stand trial for murder? The only person that could be hurt from the recovery of Gabriel is the Smiths and the people holding him.

[starwynn]

When I saw that video last week I almost leaped for joy. This is huge! Finally EJ has a lawyer who is protecting his client and acting like he cares where Gabriel is. EJ passed attorneys seemed to not give a care for the child. I have always believed that TPS set it up. All she did in January was give interviews to trash Logan McQueary. She was one desperate woman. IMO she would done anything to get him. But it all backfired when Logan went to the police. Ms. Smith claims that she doesn't where he is. That maybe true. The question is does she know who has him? She called so many people in those last days. She has been so clever in her answers. It is time for that woman to realize that EJ is going to testify against her. It is almost over. If I were JS I would try hard to get the truth out of her and kick her butt to the curb.

I wonder how far will TPS go to protect herself? Would she let EJ stand trial for murder? The only person that could be hurt from the recovery of Gabriel is the Smiths and the people holding him.

Honestly, if TS is the type of person to do all of the former parts, and if she did orchestrate all of this, then certainly she would let EJ go to jail for murder rather than take the hit herself.  Yes. 

[ZooMomology]

I don't think this woman had a thing to do with Gabriel's disappearance.  His mother killed him.  They just cannot find his body.  With all the news, u think the people who got him, the weird adoption, would be able to avoid coming forward.  Who would do that?  You would be bound to get caught some day and then you would be in a pile of horse poop. 

Maybe she wanted to adopt Gabriel, but egg donor ruined it all by snapping and killing him. 

I think she put him in the dumpster just like she told his father.  Beotch.  They will not find him either.  Too much space to check, bottom of landfill somewhere.  Even if she confessed and told them now what dumpster she put him in, there has been tons and tons and tons put on top of him.  There is no way they could find him.

Another Trenton Duckett-like case.  Neither will be found. 

[Northern Rose]

Smith Audio: 'God Wanted Us To Take Gabriel'  (With recordings)

New Recordings Show Desperate Desire To Adopt Missing Baby

PHOENIX -- A chance meeting in an airport brought Elizabeth Johnson and Tammi Smith together.

An unhappy mother and a woman desperate for another child.

Once fast friends, the two now blame each other for the disappearance of Johnson's 8-month-old boy, Gabriel.

Gabriel has been missing for nearly a year, and leads in the case are dwindling.

But CBS 5 News had obtained new recordings showing how sure Tammi Smith and her husband, Jack, were that Gabriel would be theirs. The recordings further reveal what the Smiths did to try to adopt Gabriel even after the boy vanished.

When Johnson grabbed Gabriel and whisked him away to Texas last December, Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, was desperate.

He knew that Johnson had befriended a Scottsdale couple, Tammi and Jack Smith, and he called them hoping they might know where Johnson took his boy.

That was when he learned how determined the Smiths were to adopt his son.

"I really believed that God wanted us to take that baby," Tammi Smith told McQueary during the call.

She said she felt meeting Elizabeth in the airport was divine intervention. Smith had already alerted friends to the new addition to her family, and without McQueary's knowledge or permission, she prepared for her new child.

"We went and bought a brand new crib. We bought everything. We bought a house full of baby food, formula, diapers, you name it. We went and bought everything, a crib, a new dress, everything for him. And here we are, just, you know, really upset about it," Smith told McQueary.That conversation happened shortly after Gabriel disappeared, and McQueary said he had no idea that Tammi Smith had allegedly forged court documents with Johnson to try and steal custody out from under the father.

The Smiths told McQueary they were in contact with Johnson while she was on the run. In a second recorded phone conversation, Tammi's husband, Jack Smith, tried to convince McQueary to give up Gabriel.

"If you will sign the papers, the adoption papers, there is a five-day waiting period. If you sign the papers, then there's a five-day waiting period for you to change your mind. OK? She said after you sign them, five days later, she will bring Gabriel to us. If you want to come out here and spend every weekend with him, you can," Jack Smith told McQueary in the recorded call..McQueary refused to give up custody.

Then, Tammi Smith was recorded calling family court Judge Michael Mcvey, the judge who awarded McQueary custody of Gabriel after Johnson fled.

Tammi Smith had no part in those hearings, but said she still thought if she could get Gabriel back home, she should be his guardian.

