Return to Transcripts main page

NANCY GRACE

Woman Who Baby-Sat Gabriel in San Antonio Speaks Out

Aired January 14, 2010 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, Arizona. A gorgeous 23- year-old mom takes off from her Tempe, Arizona, home by car for a 1,000- mile road trip with beautiful 8-month-old baby boy, Gabriel. Mommy spends Christmas holed up in a local San Antonio motel, calling the 25-year-old bio dad, threatening he`d never see the baby again, even saying baby Gabriel is dead. Turns out Mommy`s trying to give the baby away the whole time to an Arizona couple.

Mommy alone, no baby, hops a bus, heads to Florida December 27, the day after the last credible sighting of baby Gabriel alive, her car abandoned. December 30, cops find Mommy in Miami Beach, no baby. Car recovered San Antonio Motel 6, baby`s carseat is still inside. When pressed, Mommy says she gives the baby away to a couple she bumps into at a Texas park.

Bombshell tonight. A mystery woman emerges who turns out to be a baby-sitter Mommy hires while holed up in that San Antonio motel. Tonight, we have the baby-sitter. She goes up there to find Gabriel extremely thin, dirty, frightened, alternately screaming, then lethargic because Mommy dopes him up on Tylenol, the room filthy, littered with makeup and clothes for Mommy, hardly anything for baby Gabriel. In plain view, a knife. Mommy heads out, dressed for clubbing in a midriff top, low-rise tight jeans and stilettos.

Within days, Mommy and baby are gone. Grainy surveillance video tonight emerges of Mommy at a fast food spot Christmas Day. Where was baby Gabriel? Mommy still claiming the random couple shows up at the hotel, signs adoption documents and leaves with the baby. After insisting she cannot remember what they look like, Mommy has a change of heart behind bars, not only giving a description but claiming the FBI has the couple and baby Gabriel on video.

Tonight, we confirm there is no such video. While prosecutors lay out the scenario Mommy kills baby Gabriel, conceals his body in a diaper bag and throws the baby boy in a dumpster, cops say there is evidence baby Gabriel is alive. Tonight, where is baby Gabriel?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news. An 18-year-old baby-sitter reportedly took care of 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson a few days before Christmas at a San Antonio hotel where he was staying with his mother. Johnson allegedly told the baby-sitter she was going to an important appointment, but the sitter says she looked like she was going to a club.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby Gabriel`s mother is now telling police who are looking for the missing 8-month-old she remembers details of the couple that she gave her son to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, she can just remember, after she says...

ELIZABETH JOHNSON, GABRIEL`S MOTHER: Everything is so false, so completely false.

GRACE: Now, all of a sudden, she remembers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elizabeth Johnson gave police descriptions of the man and woman who she says showed up at a San Antonio hotel with a brand- new carseat and left with her baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She found a couple with a new carseat. Quite a feat. But I say it`s deceit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The couple apparently came to one of the hotel rooms, signed a document that was not notarized, had a new carseat with them, put the baby in the carseat and left. Now, she says that the FBI has video of this, but we haven`t seen any of the video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At one of the San Antonio hotels where Johnson stayed, clerks are just realizing she was a guest. Another housekeeper has also realized that she had seen a Hispanic woman with baby Gabriel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The person that she saw on the news is not the person that was in the room with the baby. The person in the room was a Hispanic girl, and she told her she was baby-sitting. The housekeeper had asked if she could touch the baby, and she said, No, I`m not allowed to let anybody in the room (INAUDIBLE) You know, Just give me towels, and you can`t come in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was on the 23rd of December. On the 26th, housekeepers thought Johnson had left and found the room full of personal items, including a baby blanket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as baby Gabriel is still missing, we have to realize that there is the possibility that she really did do what she said she did, which is murder this child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A mystery woman emerges who turns out to be a baby-sitter Mommy hires while she`s holed up in that San Antonio motel. The baby-sitter shows up to find baby Gabriel, she says, extremely thin, dirty, frightened, alternately screaming and then lethargic because Mommy dopes him up on Tylenol, the room filthy, littered with makeup and clothes for Mommy, hardly anything for baby Gabriel. In plain view, a knife.

