GABRIEL JOHNSON - 8 months (2009) - Tempe AZ/Miami Beach FL

The mother of missing 10-month-old Gabriel Johnson refused to leave her
jail cell Tuesday to attend a hearing in Maricopa County Superior
Court, triggering the judge to calmly tell sheriff's deputies in the
courtroom to "use any means necessary" to get her there next week.
Elizabeth Johnson was scheduled to appear before Maricopa County
Superior Court Judge Timothy Ryan for a pretrial conference, but her
public defenders appeared without her to request a new hearing date and
see if they could get the media banned from being in the courtroom.
Ryan said: "Use any means necessary to get Ms. Johnson here for her
next court date. It will be an issue we have to take up sooner or
later."
Johnson, 23, of Tempe, is being held in the Maricopa County Estrella
Jail on a $1.1 million cash bond for charges of kidnapping, child
abuse, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial
interference in connection to her missing son.
Ryan rescheduled the hearing for 10:30 a.m. on March 17 as a courtroom full of media looked on.
Johnson traveled with Gabriel from Arizona to San Antonio on Dec.
18. The boy was last seen at a HomeGate Studios and Suites motel there
on Dec. 26, but his mother has refused to tell authorities his
whereabouts since her arrest.
In a text message on Dec. 27, she told Logan McQueary of Gilbert,
her estranged boyfriend and the baby's father, that she killed Gabriel.
In a telephone call McQueary recorded, she said that she killed the
baby, put his body in a diaper bag and threw him in a dumpster. But at
the time of her arrest on Dec. 30 at a hostel in Miami, Fla., Johnson
told an FBI agent that she gave the baby away to an unknown couple in
the parking lot of the motel before signing an adoption form, according
to a court document.
Tammi Smith, 37, of Scottsdale, who was interested in adopting
Gabriel, is facing charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit
custodial interference in connection with the case. Smith is scheduled
to appear in court for a pretrial conference on April 5.
Renowned private investigator Jay J. Armes, his son, Jay J. Armes
Jr., and one of their associates who are helping the McQueary family
search for Gabriel arrived in Phoenix from El Paso, Texas late Monday
to attend Tuesday's hearing.
However, Vanessa Smith, Johnson's public defender, said they "cannot" comment on the case.
Armes, who has 40 years of experience as a private investigator,
told the Tribune after Tuesday's hearing that he believes Gabriel was
sold in an underground adoption, that the boy is still alive and they
are close to recovering him.
Armes said his office is receiving 60 to 70 leads a day about the case, some are credible and some are extortion attempts.
"She's protecting whoever has the baby," Armes said of Johnson's refusal to leave her jail cell.
However, Armes Jr. said what worries them is that Johnson has no
emotional attachment to the baby and wouldn't have any problem crossing
the line when it comes to killing Gabriel because she isn't showing any
remorse for her actions now.
"To her, the line is not there, or blurry at best," Armes Jr. said.
Armes Jr. also said he believes Johnson refusing to leave her jail
cell was a "calculated action" on her part and a stall tactic.
"She knows this doesn't look good for her," Armes Jr. said. "The
last thing you want to do is (tick) off the judge. She has been given
too much free reign to manipulate the system to her advantage. The only
one that it has helped has been her, not Logan and definitely not the
baby."
During a telephone call Johnson made to Tammi Smith and her husband,
Jack, from jail in early January that was recorded by a Phoenix
television news station, Johnson said she absolutely did not kill her
baby. She said she told McQueary that to hurt him but had actually
given the boy away.
When a reporter asked Johnson if she was concerned for the safety of her baby, she said, "No, not really."

There seems to be a rift in the camp searching for baby Gabriel.
The attorney for Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, sent a statement
Tuesday night, distancing Gabriel's family from private investigator Jay J.
Armes. Armes arrived in Phoenix last Monday night to attend Elizabeth Johnson's
court hearing Tuesday morning, but Johnson refused to leave her jail cell and
fired her public defender.
Now, McQueary's attorney Tim Maloney has released a statement that said,
"Please be advised that Mr. Jay J. Armes is not authorized to speak on behalf of
Mr. Logan McQueary. Mr. Armes has refused to return my client's property and
continues to interfere with an ongoing police investigation."
Maloney went on to write that the McQuearys appreciate the work Armes has
done, but request he turn over any other information or evidence to the San
Antonio Police Department.

