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Expert: Baby Gabriel May Have Been Adopted

New Evidence Suggests Accused Kidnapper Planned To Give Baby Gabriel Away

POSTED: 11:44 pm MST February 7, 2010
UPDATED: 5:33 pm MST February 8, 2010

New evidence that surfaced Sunday in the search for baby Gabriel shows there is a better chance that he may still be alive. It suggests it was Elizabeth Johnson's plan all along to adopt her baby away.

Johnson sits in a Maricopa County Jail on charges of kidnapping and custodial interference in connection with an attempted adoption and her son's disappearance.

The day started with Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary, hitting the pavement, stopping at spots Johnson was seen or captured on surveillance video.

He posted fliers and asked questions at the Subway next to her hotel, the Jack In The Box, and even a Papa Johns because Johnson's babysitter saw empty pizza boxes from the restaurant on her hotel room floor.

Everywhere he and his cousins, Lisa and Joe Peters, stopped, people listened to their story and wanted to help.

“I have three kids and I couldn’t even imagine. Good luck to you, really good luck. I’ll be praying for you all night,” said one man at the Subway where Johnson was spotted.

But the stronger clues came to the McQueary family later in the day through phone calls and emails.

“We came on this trip looking for any evidence and we’re finding a lot of it,” said Logan McQueary.

After talking to an adoption expert who helps the FBI in the world of underground adoptions, the McQueary family learned some startling connections.

The Homegate Hotel where Johnson stayed is well known in adoption circles. Agencies put girls up there for meetings with families and to complete paperwork.

“It just seems like it is a place that mothers go when they’re trying to give up their children,” said Lisa Peters.

The adoption expert, who didn't want to be identified, also had plenty to say about the San Antonio Six Flags.

“Often girls go to Six Flags to meet with the adoptive family. There’s a lot of people in and out there, and there’s also security there, and it’s a safe place for both the mother and the family to meet, often to bring the child, introduce the child to the family,” said Lisa Peters.

Johnson and Gabriel were spotted on surveillance footage outside the Six Flags on Dec. 26, the same day she took the last known photos of Gabriel in the Homegate hotel room. That was also just two days after she posted two comments on her MySpace page stating, "Where there's a will, there's a way" and "Excited to start my new life."

“I think on the 26th, she knew it was the last time she was going to see Gabriel, she took some pictures, she drove to Six Flags, somebody picked him up and she took off for Miami. And we just have to figure out who she met and where they are now,” said Lisa Peters.

The adoption expert also told the McQuearys that because of recent changes in Texas law, the state is now one of the easiest to remove parental rights from a biological father.

But despite the latest evidence, it is still possible that Johnson carried out her claim that she killed Gabriel and threw his body in the trash.

San Antonio police plan to search the nearby Tessman Road Landfill as early as Monday, but rain in the forecast could stall the beginning of that effort.


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