Mommy heads out dressed for clubbing in a midriff top, low-rise tight jeans and stilettos. Within days, Mommy and baby both gone. Tonight, we have the baby-sitter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t even know where poor baby Gabriel is, alive or not alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His big blue eyes are hard to forget.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beautiful baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For witnesses that saw baby Gabriel before he disappeared in San Antonio, not knowing what Elizabeth Johnson did with Gabriel is hard to live with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope they find that baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re told that Johnson stayed at this hotel near the airport sometime between December 20th and the 26th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where was she last seen with the baby?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have, I guess, eyes-on confirmation from hotel staff, which is over by the Homegate. And we have video confirmation that she does not have the baby on the day that she left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Housekeepers at one area hotel remember Johnson. In one instance, they saw her do something most mothers wouldn`t dream of doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... leaving the baby in the car, returning to her room and then coming back out, like, you know, she had forgot something, and finally took the baby out of the car and went back into her room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long was he left alone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably about 10 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, the 27th was probably when she said that she had killed Gabriel and that she left San Antonio. That is probably the closest that we`ve ever been to knowing where she`s at in proximity to Gabriel at any one time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With minimal help from Johnson, law enforcement will have to piece together the footprints she left behind in hopes to figure out where baby Gabriel is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Mike Sakal, reporter with "The East Valley Tribune." Mike, what can you tell us?

MIKE SAKAL, "EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE": Well, what I can say is her story has changed again. Elizabeth Johnson now is saying that she handed the child off, Gabriel, gave it away to a couple inside the motel room of the Homegate Studio and Suites, the second hotel -- motel she was at. She signed the papers in that motel room, did not follow the couple out to the car. And she doesn`t know what the car looks like, but she gave a description of this alleged couple she signed the child over to, and claims that this couple knew it was not a legal state adoption. But who -- who can we believe? This is the...

GRACE: Right.

SAKAL: That`s the second or third time she`s changed her story.

GRACE: Matt Zarrell, what more can you add?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: We know that this new baby-sitter has come forward. Now, this baby-sitter said Johnson answered an ad the baby-sitter put on Craigslist, looking for work to baby-sit children. John called her on December 19th or 20th or 21st, wanted her to come and baby- sit because she needed to go to an important appointment. Now, the baby- sitter said she came to the house. The baby was in bad condition. He was thin, he looked very unhappy. The mother told the baby-sitter, allegedly, that if the baby cries, to just shut him up and give him medicine.

GRACE: With me right now, a very special guest joining us in a primetime exclusive from San Antonio, Texas, the baby-sitter who came to that motel room, who saw baby Gabriel, who saw the mother, Elizabeth Johnson. With me is Analisa. Thank you for being with us. What was the first thing you saw when you got into that hotel room?

ANALISA, ALLEGEDLY BABY-SAT GABRIEL IN SAN ANTONIO: The first thing I saw was she opened the door and she looked like she wanted to kill me. She looked very angry. And I walked in. She handed me the baby, told me his name and left.

GRACE: When you say she looked like she wanted to kill you, what do you mean by that?

ANALISA: When she opened the door, she looked like she wanted to kill me. She looked very angry and upset. She looked like she was basically crazy.

GRACE: When you say crazy, what do you mean? Describe her features? What did her face look like?

ANALISA: Her eyes were -- her eyes got very small, her nose was, like, crumpled up and her mouth was, like -- it was, like, closed, like, very tightly. She looked mad. She looked angry.

GRACE: Was the baby crying?

ANALISA: He wasn`t crying when I got there, but the whole time I was there, he was crying.

GRACE: When you walked into the room, where was the baby?

ANALISA: She -- he had -- she was holding him.

GRACE: OK. What was the first thing she said to you?

ANALISA: She said, You`re late. And then she said, Well, this is Gabriel. He`s 8 months old. She told me that he should be due for a feeding in about an hour. She told me where his Enfamil was, his bottle, and then she left.

GRACE: What about the Tylenol?

ANALISA: She told me that she had already drugged him up with medication, but that if he started to cry again, just to give him more medicine to shut him up.

GRACE: What condition, Analisa, was the baby in?

ANALISA: He looked very thin. He definitely wasn`t happy. He seemed to be scared for some reason.

GRACE: Why do you say he seemed to be scared?

ANALISA: Because if I was trying to hold him -- when I was holding him, if I tried to put him down, he would cry as soon as I put him down.

GRACE: Was he clean?

ANALISA: No, he wasn`t. I would try to play with him, and he didn`t want to play. All he wanted to do was be held. And he didn`t smile at all or anything.

