INSIDE EDITION traced Elizabeth Johnson's movements during her cross-country trip and visited the park where the 23-year-old says she gave baby Gabriel to a couple of strangers.
New details are emerging about the bizarre cross-country trip during which baby Gabriel Johnson disappeared.
Elizabeth Johnson, Gabriel's mother, left her home in Tempe, Arizona, on December 22nd with her son after raising $1,200 by selling her two dogs.
She drove her grandfather's car to San Antonio, Texas, and checked in at the Home Gate Studios and Suites. The desk clerk says she paid cash in advance for a room with two double beds and a kitchenette.
Baby Gabriel was last seen in San Antonio on December 26th.
Johnson claims she gave away baby Gabriel to complete strangers she'd never met before, in a remote San Antonio area park.
There are few clues about the couple that Johnson says she met there; the woman's first name is believed to be "Cheryl."
Mike Board of San Antonio radio station WOAI has been trying to get to the bottom of Johnson's story. "She said, 'They didn't have a child, they couldn’t have a child, so I felt comfortable in trusting that I could give my child to this couple.' It doesn't make sense," Board tells INSIDE EDITION's Megan Alexander.
On December 27, Johnson, with baby Gabriel nowhere in sight, was next spotted in a Motel 6 parking lot. The hotel manager told Megan Alexander her movements were recorded on a surveillance camera. Johnson parked her car, gathered her belongings, and walked across the street to the bus terminal, where she bought a ticket to Florida.
The manager showed Megan Alexander the bus ticket Johnson bought using the alias "Elizabeth Jones." Johnson paid $180 in cash for a one-way ticket to Fort Lauderdale and waited patiently for three hours in the terminal waiting room.
A bus station employee said Johnson did not appear nervous at all.
That same day Johnson reportedly texted Gabriel's father, saying she had killed the boy and left his body in a dumpster. She now denies harming Gabriel.
Johnson's cross-country odyssey ended at a youth hostel in Miami's trendy South Beach neighborhood. She checked in alone. When police picked her up on December 30th she reportedly only had a few dollars left in her pocket and there was no sign of baby Gabriel.
As the days go by, it's less and less likely baby Gabriel will be found alive, according to criminal profiler Pat Brown. "Everything Elizabeth has done is abnormal and is evidence of psychopathy. Cases like this usually turn out badly, usually the baby is not found alive," Brown tells INSIDE EDITION.
Elizabeth Johnson is scheduled to appear in court again on January 20th.
Special thanks to Megan Van Wolvelaerd of Sun Devil Productions for photos #3 and #4.
