Baby Gabriel Case: Missing 8-Month-Old's Mother Heads to Trial (VIDEO)
Jury selection began on Wednesday for the case against Elizabeth Johnson, who stands accused of kidnapping her 8-month-old son Gabriel; the baby has been missing since 2009.
Gabriel Johnson was last seen alive at a Texas hotel; mysteries surrounding his disappearance have left a number of unanswered questions. As jury members are selected for the upcoming trial, it is with high hopes that a number of those questions will be answered.
On trial is Elizabeth Johnson, the boy's mother, who has been charged with kidnapping, custodial interference, and child abuse. Johnson shared joint custody of her son with his father, Logan McQueary. Johnson allegedly defied custody after she left with her son en route to Texas.
McQueary did not hear from Johnson again until days later, at which point she confessed via text message to killing the 8-month-old boy and throwing his body in a dumpster.
"I killed him," Johnson said in a text to McQueary on December 27, 2009. "U will never see Gabriel again, I made sure of that. And you can spend the rest of ur pathetic life wondering about him."
In a second message, Johnson suggested that her plan was to flee the country.
"U will never find me im already bording a plane. Out of the country," Johnson said. "When im safe ill email u the exact location of dead gabriels little blue body. If the garbage don't come first."
Johnson was arrested on December 30, 2009. An additional phone call recording taken by McQueary revealed Johnson giving a further, more detailed confession to the crime.
Johnson: "You made me do this."
McQuery: "You did not hurt Gabriel."
Johnson: "Yes, I did. I suffocated him. .... I suffocated him and he turned blue. And I put him in his diaper bag and I put him in the trash can."
Johnson later recanted her statements and claimed that she had given Gabriel to a stranger.