GRACE: When you say he was not clean, what do you mean by that?

ANALISA: I mean he had, like, stains around his mouth. He had dry, you know, like, boogers around his nose and his clothes didn`t look clean. He just didn`t look clean or happy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve been arrested on a direct complaint warrant alleging custodial interference, a class four felony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disturbing clues in the desperate search for baby Gabriel Johnson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, just yesterday, Elizabeth Johnson gave police descriptions of the man and woman she says showed up at a San Antonio hotel with a brand-new carseat and left with her baby.

TAMMI PETERS SMITH, HOPED TO ADOPT GABRIEL: The man was tall, not fat but kind of big. He had short dark, really dark hair. She had long blond hair and was about her size and frame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elizabeth Johnson said that she believed and she is sure that Gabriel is alive. Now, she talked about -- not only giving a description of the couple, but she talked about how Gabriel was given to this couple.

GRACE: She`s also saying the FBI has video of this couple. Where did the video come from?

SMITH: Her attorney is telling her that -- she said that her attorney said the FBI has videotape of the couple leaving with the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s got a major credibility problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s the last one with the baby. She had motive to get rid of the baby. She`s the one that`s fleeing. She`s the one that won`t cooperate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s prepared to stick to her story and stay in jail as long as is necessary.

GRACE: Tammi, what happened?

SMITH: She was very confident and very comfortable with the conversation. I was very upset about what this has done to my family, you know? And I started to talk to her about that, and I started to cry a little bit. And as I did that, her eyes welled up with tears and she got very upset and very, very apologetic. I went on to ask her numerous questions. You know, you`ve got to remember, this girl is a smart girl. She`s got a 4.0 GPA. She got a four-year scholarship to Southeastern. She knows what she`s doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, we learn that a baby-sitter was there in the hotel with baby Gabriel, this confirming eyewitness accounts that a young Hispanic woman was with baby Gabriel, not Elizabeth Johnson, when the witness saw the baby. We have that young lady with us tonight.

Joining me right now, Analisa. She baby-sat baby Gabriel in that San Antonio motel. So Analisa, how was Elizabeth Johnson dressed when she left?

ANALISA: She was dressed like she was going out to a club. She was wearing very tight low-cut jeans, a tight blouse that was showing, like, half of her stomach, and she had big heels on.

GRACE: Where did she say she was going?

ANALISA: She told me that she was going to an important appointment.

GRACE: How long was she gone?

ANALISA: She was gone for about two hours at the most.

GRACE: And what time of the day or night was it that you went to the hotel?

ANALISA: I got to the hotel at around 11:45 in the morning.

GRACE: At 11:45 in the morning. And you believe this was the 20th, the 19th or 20th?

ANALISA: Yes, I do.

GRACE: How did baby Gabriel act while you were with him? Did you feed him?

ANALISA: Yes, I fed him. I fed him a bottle and I fed him some baby food. And he acted very scared, like I said.

GRACE: What did you observe in the hotel room, Analisa?

ANALISA: Well, one thing that I noticed that kind of scared me a little bit was that she had a -- like, a -- kind of, like, a butcher knife next to her bed.

GRACE: What else did you observe? Was the room clean? Was it tidy?

ANALISA: No, the room was very messy. She had clothes thrown everywhere. She had all her toiletries, you know, thrown. It wasn`t clean at all.

GRACE: I want to go back to the baby. You stated that he was thin. Now, I`ve noticed in some of the earlier pictures, he looks normal -- little chubby cheeks. But I had already noticed in other pictures, he was already starting to look thin. How did he take the bottle? Did he take the whole thing?

ANALISA: Yes, he did. When I gave it to him, he got, like, really excited. That was the only time that I actually -- he actually smiled was when he got the bottle.

GRACE: Did you hold him most of the time?

ANALISA: Yes, I held him the whole time I was there. Like, he didn`t want to be put down. When I would try to put him down and play with him, he would start crying.

GRACE: Joining me now, Eleanor Odom, felony prosecutor. Her specialty is crimes on children. Eleanor, what does this say to you?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Well, oftentimes, when children are crying constantly, it`s not just a case that they have gas. It could be a broken bone, rib fractures, any type of subdural hematoma in their head. So I would be very concerned about injuries to that child.

GRACE: Analisa, did he have a runny nose? Did he seem to have a fever? Did you see any bruises on his body? Did he have diaper rash?

