| “They approached me and came up to me,” she said. “I was alone with the baby at the park.”
Johnson said she knows little about the couple. She said she doesn’t know their last name, address or phone number.
“I trusted them,” she said. “I believed in my heart they were good people. I know how much people who don't have their own children just want a baby and they can't have their own babies.”
Elizabeth Johnson had not revealed the whereabouts of her baby until now.
On Monday, the boy’s father said he received a text message from Elizabeth Johnson telling him she killed their son.
Asked why she would tell Logan McQueary she had killed Gabriel, Johnson said for revenge.
“He had ruined my life,” Johnson said. “He hurt me and I wanted to hurt him and that was the only thing I could say that would hurt him.”
“I was emotionally a wreck and was completely out of my mind and just upset,” she said.
But Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, says he gave Elizabeth and the baby a good life.
“I’ve been thinking about how I made her life miserable and I don’t see it. Anything she ever wanted, I did for her. Tried to provide for her anyway I could. I went to work every single day and scrounge for money. We didn’t have much but I pretty much did everything I could. I don’t know what exactly I did wrong,” said McQueary.
Johnson said she has told police everything about the Texas couple who has her son. She said she isn’t concerned who has custody.
Johnson said even though she did not harm her baby, she’s not worried about his safety now.
When asked whether she’s worried her baby is dead or alive, she said, “No, I’m not.”
But the boys father is desperate to find him. And said this to anyone in San Antonio who may know where Gabriel is, “I want them to know he has a loving family here and to bring him back, or call. Call somebody and even if they don’t want to get in trouble, just take him somewhere so somebody can find him.”
FBI spokesman Eric Vasys said San Antonio police and FBI agents found Johnson's vehicle outside a San Antonio motel Tuesday night. He said they are processing the car for evidence that might point to the whereabouts of Gabriel Johnson. There were no obvious signs of violence, Vasys said.
McQueary said his ex-girlfriend approached him about giving up his parental rights to their son, saying another couple wanted to adopt him. McQueary refused Johnson's request.
Elizabeth Johnson was taken into custody Wednesday by Miami Beach police.
Johnson was scheduled to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court's Family Court in Phoenix for a Dec. 28 custodial hearing, but authorities said she failed to appear and lost custodial rights to Gabriel Johnson.
The Tempe Police Department said it has been “working around the clock” to locate him.
Tempe police Sgt. Steve Carbajal confirmed threats against the child were made.
"At this point there's no evidence those threats have been carried out, but we're obviously concerned when we don't know where the child is," Carbajal said.
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UPDATE - Jan 7, 2010
Police: "Indications" Missing Baby Alive
Mother, Under Arrest, Claims She Gave 8-Month-Old to Strangers; Desperate Father Says She Said She'd Killed the Infant
(CBS/ AP) Police say there are signs a baby missing since just after Christmas -- whose mother claims to have given him to complete strangers in a Texas park -- and whose father says she claimed to have killed the infant -- is alive.
Eight-month-old Gabriel Johnson, at the center of a heated custody dispute, was last seen in San Antonio with his 23-year-old mother, Elizabeth Johnson, of Tempe, Ariz. Authorities say Johnson spent Dec. 22-27 at two motels there.
Johnson's white Oldsmobile was found at a San Antonio motel Tuesday. A baby seat and other items were inside, and there were no obvious signs of violence, said FBI spokesman Eric Vasys.
Gabriel's biological father, Logan McQueary, said during a Monday news conference in Tempe that he had received a text message from Johnson telling him she had killed their son. But McQueary said he had "a feeling" the boy was still alive.
Johnson was arrested last week in Miami Beach, Fla., on suspicion of custodial interference after she failed to show up for a custodial hearing in Phoenix.
CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston reports that Johnson says she gave Gabriel away to total strangers in a San Antonio park.
In a jailhouse interview, Johnson told a reporter she "trusted them," and believes "in my heart they are good people."
Police worry the mother's strange story may not add up, Pinkston notes. For one, when prodded, Johnson couldn't come up with the couple's name or address.
In the interview, she admitted she'd "made a hasty decision, and I thought it would be ... I thought it was OK."
Asked whether she was worried about whether her son is dead or alive, she responded, "No, I'm not."
As for the assertion she'd killed her baby, Johnson said she did it to get back at McQueary, who'd "ruined my life, and he had hurt me, and I wanted to hurt him, and that was the only thing I could say that would hurt him"
On "The Early Show" Thursday, Tempe police Sgt. Steven Carbajal told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez , "We have some indications that Gabriel is still alive. ... We're optimistic Gabriel is alive, and we're doing everything wee can to return Gabriel safely to his father."
He stressed that Tempe courts have named McQueary as Gabriel's custodial father. Calling McQueary a "loving father," Carbajal added, "There's no doubt in my mind that Gabriel would be very well off with Logan and his family."
McQueary told Rodriguez, "I'm really sad. I want to find Gabriel. I want to get any help we could get out there. I'm hoping he's with some people who don't know anything about this and ... if they're worried about getting in trouble, just take him to a fire station, a hospital, anywhere."
He said he thinks Johnson is capable of hurting Gabriel, but doesn't think she did.
"I want to give Gabriel a good life, make him part of the family. (Johnson) never seemed like she really cared much about him."
Pinkston points out this may not be the first time Johnson has tried to give Gabriel away. Another couple says she offered Gabriel to them after they met at an airport.
"What's more," Pinkston says, "court documents show this was one nasty custody battle, with Johnson reportedly arrested for cutting up all of McQueary's clothes and destroying much of their furniture."http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/07/earlyshow/main6066961.shtml |
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