Baby Gabriel Case: Police 'Less and Less Optimistic' After Second Arrest

Feb. 2, 2010— -- Investigators are "less and less optimistic" missing 8-month-old Gabriel Johnson is alive, despite the arrest and interrogation today of Tammi Smith, a person of interest in the baby's disappearance, police said.

Neither Smith nor the boy's biological mother, Elizabeth Johnson, have been helpful in providing information about where the baby might be, Tempe, Ariz., police Lt. Mike Horn said.

Smith was arrested this morning on charges of forgery, custodial interference, and conspiracy to commit custodial interference, Tempe police said.

Smith, 37, and her husband, Jack, said they were in talks to adopt Gabriel before he disappeared in December.

Smith was interviewed by police and gave a statement following her arrest, but the information wasn't likely to help the investigation, Horn said.

Investigators do not believe Smith knows where Gabriel is, but she is considered a flight risk, according to arresting documents. She was arrested for her alleged involvement in a wrongful adoption.

The Smiths were previously named as persons of interest in Gabriel's case. Police served a search warrant on their home, believing the two may be withholding information. Police took their phone records and laptop. Jack Smith is no longer a person of interest in the case, Horn said.

Smith's attorney, Michael Kimerer, said she has always been forthcoming in her meetings with the police.

"When Tammi went and visited the police she told them everything she knows," he said.

Gabriel's mother, Elizabeth Johnson, and the boy's biological father, Logan McQueary, were in the middle of a custody dispute when Johnson fled Arizona with Gabriel before Christmas. She allegedly sent text messages to McQueary, saying she had killed their son and left his body in a trash bin.

Tammi Smith has continued speaking to Johnson, 23, and recently met her in a Tempe jail. Johnson was arrested and faces charges including kidnapping, child abuse and custodial interference.

"I looked in her eyes, I can tell you that baby is alive," Smith said.

Johnson later changed her story and said she gave the baby to a couple she met at random in a San Antonio park. Police have not been able to confirm that that couple exists.

The investigation is believed to be shifting from Arizona to Texas, where Gabriel was last seen.

Gabriel's biological father has hired a private investigator to help find his son.

McQueary held a vigil last week in Scottsdale with his friends and family. He said he still holds out hope that his son, who has been missing for more than a month, will be found alive and returned home safely.

"I hope he comes back soon," McQueary said. "I want him back more than anything else."

Gabriel 's babysitter, Analisa Urias, one of the last known people to see the baby before he disappeared, said he seemed sad and frightened the night she took care of him in a Texas hotel room.

Johnson hired Urias through a Craigslist ad to babysit Gabriel while she was dealing with the custody dispute.

"Elizabeth told me if anyone came knocking on the door, not to answer it," Urias told ABC News.