ANALISA: No, he didn`t seem to be sick at all, and he didn`t have any bruises or marks. And he didn`t have diaper rash, either.

GRACE: You stated that you observed her clothing and makeup and toiletries all over the room. The bed, from what I`ve learned, was unmade. The room was a mess. Were there toys there for baby Gabriel?

ANALISA: No, there wasn`t. There wasn`t anything -- the room didn`t look suitable for a baby. She didn`t have toys, or you know, books for him to read or anything like that.

GRACE: So everything was for her and nothing was there for baby Gabriel?

ANALISA: Correct.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defendant in this case is currently facing charges of kidnapping (INAUDIBLE) dangerous crime against children, child abuse and custodial interference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: I don`t really know what to say, but everything is so false, from the claim (ph) to everything that she said is so completely false.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

JOHNSON: I don`t know what else to say but that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything she`s said has been completely unreliable.

LOGAN MCQUEARY, GABRIEL`S FATHER: It`s just always been up and down with her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let`s take a look at Elizabeth. Now, she lies a lot.

SMITH: I honestly believed parts of what she was telling me, but other parts I could tell, when she wouldn`t look at me and her eyelashes would flitter, that she was lying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Joining me right now is a very special guest joining us live from San Antonio. Tonight with us, Analisa, the young lady who baby-sat baby Gabriel, one of the last people to have seen the baby alive.

You stated that every time you tried to put him down, he would scream. You also stated he would not play with you. Don`t you find that odd, that a little baby wouldn`t play with you?

ANALISA: I do because I have never came across a baby that was so sad and scared.

GRACE: Now, why do you say that? I mean, you`ve had a lot of experience with young children. You practically raised all of your siblings. Why do you say you`ve never seen a baby so afraid and sad?

ANALISA: Every baby that I`ve either -- well, that I`ve came in contact with is very happy. They like to play, for sure. They don`t seem scared the way Gabriel did.

GRACE: What did you do to try to play with him, Analisa? I mean, there were no toys.

ANALISA: No. I tried to tickle him. I tried to -- you know, I tried bouncing him on my leg up and down. I tried smiling at him. I tried -- I tried to play peek-a-boo with him. But nothing worked.

GRACE: So what did you do for those hours you were with baby Gabriel, just hold him?

ANALISA: Yes. I was holding him. You know, like I said, the whole time, I was just trying to play with him. I was trying to make him happy at least while I was there.

GRACE: Did anyone come to the door? And did Elizabeth Johnson give you instructions, if anyone knocked at the door?

ANALISA: Yes. Elizabeth told me if anyone knocked at the door, not to answer it. But then the housekeeper came and opened the door with a key.

GRACE: When she finally returned, did she say she would or would not need you back as a baby-sitter?

ANALISA: When I asked her if she would need me again, she said that she wasn`t sure because she didn`t know what she was going to do next with her life.

GRACE: When she came back, was she in a better mood?

ANALISA: Yes, she was in a much better mood.

GRACE: Did she look the same as when she left? I mean, did she still have on the same outfit? Was her hair the same?

ANALISA: Yes, she looked the same when she came back, just much happier.

GRACE: At any point, Analisa, did she ask you what your credentials or experience was?

ANALISA: No, she didn`t. She knew nothing about me but my name and phone number.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody out there may have baby Gabriel. We don`t know. And what we would like them, if they do, as Sergeant Carbajal said, is to bring him forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH JOHNSON, MOTHER OF MISSING BABY GABRIEL: When do I get a lawyer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s currently facing charges of kidnapping, which is a class two felony, child abuse, which is a class four felony, and custodial interference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything you want to ask me or tell me?

E. JOHNSON: Ask you, I don`t really know what to say, but everything is so false.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At the bail hearing, prosecutor said at one point, Johnson claimed she killed her son, put his body in a diaper bag and threw him in the trash. But Arizona police don`t believe that or her.

TAMMI PETERS SMITH, PLANNED TO ADOPT BABY GABRIEL: We want to believe that somebody has that baby. We -- Jack was extremely choked up, and we -- you guys are saying things about a diaper bag and stuff and we just don`t want to hear that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s not helping them, she`s not telling them anything. She`s not helping them make a sketch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at her background. She had a chaotic life, dysfunctional family. She sounds like borderline personality disorder.

