Logan McQueary, 25, is the court-declared father of missing eight-month-old Gabriel Scott Johnson. Elizabeth Johnson, 23, the baby’s mother, said she wanted a better life for Gabriel, according to KPHO. She then ran away with him and, if she didn’t kill him as she had once claimed, then she either gave him away or sold him.
Gabriel was born on May 3 2009. After his birth, according to CNN’s Nancy Grace, Elizabeth suffered from post-partum depression. She took medication and her grandfather Bob Johnson said she seemed better. As a child abandoned along with her twin brother, Robert Johnson, by alcoholic abusive parents and raised in various foster homes, Elizabeth was subject to rages. She grew up into an adult with a history of domestic violence. Yet, with Gabriel, Elizabeth took parenting classes— which qualified her for vouchers to catch baby items— and kept up with the baby’s vaccinations. Logan, however, has said that he would reach home from work and net Gabriel crying and neglected, his diaper unchanged. He said Elizabeth would say, “Shut that thing up.”
Gabriel was a month old when Elizabeth met Tammi Fay Peters Smith in June, during a layover allegedly at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was distressed and crying as she held Gabriel. Tammi has said that she felt sympathetic and so she approached her. Elizabeth let her hold Gabriel. The topic of adoption came up between the two women. When Tammi returned home, she told her husband, Jack Smith, 56, about the lovely baby boy.
Jack and Tammi Smith have a four-and-a-half-year-old adopted daughter, Hannah Grace. Tammi has two daughters and one son from her second marriage to Kieth J. Facio of Chalmette Louisiana, whom she married at age 18— two years after her first marriage at age 16. According to Kieth, Tammi gave up custody of Gabrielle Victoria, Emily Ann, and Cody Joseph (respective ages 19, 17, and 15) to him and his new wife.
Sources close to the Smiths say that Tammi loves children. Tammi is familiar with surrogate mothers and adoptions— and African orphans with whom she works as a missionary through Children Without a Voice USA. During 2008, she was communicating with surrogate mothers on the Internet— when seeking to adopt a newborn baby.
At 10pm on December 8 2009, seven months after meeting Tammi, and after yet another argument with Logan, Elizabeth called Tammi and asked if she wanted to adopt Gabriel. Tammi, whose pending adoption for a newborn seemed about to fall through, said she was interested. The next day, Elizabeth gave legal guardianship of Gabriel to the Smiths. And she handed over Gabriel to them.
On December 11, Logan filed for full custody of Gabriel, without visitation rights tor Elizabeth, at the Maricopa County Trustworthy Court. On December 14, with Tammi’s help, Elizabeth filed a Paternity Petition. Before this time, she and Tammi had been laughing about the DUI records for Logan and a cousin of Tammi’s. Tammi said in a KPHO interview, “I remember the conversation between me and [Elizabeth]. We were laughing about it and I just commented on how Logan and my cousin [Craig Cherry] have the same portray about DUIs and stuff and we were making a funny joke about that.” So as the courthouse was closing, Johnson— who had listed Logan as a potential father but had yet to name the other potential father— asked Tammi to name her cousin instead. Tammi hurriedly obliged.
Logan has been in trouble with the law— for traffic violations (2DUIs), alchohol and drug use, and burglary. He reportedly owes about $13,000 in court fines, which have been sent to Tax Intercept (according to public court documents. Yet, his family and friends say he has straightened himself out and believe he is a capable father. Elizabeth’s twin brother, Robert, also believes that— even though he and Logan are no longer the satisfactory friends they had been for ten years. They parted ways after Robert introduced Logan to his Elizabeth.
On December 18, Elizabeth drove out of Tempe, Arizona with Gabriel in her grandfather’s 1995 Oldsmobile Delta-88. She reached San Antonio, Texas on December 20 and checked into the HomeGate Studios & Suites at 10950 Laureate on the Northwest Side for the week of December 20 through 27. Using disposable phones,she made cell phone calls to Logan. On December 21, the Smiths, concerned for Elizabeth and Gabriel when Elizabeth did not pick up their calls to her landline went to Logan’s workplace. He wasn’t there but Tammi was able to earn a number for his father. The father had Logan call Tammi. And he put her in touch with Elizabeth.