Based on this latest info I am moving the topic back to Missing Children
Police confirmed that the landfill search for Baby Gabriel has been
completed.
No evidence was found.
In 16 days crews searched through 4,260 tons of trash looking for
clues to the case.
SAPD Chief William McManus said it is a "bittersweet ending".
The baby's father, Logan McQuery, remains hopeful. His attorney said
the results of the search were not unexpected. He said that sometimes a
negative can actually be a positive, and it only strengthens their
belief that the child is actually still alive.
The Baby Gabriel investigation remains an active missing-person case.
SAPD also urged anyone with information regarding this case to call
1-800-THE-LOST.

PHOENIX -- The father of missing Baby Gabriel
says he is going to move to Texas right after a custody hearing at the
end of March.
Logan McQueary made the announcement Saturday night during a fundraiser
in Avondale.It was the first time McQueary spoke publicly since
police in San Antonio called off a landfill search after finding no
evidence in the disappearance of the boy.McQueary said he's
already found a job and an apartment in Texas, and is anxious to get
back to San Antonio to continue to search for his son.McQueary
has spent the last several months hunting for Gabriel, and throughout
his search, he has maintained that his son is still alive.McQueary
said he believes Gabriel might have been the victim of an illicit
adoption.Gabriel was last seen with his mother, Elizabeth
Johnson, 23, in San Antonio on Dec. 26. The Arizona woman is jailed on
kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference charges.McQueary
said on Saturday he hasn't given up his attempt to visit Johnson in
jail."I've tried several times to, they keep shooting it down,"
he said. "She won't talk to anybody but her brother."Last week,
Johnson refused to go to court Tuesday, delaying the case.Maricopa
County Superior Court Judge Timothy Ryan would have ruled on two
motions had Johnson not refused to leave her Maricopa County jail cell.Ryan
rescheduled the hearing for this Wednesday, when he's expected to rule
on a couple procedural matters.

The mother of an Arizona baby who's been missing for nearly three
months is expected to be in court Wednesday.Elizabeth Johnson had
refused to leave her cell for a court hearing last week, but Judge
Timothy Ryan ordered deputies to "use any means necessary" to get her to
Wednesday's hearing.The 23-year-old Johnson is being held in
Maricopa County jail in connection with her son Gabriel's disappearance.



Gabriel was 8 months old when he was last seen in late December in
San Antonio, and police don't know whether he's alive.Police say
Johnson drove the boy to San Antonio from Tempe, stayed about a week,
then took a bus to Florida without him. She was arrested Dec. 30 in
Florida and is charged in Arizona with kidnapping, child abuse and
custodial interference.

A Phoenix judge on Wednesday refused to fire the lawyer defending
the mother of an Arizona baby who has been missing for nearly three
months.Elizabeth Johnson, 23, had asked the judge to dismiss
attorney Vanessa Smith, saying in a motion handwritten on notebook paper
that Smith "does not file motions I request and pressures me to do what
she wants."Johnson's son, Gabriel, was 8 months old when he was
last seen in late December in San Antonio, and police don't know whether
he's alive. Johnson, who remains in jail, has pleaded not guilty to
kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference in the case.


