PHOENIX, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Arizona police searching for an 8-month-old baby boy at the center of a custody battle say the longer he is missing, the less likely it is he will be found.
Gabriel Johnson disappeared almost a month ago with his mother Elizabeth Johnson, 23, who has been embroiled in a custody battle with the boy's father, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday.
"If the child is in good hands, and that's a big if, then the child will still be around," Tempe police Cmdr. Kim Hale said. "But the longer we go, it doesn't help us as far as trying to recover him."
The father, Logan McQueary, 25, petitioned for custody in December, when Johnson and the baby went missing from their Tempe, Ariz. trailer park, the newspaper said.
Johnson turned up in Miami, Fla. without the child. Motel clerks in San Antonio, Texas saw her with the boy, and then she was captured on surveillance video leaving that city without him, the Republic said.
She allegedly sent a text message and phoned McQueary saying she had killed the child, the newspaper said.
Since her Dec. 30 arrest in Miami and extradition to Phoenix, Johnson has refused to talk to investigators.
She was charged Friday with kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.
