I have been following the case of the Tempe, AZ baby that has been missing since December 2009.Eight month old baby Gabriel was last seen in El Paso, Texas with his mother, 23 year old Elizabeth Johnson. Johnson was arrested in Florida after the baby was reported missing by the father, Logan McQueary. Elizabeth Johnson had been planning on giving the baby up for adoption and had a couple in Arizona was willing to take the baby. After the child’s father refused to give up his parental rights, Johnson took matters into her own hands. Elizabeth claims that she gave her baby to a couple in a San Antonio park and hasn’t seen him since. Yet, she called the father and told him that she had killed the baby and deposed the body in the trash. Johnson is currently being detained in a Maricopa County Jail. The Arizona couple that was trying to adopt the baby is also being investigated in this in the case. This is truly a frustrating time for the father who is desperately trying to locate his son. He is retracing the tracks that Johnson took to Texas in order to uncover any clues to the where abouts of Gabriel. This was a selfish act that Johnson committed to keep her son away from his father. It shows her true disregard and lack of concern for her son’s safety. At this point, police believe that the baby may be alive and well. I hope that when and if baby Gabriel is found he is safely returned to his father and can live a normal happy childhood. As for Johnson, she should get the maximum sentence and needs extreme therapy.
I have discovered in the last year that there are parents out there who will do anything to hurt the other parent just for spite. I have a good friend of mine who was denied visitation with his daughter by the mother simply because she had found a new boyfriend. Their daughter was 3 weeks old. It took him 5 months in the court system to be granted supervised visitation. The mother maid false claims against him in court, citing his experience in Iraq as cause for concern regarding the safety of the child (let me state this that never would that child be more protected then with her father). I myself am a mother and would never have done anything to keep my daughter away from her father but it does not escape me that there are so many out there who would. This story makes me so sad, also for the fact that there are people out there who would be willing to adopt a child when one parent still wants custody. We so easily ignore the rights of the father and I realize that there are changes in the courts now to help combat this inequality but unfortunately the father falls below not only the mother but often the maternal grandparents in some cases as well. I hope that this little boy is safe and being cared for by a family so that he can be reunited with his father. The trauma that happens with children like this is awful, to think you’re part of one family to discover you had another looking for you.
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