In her motion, Johnson wrote that Smith was "inadequately
representing" her, adding that Smith had discussed the case of an
unrelated client with her and that she thought Smith had been discussing
her case with others.Judge Timothy Ryan denied Johnson's request
to fire Smith at a hearing Wednesday, telling her why Smith didn't file
a motion to change her release conditions, and that she has been acting
properly as her attorney."Right now the reality is they have a
case involving baby Gabriel, and the police want to know where baby
Gabriel is located," Ryan said. "So when your attorneys come to you with
requests for information from the police ... the reason they're doing
that isn't to pressure you, it's their ethical responsibility to talk to
you about those things."Johnson's lip quivered at the mention of
her son, but she otherwise sat quietly in shackles and answered Ryan's
questions with one-word responses.Ryan granted Smith's motion to
excuse Johnson from attending future hearings in her case except during
trial or when otherwise ordered to do so. He also denied a motion by
Smith to ban video and still cameras from the courtroom.Smith had
said the media coverage would taint potential jurors and deny her
client the right to a fair trial, while media attorneys argued it was
their clients' constitutional right to record the proceedings for the
public and that any tainted jurors can be vetted before the trial.Police
don't know whether Gabriel is alive.Investigators said Johnson
drove the boy to San Antonio from Tempe in late December, stayed about a
week, then took a bus to Florida without him. She was arrested Dec. 30
in Florida.Police said Johnson told the boy's father that she
killed Gabriel and put his body in a trash bin. She later told
authorities and members of the media that she gave the boy away to a San
Antonio couple.For weeks, San Antonio police have been searching
a landfill where they think Gabriel's body might be buried if he was
killed, but they hadn't found anything as of Tuesday.Tammi Smith,
a north Scottsdale woman who wanted to adopt Gabriel from Johnson, also
is charged in the case, although police said she was not connected to
the boy's disappearance. Smith has pleaded not guilty to charges of
felony forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.

The mother of Baby Gabriel, the Tempe baby who's been missing for
three months now, is due back in court this morning.
The last time she was in court, Elizabeth Johnson, 23, asked the
judge to fire her court-appointed attorney. The judge denied that
request.
Johnson faces a variety of charges including child abuse and
kidnapping.
Gabriel was 8 months old when he was last seen in late December in
San Antonio, and police don't know whether he's alive. A search of a
San Antonio landfill was completed earlier this month, but uncovered no
clues as to what happened to the baby.
Johnson, who has not cooperated with police in the investigation, has
told stories, saying first the she killed Gabriel. She later that she
gave him to a San Antonio couple.
Police say Johnson drove the boy to San Antonio from Tempe, stayed
about a week, then took a bus to Florida without him. She was arrested
Dec. 30 in Florida and was extradited to Arizona.
Johnson has a history of refusing to leave her cell for scheduled
court appearances. Today's procedure is an evidentiary hearing.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about Gabriel
Johnson is asked to call 1-800-THE-LOST.

The mother of a missing Valley boy appeared in Maricopa County
Superior Court Friday, but refused to talk about the child or his
whereabouts.
Elizabeth Johnson, 23, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self
incrimination when Craig Mehrens, an attorney for her missing son's
father, started asking questions.
Judge Michael McVey granted sole custody of the boy, Gabriel Johnson, to
his father, Logan McQueary.
Gabriel, who will turn 1 on May 3, vanished in December after his mother
allegedly took him from the Valley during a custody fight with
McQueary. The mother and son were last seen together Dec. 26 at a motel
in San Antonio, Texas.
Elizabeth Johnson was arrested in Florida a few days later and returned
to Arizona to face charges. She has told conflicting stories of what
happened to Gabriel -- at one time saying she had killed him and at
other times saying she had given him away.
Friday's court appearance came two weeks after Elizabeth Johnson refused
to leave her jail cell and appear in court. She has been indicted on
charges of kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
McVey set an April 28 hearing on Mehrens' request that Johnson be held
in contempt for violating an earlier ruling that gave McQueary
visitation rights with Gabriel.

