EL PASO – The ‘Baby Gabriel’ investigation is ramping up this week with a planned search of a San Antonio landfill where police fear the boy's body could have been dumped.
Now there is a new face involved in the case. Jay J. Armes is considered a quirky private eye with a track record of getting results. The eccentric investigator talked about why he is taking on the case as police say leads are drying up.
Armes’ clients include celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and John Lennon along with royalty from around the world.
Armes is high-profile and high-price fetching between $150,000 to $1 million per case. Nevertheless he says he will search for Gabriel for free.
Even though Armes lost his arms in a childhood explosion, many see him as a real-life, more eccentric version of James Bond. He advertises as a hero for hire and bills himself as the world's most successful private eye with a track record to back it up.
Marlon Brando is his best-known client. Armes found Brando's kidnapped son in the 70s and now he has his sights set on finding baby Gabriel Johnson.
He tells 3TV, “I feel that this baby is still alive." Speaking from his base in El Paso, Armes says he agreed to take the case for free after talking to Gabriel's father, Logan McQueary.
Gabriel's mother claims she gave him away to strangers. Armes says he will focus on the world of underground adoptions, which he says are often run by religious radicals.
He explains, “They'll say, ‘Those people don’t deserve this child.’ So they'll sell it to someone who has the means to take care of this child."
Armes will not reveal his techniques but says, “I follow rumors and I get to the bottom of it."
The private eye expects to meet with McQueary in El Paso sometime on Wednesday.
