Police to Search Landfill for Baby Gabriel

San Antonio police have declared the case of a missing 8-month-old Arizona boy known as Baby Gabriel to be a kidnapping and homicide investigation. The move will allow authorities to search through a landfill for a dead body, police said.

Gabriel has not been seen since Dec. 26 in San Antonio with his mother, Elizabeth Johnson, who has been arrested in connection with his disappearance.

Saying he still held out hopes of finding Gabriel alive, Police Chief William McManus announced Saturday that officers will begin searching a city landfill for the baby as soon as weather permits.

Out There and Alive?

Speculation has been that Elizabeth Johnson gave the baby to an unknown couple in San Antonio. But as the case proceeded, authorities began to suspect that Johnson's text message to the baby's father claiming she killed the child and placed him in a dumpster, may have been the truth.

The boy's father, Logan McQueary, told reporters that he was disappointed that the case is now being handled as a homicide.

"We think Gabriel is out there and alive," he told reporters Saturday.

Officials have blocked off an area of the landfill since first being contact by the police weeks ago. Heavy rains in the area have delayed the search, however.

See Also:
Texas Police: Missing Ariz. Baby Case a Homicide

Earlier Articles:
Woman Arrested in Baby Gabriel Case
Reward Offered in Baby Gabriel Case
Crime Poll: Where is Baby Gabriel?

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^{Photos: Mug Shot, Family Photo}