After viewing a video of Friday’s custody hearing about missing baby
Gabriel Johnson, well-known Valley forensic psychologist Dr. Erin Nelson
said Elizabeth Johnson didn’t appear interested in her child.During
the hearing, Johnson broke down in tears on the stand when Maricopa
Superior Court Judge Michael McVey questioned her about Gabriel’s
whereabouts.Gabriel was last seen with Johnson in San Antonio,
Texas, on Dec. 26. She was arrested a few days later in Florida and
extradited to Maricopa County.Upon advice from her attorney
during the hearing, Johnson replied to each question by saying, “I
invoke my right to remain silent.”Judge McVey awarded Gabriel’s
father, Logan McQueary, custody during the hearing.Nelson said
Johnson’s behavior indicated that her primary concern is not her son,
but her own fate. "The one thing I take away from today is that
clearly Elizabeth Johnson is somebody who has her own interests as her
number one priority,” said Nelson.Johnson only became emotional
when she was being questioned about issues that could impact the charges
against her.She did not visibly react when the judge awarded
custody to McQueary and revoked her right to spend time with Gabriel.“Her
behavior doesn't bode well for her level of interest in the child,”
said Nelson. "It is noteworthy that at the time that custody is awarded
to the father, she is stoic."Johnson still refuses to reveal what
she did with Gabriel after she took him to Texas last December.Nelson
said that may not be an indication of guilt, but it could be a way for
Johnson to retain control over the situation."For certain people,
just that level of control can be intoxicating,” she said. “To have
people all over the world hanging on your word, that's a pretty powerful
place to be and that could a feeling she's not ready to relinquish.”Nelson
said nothing that happened in court Friday clearly indicates whether or
not Johnson harmed her son, but the fact that Gabriel has been missing
for almost three months is a concern.“That amount of time without
any significant hit or any that I'm aware of doesn't bode well for a
happy ending,” she said.

This is another beotch that needs a good whipping. What ever happened to using "truth serum" on these losers. Wherever baby Gabriel is, dead or alive, I pray he's safe now and being well taken care of. I realize it doesn't seem that a happy ending will come of this situation but, I'm still praying.

alwaysbelieve wrote: This is another beotch that needs a good whipping. What ever happened to using "truth serum" on these losers. Wherever baby Gabriel is, dead or alive, I pray he's safe now and being well taken care of. I realize it doesn't seem that a happy ending will come of this situation but, I'm still praying.

What you said Always! And the law needs to be changed so that the priority is always the safety of the child and nobody should be able to invoke their right to remain silent when a child is missing. Ever. They should be subjected to however much grilling is necessary to find that child. It's just insane and it's rules like this that makes me wonder if our society is completely nuts.

New information is coming out in the search for a baby missing since
December: the family's private investigator is releasing his findings
and says the child's mother did not hurt Gabriel. Ken Gamble is
the private investigator hired by Gabriel Johnson's father, Logan
McQueary. Gamble believes Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, did not
hurt her baby, but rather brought him to a San Antonio, Texas park as
she was told to do. "We have been able to confirm through the
investigation so far that this is the park where Elizabeth handed the
baby to a couple," said Gamble. "That information is supported
by her own handwritten notes in her journal. She wrote down directions
to the park...she arrived..the couple was already sitting in the park so
we now know they were sitting at one of those tables..they immediately
got up and they greeted her." Gamble says that more of their
conversation will help identify the couple, which he is not revealing at
this point. Gamble is asking anyone in San Antonio who saw the
meeting to come forward. He says he's confident the mystery couple will
be found. Johnson then boarded a bus to Florida where she was
later arrested and extradited to Arizona. Johnson is currently in a
Phoenix jail where she is being charged with kidnapping and child abuse.

A private investigator says he believes missing baby Gabriel
Johnson is still alive, in San Antonio, Texas, after reading a journal
kept by the boy's mother.
"I was able to see the hand-written notes," said Ken Gamble, an
investigator hired by the missing boy's father, Logan McQueary.
He said Elizabeth Johnson's journal "is very compelling because it tells
the story of what she did when she was down here (in San Antonio). It
gives details about her contacting women's shelters, crisis centers."
Johnson fled the Phoenix area with Gabriel in December to avoid a
custody hearing. She and the boy were last seen at a San Antonio motel
Dec. 26. Johnson -- who was arrested a few days later in Miami -- has
told conflicting stories about what happened to her son, including one
story that she gave him to an unidentified couple in a San Antonio park.
"She wrote down directions to this park in her journal," Gamble said.
"And that is a key piece of evidence because it shows her story about
coming to the park is actually credible. You can't get any better
evidence than hand-written, contemporaneous notes made by herself."
Johnson has refused to talk to investigators since she has been in the
Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix. She faces numerous charges, including
kidnapping, custodial interference and child abuse. At a court hearing
last week, McQueary was granted sole custody of Gabriel, if the boy is
found.