LOGAN MCQUEARY, FATHER OF MISSING BABY GABRIEL: I don`t know really what makes her tick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She obviously does not want him to have any involvement with the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s exactly why I don`t think anybody believes the child is actually dead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Another development here. Tempe police gave potential adoptive parents Jack and Tammi Smith a polygraph test and the results were inconclusive.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: I don`t understand why the Smiths are still involved in this story.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": Are they just kinds of people who like to help out, are kind of gullible and get themselves into things? I don`t know.

JACK SMITH, PLANNED TO ADOPT BABY GABRIEL: It`s clear we have no idea where Gabriel is.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: When you don`t know if your child is dead or alive or what`s become of it, why would you sit back and wait on a lawyer? That was her prime concern?

T. SMITH: Exactly. And I even told her. I said, you know, I consider myself a normal person, and we talked about that and she doesn`t consider herself normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: With us tonight, special guest from San Antonio, the woman, possibly one of the last people to have seen baby Gabriel alive. She spent hours with him when mommy, Elizabeth Johnson, was gone God only knows where in a midriff top, tight low-rise jeans and stiletto heels.

With me, Analisa from San Antonio.

Analisa, when she came back from wherever she had been, did she ask you how did the baby do?

ANALISA, ALLEGEDLY BABYSAT BABY GABRIEL IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Yes, she did. I told her that he wanted to be held the whole time, that he was a pretty good behaved baby, but he just wanted to be held the whole time and he didn`t want to play or anything.

GRACE: What did she say?

ANALISA: She told me whenever people come over, he usually acts like an angel, but as soon as he leaves, he starts crying. As soon as they leave, he starts crying.

GRACE: So in other words, she says he becomes poorly behaved, ill behaved when she`s alone with him?

ANALISA: Yes.

GRACE: I want to get this straight. All she knows is your name and phone number. She didn`t ask for a reference, she didn`t ask anything about you, your experience, your credentials, nothing.

ANALISA: No, she didn`t ask anything about me.

GRACE: Analisa, when you first got there, is it true that she asked to take the baby to your house?

ANALISA: Yes, she did. She asked if I could watch the baby at my house, that she didn`t care how far it was, that she was willing to drive.

GRACE: What did you say?

ANALISA: I told her that`s not a good idea because my house is not suitable for a baby. We have pets. We have cats and a dog.

GRACE: OK. Let`s unleash the lawyers. In addition to felony prosecutor Eleanor Odom, also with us, Hugo Rodriguez, defense attorney and former fed for the FBI out of Miami. Also with us, renowned defense attorney in his jurisdiction, Peter Odom, and joining us out of Atlanta.

What about it, Peter?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, Nancy, it`s all circumstantial evidence at this point. It is starting to mount up against her. It is starting to mount up against her, but there`s not enough for a homicide charge. They`d never prove it at this point.

They`ve got her statement and they`ve got some odd behavior. But as with Casey Anthony, they`re not there yet. It took them a long time and it`s going to be a while before they get there.

GRACE: What about it, Hugo?

HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FMR. FBI AGENT: I have to agree as to that. But she did something with this child, whether she gave him to someone. Hopefully she didn`t do anything more severe. But obviously the Smiths were involved in this.

I`m not putting it on them but this young girl.

GRACE: Put him up.

RODRIGUEZ: This young girl was in acrimonious custody battle with the bio dad. Did not want the bio dad to have the child. It looks like she went to some extremes to do something with the child.

GRACE: Why are you saying the Smiths are involved? What do you mean by that?

Everybody, he`s referring to Tammi and Jack Smith. They were the would-be adoptive parents from Arizona. They never got to adopt the baby because it turns out the bio dad didn`t want the baby given away.

Go ahead, Hugo. Why are they involved?

RODRIGUEZ: It`s my understanding that when she turned in these papers for adoption to some state agency, she was driven there by Mrs. Smith. On that document, she didn`t put down bio dad`s name. She put down a relative, a close relative of Mr. And Mrs. Smith.

It`s also that they have been involved in similar situations with each one of their respective families in the past.

I`m not putting anything on them, but I`m saying that they were heavily involved in trying to obtain this child. I can`t say anything more than that, but that`s what the evidence is right now.

GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, it is true that the mom, Elizabeth Johnson, has tried to rewrite history and suggest the bio dad, Logan McQueary, is not the natural father while we confirm that he is.

