TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Elizabeth Johnson refused to tell a judge what she did with her missing baby Gabriel Johnson at a custody hearing last week, the boy’s father was sitting just feet away, seeing his ex-girlfriend for the first time in months.

• Watch: Baby Gabriel's Dad: We Will Find Him
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Every one of her denials was maddening to Logan McQueary, and Johnson refused to look him in the eye.

“I wanted Elizabeth to tell the truth when my lawyer questioned her and when the judge questioned her again. It looked like she really wanted to talk and I was just wishing that she would,” said McQueary.

But what he couldn’t get from her testimony, his private investigator has now found in the journal Johnson kept while on the run. She left written directions to Raymond Rimkus park on the morning of Dec. 27.

McQueary said they have evidence a third party arranged for Elizabeth to meet someone at a park bench at 10 a.m. that morning, and hand the boy off to a couple she’d never met.

“I know he’s out there and he’s alive and he got handed off to a couple and we pretty much believe we know who they are,” said McQueary.

That’s why Thursday, McQueary’s private investigator met with the San Antonio Police Department and gave authorities every bit of evidence they have gathered.

“I think we opened up their eyes a little bit more. I think we did point them in the right direction today,” said McQueary.

The FBI has even come forward, telling McQueary they want to do more to help in the search. But unless the San Antonio Police Department changes the case from a homicide to missing persons, the FBI can’t even open a case file.

“We’re really close. Closer than we’ve ever been,” said McQueary.

If the San Antonio Police Department changes the classification of the case, McQueary wouldn't have to count on the whim of the woman behind bars. With more resources, McQueary truly believes they will soon find Gabriel on their own.

“It doesn’t matter to me how much time she gets or how little time she gets. She can go along with her life and I can go along with mine. As long as I have Gabriel. That’s all I want,” said McQueary.