Gabriel Johnson update: Private eye says he found park where missing baby was given up (video)
April 1, 12:34 AMCrime ExaminerCindy Adams


Gabriel Johnson update: Private eye says he found park where missing baby was given up (video)

The private investigator hired by Logan McQueary, the father of missing baby Gabriel Johnson, says he's found the park where the child was given away.

Ken Gamble told WOAI that Elizabeth Johnson, Gabriel’s mother, kept a journal that contained directions leading to Raymond Rimkus Park off of Huebner road and Evers Road in San Antonio, Tex.

This leads both Gamble and McQueary to believe that Johnson did not hurt the baby, but instead went to the park and gave the baby away.
Gabriel has been missing since December, when his mother fled the Tempe, Ariz. area with him. While on the run, she contacted McQueary saying she’d killed the baby by suffocating him. Later, after being arrested in Miami, she told authorities she gave Gabriel to an unidentified couple in a San Antonio park.
She is now charged with custodial interference, kidnapping, and child abuse in connection with Gabriel’s disappearance.
“We have been able to confirm through the investigation so far that this is the park where Elizabeth handed the baby to a couple,” Gamble said.
“That information is supported by her own handwritten notes in her journal. She wrote down directions to the park...,” Gamble continued. “…she arrived… the couple was already sitting in the park so we now know they were sitting at one of those tables... they immediately got up and they greeted her.”
Gamble is asking anyone with information to come forward and help identify the mystery couple, according to Fox News.
Police are asking anyone with information regarding Gabriel or his whereabouts to call Tempe Police at 480-350-8311, Silent Witness at 480-948-6377, or the FBI at 210-225-6741.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1168-Crime-Examiner~y2010m4d1-Gabriel-Johnson-update-Private-eye-says-he-found-park-where-missing-baby-was-given-up-video

The mother of an Arizona baby missing since December was placed in a
Phoenix jail's psychiatric unit for evaluation after she claimed a
disciplinary food regime was starving her and allegedly assaulted two
fellow inmates, officials said Monday.
Elizabeth Johnson, 23, was placed on the so-called nutra-loaf
program Friday as punishment after she was accused of assaulting two
female inmates by spraying them with window cleaner on Thursday. They
were not injured.
Johnson has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, child
abuse, and custodial interference in the disappearance of her son,
Gabriel, who was 8 months old when he was last seen in December in San
Antonio. Police don't know whether he is alive.
Johnson could now face two counts of felony assault stemming from
Thursday's incident, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
The brick-shaped loaves that jailers gave to Johnson as
punishment consist of compacted dry milk powder, fruits and vegetables,
chili powder and bread dough. They are served to problem inmates twice a
day in isolation rather than the regular sack lunch in the morning and a
hot meal in the evening.
Arpaio said Johnson gave jail officials a will she wrote after
being put on the program, claiming that she was starving. She said she
refused to eat the loaves because they're "full of rotten vegetables and
worms."
He said Johnson also wrote that she doesn't want to donate her
organs and that she wants to be cremated and buried next to her mother's
grave.
That prompted her jailers to place her in the psychiatric unit on
Saturday to be evaluated. She remained in the unit Monday and was being
fed normal jail food.
"She was a model inmate, but evidently maybe the jail conditions
have gotten to her," said Arpaio, who calls himself America's toughest
sheriff.
"I don't know what her agenda is," Arpaio said. "Maybe her
conscience has gotten to her, but she sure doesn't like being
incarcerated in our jail."
Johnson has refused to say where her son is, but has offered
conflicting stories about his whereabouts. She told the boy's father
that she killed him and dumped his body in a garbage bin, but later told
members of the media and police that she gave him to a San Antonio
couple.
Investigators say Johnson drove him to San Antonio from Tempe in
late December, stayed about a week, then took a bus to Florida without
him. She was arrested Dec. 30 in Florida and taken to Arizona to be
charged.
San Antonio police have been searching a landfill where they
think Gabriel's body might be buried if he was killed, but hadn't found
anything as of Monday.
Tammi Smith, a north Scottsdale woman who wanted to adopt Gabriel
from Johnson, also is charged in the case, although police said she was
not connected to the boy's disappearance. Smith has pleaded not guilty
to charges of felony forgery and conspiracy to commit custodial
interference.
Both women were scheduled for court hearings on Friday.