"I know she will tell me where the baby is, but she needs to make sure that he is going to be safe before she tells me. While the parents get their acts together and get themselves together, maybe the judge could let the baby stay with us, since we did have him for a few weeks prior," Smith told the court.

Elizabeth Johnson and her attorneys now argue it was Tammi Smith's plan all along to hand off Gabriel to an anonymous couple in Texas. If Smith couldn't have Gabriel, Johnson's attorney's argue, she knows who has him now.

Whether that's true, the new audio recordings shows the lengths to which she and her husband went to try to bring Gabriel into their home. The courts must decide if those tactics broke the law.

http://www.kpho.com/news/26204667/detail.html

[iluvmua]

I think EJ's Lawyers are trying to shift blame of Tammi Smith because they are trying to get her off of a very possible murder charge.  and If they say " Tammi Smith is behind it all" No murder charge for EJ.

so of course they are going to shift blame.

They know how much trouble EJ is in and they are trying to get her free.

I think even they know that Gabriel is more than likely not alive anymore.

[Tracygirl]

Merry Christmas Gabriel. May God Bless you sweet baby boy

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/2010/12/31/20101231tempe-top-stories1231.html
Tempe
2010's top stories in Tempe
by Luci Scott - Dec. 31, 2010 06:45 AM
The Arizona Republic
<snipped>
Baby Gabriel

Baby Gabriel Johnson, whose mother lived in Tempe, has been missing since Dec. 26, 2009. He was last seen alive in San Antonio. His mother, Elizabeth Johnson, fled there after the baby's father, Logan McQueary, was awarded custody of the baby, who would be 20 months old now.

Johnson is being held without bond on charges of kidnapping, child abuse, conspiracy to commit custodial interference and custodial interference.

In a telephone conversation recorded Dec. 27, 2009, Elizabeth Johnson tells the boy's father that she killed the baby, but Elizabeth's grandfather, Bob Johnson, said she recanted those statements almost immediately.

The mysterious case began when McQueary came to Tempe police on Dec. 27, 2009, to report that he had received text messages in which Elizabeth Johnson told him she had killed Gabriel.
<snipped.

[Kiwi]

Hi all SM, the most current investigative report is due to be released in the next few days.  A Local TV station has just discussed the report.  Unfortunately, the report seems to be a repeat of our posts here.  There could be some additional information released that we don't have at present.  Our prayers are with Gabriel.

[Northern Rose]

Details Found In 230-Page Baby Gabriel Report


TEMPE, Ariz. -- Tempe police have released 230 pages of reports detailing its investigations into the disappearance of a baby who's been missing since December 2009.

•PDF: 230-Page Police Report: Part 1
http://www.kpho.com/download/2011/0119/26545073.pdf

•PDF: 230-Page Police Report: Part 2
http://www.kpho.com/download/2011/0119/26545073.pdf

The report released Tuesday describes how investigators chased false leads from Texas to Florida in the hope of finding Gabriel Johnson.

The report offers little new information into the disappearance of Gabriel, who was 8 months old at the time and was at the center of a bitter custody battle between his mother and father.

Elizabeth Johnson was arrested on Dec. 30, 2009, in Florida. She's awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit custodial interference. Police say the 24-year-old woman has refused to tell investigators what she did with her baby.

http://www.kpho.com/news/26539393/detail.html

[Northern Rose]

Only few new details released in investigation of baby Gabriel


SAN ANTONIO -- The investigation in the missing case of baby Gabriel continues one year after his disappearance.
   
Police in Arizona have released over 200 pages of reports detailing the investigation. The latest report reveals little new information into the missing case of Gabriel.
   
He was last seen here in San Antonio in 2009. His mother, Elizabeth Johnson, awaits her trial on charges of conspiracy to commit custodial interference in Florida.

http://www.kens5.com/news/Only-few-new-details-released-in-investigation-of--114210864.html

[iluvmua]

On one page I read, the report mentioned that EJ shook Gabriel.

I have no doubt in my mind that she did probably kill him, this is one VERY violent and selfish woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

She has already confessed 3 times to killing him:

1. Text message to Logan
2. Phone Call with Logan
3. To the detective in SA; she was really close to giving info about where his body could be found but her lawyer put a stop to that.

She STILL refuses to tell what she did with Gabriel;  This is like the Casey Anthony case all over again. I remember when they were chasing leads about sightings of Caylee which all turned out to be false.