What did she do? Name somebody else as the bio dad?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: Yes, she did. Now apparently Tammi Smith was taking Elizabeth Johnson to file this paternity claim. She had two names. She had Logan McQueary`s game name and she had another person`s name who she said McQueary knew and didn`t want to find out. So Tammi suggested using other names. And that`s how this name Craig Cherry came up.

GRACE: Joining us right now, Marc Klaas, the president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation.

Marc, weigh in.

KLAAS: Well, first of all, you know, there`s still a chance that if the little baby is alive that he`ll be found alive. He will have to at some point be taken to a doctor. That`s when there can be an intervention and this child can be brought back to where he needs to be.

So I would hope that medical professionals will be looking at this. But I tell you what, Nancy, the similarities between this woman and Casey Anthony are eerie and chilling. This is a disorganized, narcissistic young mom who was the last one to have seen the child.

She has an improbable, shifting story that leaves her with absolutely no credibility at all. She`s willing to leave the child behind while she goes clubbing and she`s stonewalling the authorities, family and friends.

Let`s just hope this doesn`t end up as that one did.

GRACE: To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author of "Dealbreakers," who`s joining us from L.A.

Weigh in, Bethany.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, I think what Analisa described is a classic case of child abuse. From the standpoint that when mothers abuse their children, what we see is that they feel that the child is unconditionally bad, greedy, demanding, taking their time, interfering with their happiness.

And when she says to Analisa, he`s bad when other people aren`t around, she`s describing a hostile stance towards the child. The way she went out, the way she was dressed and the fact that she was happier when she came back, that is the Casey Anthony syndrome from the standpoint that it seems like she was trying to establish a life away from this baby.

Whether she was dating someone or escorting or going out clubbing, she was happier when she was out doing whatever she wanted to do.

GRACE: Everyone, quick break. As we go to break, tonight`s "NG Family Album." Photos of the twins.

Now this is an older picture of Lucy and she insisted on chasing a ball and grabbing with her mouth. There`s John David with the spigot to the bathtub. He loves that spigot. Now here they are with some little lanterns, one of you sent us. They light up like Santa. And thank you, McDonald`s. We`re having a great time in your play station.

There`s John David coming down. And that`s the way they swing, everybody. They`re too little to sit in a swing so this is how they swing for right now.

And now photos from Michigan. Best friends, Deanna and Michelle. They love wearing their favorite "I`d rather be watching Nancy Grace" t- shirts.

Thank you, ladies.

And Alabama friends, the Waldens. Kirsten, Paul, Emily, Tristan and Trent with memories of watching our show with the number one fan, their grandmother, Miss Patterson. She passed away Christmas Eve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have, I guess, eyes-on confirmation from hotel staff when she was over by the HomeGate. And we have video confirmation that she does not have the baby on the day that she left Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At one of the San Antonio hotels where Johnson stayed, clerks are just realizing she was a guest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She seemed like a fairly happy-go-lucky kind of girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has not been helpful. She has been quiet. She has been standoffish.

T. SMITH: When I asked her about the GPS and I said that I believe you knew exactly where you were going and at that point, I believe everything that she told me was a lie and I almost didn`t even listen to half of what she was saying, her excuses were, because I didn`t believe her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Zero information about her missing baby?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zero information.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: With minimal help from Johnson, law enforcement will have to piece together the footprints she left behind in hopes to figure out where baby Gabriel is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to try to find, you know, the information as best we can to recover baby Gabriel, whether it`s dead or alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back to Analisa, one of the last people that we know saw baby Gabriel alive.

Analisa, did she seem concerned about the baby?

ANALISA: No, she didn`t. She really didn`t seem to be affectionate towards him or anything like that.

GRACE: When you say there were only her clothes and makeup and toiletries and nothing for the baby, did you have anything to play with with him?

ANALISA: I found like -- some kind of, like, a toy, I guess. I don`t think she used it, but I mean, you know, I was trying to play with him with that toy.

GRACE: What was it?

ANALISA: It looked like some kind of rattle or something?

GRACE: So it was just a rattle?

ANALISA: Yes.

GRACE: Let`s go out to Paul Penzone, director of Prevention Programs at Childhelp.org, formerly with the Phoenix PD.

What do you make of it, Paul?