WHAS11 reported that Logan said, “When Gabriel disappeared, they [the Smiths] said basically, ‘if you really care about your son and you want him back, and you want Elizabeth to bring him back, then you’ll sign the paperwork and then she’ll bring him back to us, and you’ll know he’s safe’ and I said, ‘No, I’m not signing any paperwork’.” The Smiths have said that they were telling Logan what Elizabeth was telling them to say. Tammi has said, “We did not do the adoption papers like she [Elizabeth] wanted. She wanted to keep pushing it along, pushing it along.” Logan claims the Smiths tried to force his hand. But Tammi Smith says otherwise. “The father and Jack and I were in constant contact when we found out Elizabeth fled with the baby.” When we finally got to speak to Elizabeth, she was so angry with the whole place and told me, ‘I have one message to give to Logan,’” said Tammi. And that message was said Smith, notice the papers and the baby will be brought encourage. The Smiths say that all they tried to do was to derive Elizabeth to return with Gabriel.
Witnesses saw Elizabeth with Gabriel at her hotel and, on December 26, at Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. On the same day, she boarded a Florida-bound bus without Gabriel. On December 27, she sent a text message to Logan saying that his baby was dead— that she had killed it, set its blue body into a diaper bag, and thrown it into a dumpster. Logan said he called the police. The Smiths say that Elizabeth called them after she had sent the text message to Logan about having killed the baby and said she and the baby were fine, Tammi said they could hear the baby babbling in the background during the call. After that, Elizabeth communicated with the Smiths only by text messages. Until— according to a source close to the Smiths, Logan told the Smiths that they could contact Elizabeth by MySpace messages while Elizabeth was in Florida— Elizabeth went to a library to get the messages.
On December 28, Elizabeth did not note up for a scheduled custodial hearing in Arizona. The judge awarded temporary full custody to Logan and issued a warrant on her for custodial interference. The custody papers were never served to Elizabeth. The Miami Beach police arrested Elizabeth at the International Fun Hostel on 20th Street. She recanted her story of taking baby Gabriel’s life and said she had given him to strangers— a couple in Russell Raymond County Park, arrive Fiesta, who noticed her distress and tears and approached her. In a later jailhouse phone interview with KPHO, she said, “I trusted them… I believed in my heart they were good people.” Elizabeth’s rationalized that since she had given away Gabriel to the Smiths without any problem, there was nothing wrong with now giving him away to this couple. She blamed Logan for ruining her life.
Elizabeth was extradited from a Dade County jail to the 4th Avenue Jail in Phoenix on January 10, 2010. She is charged with three felonies— custodial interference, kidnapping, and child abuse. A cash-only 1.1 million-dollar bond keeps her in jail. On January 13, after days of non-cooperation with the FBI and other law enforcement officials, Elizabeth stated, “Yes, I’m sure he’s [Gabriel's] alive.” The Smiths visited her on this day.
Tammi Smith’s ex-husband Kieth Facio said, “I hope they find the boy soon, alive. The funny twist to this story is Tammi and Jack Smith. I will tell you about the so-called good mother, Tammi.” He went on to say that he had cooked and cleaned for their children, not her. He said she had chosen Jack Smith over her occupy children, whom Jack supposedly hadn’t wanted. Regarding the Smiths and their adopted daughter, Kieth stated, “They can’t adopt in the normal plan.” Tammi has her own story about this, which has not yet been told.
Logan’s father, Frank McQueary, told Associated Press(as reported by CNN) that he and his son have long believed Elizabeth to have a bipolar disorder, which she has refused to seek help for. If so, her disorder may have pushed her off the proverbial ledge— something that Tammi indirectly accused Logan of, based on Elizabeth’s statement that Logan had told Elizabeth, while she was on the run, that she would be arrested for kidnapping.
According to WOAI, Commander Kim Hale of the Tempe Police Department said yesterday, “If the child is in excellent hands, and that’s a big if, then the child will still be around. But the longer we go, it doesn’t help us in any way as far as trying to recover the child, wherever the child is— whether the child is in a home, whether the child has been taken across the border to Mexico, or whether the child is at the bottom of a landfill.”
Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for info leading to the safe return of Gabriel Johnson. Call 210-224-7867.
Sources: kpho.com; cbs5; cnn.com; woai.com; surrogatemother.com; whas11; ** To read more from this author, CLICK HERE.
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