I'm just going to be so angry, if she gets off on a murder charge.

[Northern Rose]

Baby Gabriel report released by Tempe police  (with video)


Tempe police sifted through hundreds of leads during the weeks after the disappearance of Baby Gabriel Johnson in December 2009, ranging from the speculation of a "psychic investigator" to tips from people who thought they had spotted the child after watching television news reports.

In one case, investigators located a baby in Casa Grande who looked just like Gabriel - and who police briefly thought might have been the missing child. In another instance, a caller reported seeing a baby's body floating down the Rio Grande River near Albuquerque, N.M. But in those and all the other cases, the tips led nowhere.


On Tuesday, the Tempe Police Department released 230 pages of reports detailing its investigations into the baby's disappearance. The report describes how investigators chased false leads from Texas to Florida in the hope of finding Gabriel, who remains missing.

There was the "psychic investigator," who claimed to have aided police and FBI officials in the past. She informed Tempe police her "channel of information" told her Elizabeth Johnson of Tempe, the child's mother, attempted to sell baby Gabriel for $1 million, but the buyer only offered $500,000. The psychic also said Gabriel, who was last seen in San Antonio, Tex., on Dec. 26, 2009, was being cared for by an elderly woman in a state west of Santa Fe, N.M., "whose first initials are "WA." None of the information could be confirmed.

There was the call from a person who reported seeing a baby similar to Gabriel in a Walmart in Humble, Texas. "The caller stated that they have been watching the Nancy Grace Show on CNN and have 'memorized' Gabriel's face," the report states.

In New Mexico, an anonymous informant reported in January seeing the body of a child floating in the Rio Grande River. An exhaustive search of the river over two days yielded no new information about Gabriel's whereabouts.

On March 6, Tempe police received a call from a Casa Grande police officer, who received a tip that Gabriel was possibly spotted with a couple at the Little Somburros Restaurant. Although the boy resembled Gabriel, the lead ended up being false.

The report offers little new information into the disappearance of Gabriel, who was 8 months old at the time and was at the center of a bitter custody battle between his mother and his father, Logan McQueary.

Johnson was arrested Dec. 30, 2009, in Florida and is awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit custodial interference. Johnson has refused to tell investigators what she did with baby Gabriel, despite messages to McQueary that she allegedly killed the boy, police have said.

Tempe police spokeswoman Molly Enright declined to comment on the reports released Tuesday, noting that the case is still under investigation by San Antonio police

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/18/20110118baby-gabriel-tempe-police-report.html

[Northern Rose]

1 Year Later, Baby Gabriel Mystery Drags On (with video)

TEMPE - Just over a year ago, Gabriel Johnson went missing when he was just 8 months old. His mother, Elizabeth Johnson, claims she gave the baby up in an underground adoption.

But this case has taken so many twists and turns police aren't sure what to believe.

Tempe Police have released details of its investigation -- hundreds of pages of leads that didn't pan out and interviews with everyone involved.

There's a lot of fingerprinting and while everyone seems to be blaming each other, police still don't know where the baby is.

A year ago this month, we got our first look at baby Gabriel. No doubt he looks very different now.

During their long and detailed investigation, Tempe police appear to have a hard time figuring out who's telling the truth between two of the main players in this case, Elizabeth Johnson and Tammi Smith, the woman who wanted to adopt the baby.

People who knew Smith told people she was desperate to have a baby. In text messages retrieved by investigators, she contacts the baby's father while Johnson is on the run with the child saying, "The only way she'll come back is if my attorney faxes the signed papers to her so she won't be in trouble and Gabriel b w/us."

Logan McQueary responded: "I want my son."

Johnson told investigators she gave the baby to a couple in a San Antonio park. She described Gabriel's adoptive dad as a "husky" man in his 30s and the adoptive mom as "slender" -- but that's all.

It was quick and impersonal, according to Johnson. The couple introduced themselves as "We're Tammi's friends."

Smith denies this and even confronted Johnson on a phone call police recorded, where each one accuses the other of not telling the truth.

Even Johnson's grandfather is quoted in the report saying, "I've never heard my granddaughter lie so much."

Tempe Police redacted much of the report. Elizabeth Johnson is still jailed on charges related to the baby's disappearance. She remains silent in court hearings.
 

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/investigative/baby-gabriel-mystery-drags-on-1-18-2011