PAUL PENZONE, DIR. OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS, CHILDHELP.ORG, FORMER SERGEANT, PHOENIX PD: I`m not going to buy into all the randomness. It`s just -- it`s not that it`s impossible, it`s just too difficult to believe. If she found the babysitter on Craigslist, I`m sure law enforcement is going to dig deep to see what other sites she may have visited.

Because to find a couple that`s willing to just come along and adopt a child under those circumstances, it`s just -- it`s unbelievable. And I don`t agree with what she may actually say and I don`t believe that location was random.

I think there`s going to be a lot more to conspiracy-based transfer. And I`m going to go with the attitude this child is still alive and I believe in that somewhere and see where it turns the baby up, the nearest stranger who had bought this child up the street basically.

GRACE: To Mike Sakal with the "East Valley Tribune," Analisa is saying that the mom found her on Craigslist. Are police looking at all as to where she used the computer to contact Analisa?

MIKE SAKAL, REPORT, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE: Yes, they are. Authorities have said they`re looking at all possibilities. She was known -- Elizabeth was known to have had an ad on Craigslist asking for a nanny to give Gabriel to prior to her leaving for Texas.

GRACE: And back to you, Analisa. She said if the baby starts crying, just give him more Tylenol?

ANALISA: Yes, she said to give him more medicine to shut him up.

GRACE: Did the baby seem lethargic at times? Listless, inactive, tired?

ANALISA: He didn`t seem tired. He just seemed like he was scared. I mean he didn`t want to do anything. Like I said, he didn`t want to play or anything like that.

GRACE: He just would lay there?

ANALISA: Well, he wasn`t laying there. I was holding him. But yes, he was just sitting there. You know, he didn`t want to do anything.

GRACE: How much baby food did she have for him?

ANALISA: She had a tube of Oragel and a little bottle of Tylenol.

GRACE: What about food? How much baby food did she have for him?

ANALISA: She had a can of Infamel and a few cans of baby food.

GRACE: To Dr. Titus Duncan, general surgeon at the Atlanta Medical Center.

Dr. Duncan, thank you for being with us again. You`ve heard the description of this baby. What do you think?

DR. TITUS DUNCAN, GENERAL SURGEON, ATLANTA MEDICAL CENTER: Well, it looks like the baby was obviously, from the pictures that I`ve seen, was healthy at first, but then became malnourished. And because the baby was acting the way it was, and because of the way she described the baby as dirty and as thin, the baby was probably malnourished as well as dehydrated.

So there`s no question that there`s some sort of deprivation of this child. And it shows -- chances are it`s probably just mostly deprivation from nourishment. Didn`t have enough nourishment.

GRACE: It sounds like failure to thrive, Dr. Duncan. What does that mean to you?

DUNCAN: Basically again, babies are children, too. And they can actually sense emotion. And so when you add deprivation of emotion, again, babies when they`re put down, they will indeed cry. And when you have deprivation of anything else, food along with emotion, they then get very, very -- a lot of problems associated with that.

And that`s what constitutes what we call failure to thrive. They will just become listless like you mentioned before and won`t do a whole lot.

GRACE: Back to you, Analisa, did you see a sippy cup for the baby or what`s all there was just the formula, the one can of formula?

ANALISA: I did not see a sippy cup, all I saw was his bottle and his can of formula.

GRACE: So the baby was not getting anything like water. Was there anything prepared for him when you got there?

ANALISA: No, there wasn`t. She just had the can of formula laying on the counter.

GRACE: OK. Back to you, Bethany Marshall. What do you think?

MARSHALL: Failure to thrive is a syndrome that exists from birth and where the baby never reaches towards life and food and gratifying experience. I think what this is is an insecure attachment where the baby once had food and love, but it was consistently been withdrawn.

And the more it was withdrawn, the more the baby started to cling and that`s why the baby was clinging to Analisa. And this would also suggest that the mother was preparing for this baby to not be in this world.

Rather than to hand the baby off, in which case she would have held on to the toys in order to give them to the adoptive parent.

GRACE: OK, to you, Hugo Rodriguez. At this juncture, suddenly the mother has had a change of heart and has given somewhat of a description of the couple she said she handed the baby of to.

Now why not give it at the beginning?

RODRIGUEZ: She`s hiding something. She`s afraid. She doesn`t want to deal with the repercussions. But Nancy, if I get the opportunity, if this baby was given to someone and they`re afraid of what their involvement is, they should contact any competent lawyer where they`re at.

Their manner and means of this child being returned and for a competent lawyer to protect them from any criminal liability. So those people should not fear. They should try to do whatever they can to get Gabriel back in the hands of authorities and there`ll be someone there to protect them if necessary.

GRACE: Eleanor Odom?

ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: I think it`s a little too late for that. There`s some criminal charges coming down the pike. If there`s a couple holding the child for false imprisonment. And certainly to her, think of the deprivation child, cruelty to child and she`s looking at a possible murder. So there are a lot of charges.

GRACE: But I think, Peter, that it would behoove police to send out a statement that there will not be a prosecution if the couple has the baby to bring it back.

P. ODOM: Right, right. Nancy, there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of couples that are desperate to adopt children, it`s so expensive to engage in that process, to get a kid. It`s so plausible that there might be a couple out there that adopted this kid under these very strange circumstances and everything should be done to make sure that those people now see the error of their ways and turn that baby back in.

GRACE: Marc Klaas, you have seen thousands and thousands of cases similar to this. What do you think? Police are suggesting there`s evidence that baby Gabriel could still be alive, but remember, she texted her -- bio dad, the bio dad, not her husband, on the 27th, the 27th, and said, I killed the baby.

KLAAS: It`s so cruel and I think I`ve stated that before. I hope that the police are sitting on something that they haven`t revealed to any of us. Because certainly on the face of it, it`s improbable that the little baby is alive.

Her stories just keep shifting too much and they make absolutely no sense. So let`s just hope that the police are holding on to something that we don`t know about and hopefully they`ll be able to reveal it and help bring this thing to a close.

GRACE: Everyone, we are going to break. And as we go to break, on a happy note, congratulations to Alabama friend, newlyweds, Phyllis Hoffman and Neil DePiano.

Phyllis, the founder of Hoffman Media and the mother of twin boys. Neil, executive officer of Hoover Fire Department and a father himself.

Congratulations to the beautiful bride and the new groom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: To this date, Gabriel has not been found. The search for him is still on. The defendant is the only person who knows where Gabriel is and if he`s dead or alive and she refuses to cooperate and tell anyone where Gabriel is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Matt Zarrell, our producer on the story. What can you tell me about some grainy surveillance video that has emerged from a fast food spot?

ZARRELL: Yes, we spoke to a Jack in the Box restaurant in San Antonio. Now they say that authorities came and picked up surveillance video that Elizabeth Johnson was inside on Christmas day. Now we don`t know if Gabriel was with her but we do know that authorities have obtained the surveillance video as per the Jack in the Box employee. However, police are not confirming that at this point.

GRACE: And what do we know about the grandfather? Where does he stand in all of this, Matt Zarrell?

ZARRELL: Well, Grandpa is still not sure if mom`s story is holding true. Grandpa is convinced that mom knows exactly where baby is and is not going to reveal it. In fact, grandpa said that mom told her -- told him at one point she is committed to staying in jail and not revealing where baby Gabriel is.

GRACE: But why, Matt?

ZARRELL: Well, because she is convinced that the father -- that the bio dad is an ugly person and does not want him to have custody.

GRACE: You know, I don`t understand this, Eleanor, the ugly person, the ugly custody battle. She says the same thing over and over, Eleanor Odom. It seems like she`s used the baby as nothing but a tool to hurt the bio father.

E. ODOM: Exactly. And it`s clear that she`s lying with her shifting stories. I mean wide open she`d say anything to get out of jail, it`s because it would just be another lie.

GRACE: You know, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Bethany, I know that she had a knife, a butcher knife of prominent display there in the hotel room, but that is not the typical mode by which mothers kill their infants.

MARSHALL: No. Usually it`s a soft kill, like poisoning or suffocating or drowning or something like that. I think her deteriorating circumstances, and she may have been in some sort of trouble and quite paranoid, would be more what would account for the knife.

GRACE: Thank you to Analisa for coming forward and speaking with us tonight.

Let`s stop and remember Marine Corporal Benjamin Desilets, 21, Elmwood, Illinois, killed Iraq. On a second tour, awarded the Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Loved roller coasters, computers, politics, time with his little girl, friends and fellow Marines he considered his brothers. Dreamed of taking his mom on a cruise to Alaska.

Benjamin Desilets, American hero.

Thank you to our guests but especially to you for being with us. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END