with their lives and their loved ones are left to mourn a future that will never be. you have a baby girl not too long ago. nick and haile weren't here to see that . >> i think this probably one of the hardest parts about all of it. i would've loved to see my brother hold her. >> he would've been uncle nick. >> uncle nickel baby. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. of dateline. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." is i i am craig melvin. and this is "dateline". everyone says that you and your sister with your mom's life. >> five years later, gone.

>> reporter: she was a gorgeous girl. a model who became a mom. >> you made good looking kids. >> reporter: on the eve of her sons fifth birthday she vanished. >> the whole time were trying to talk without the kids hearing us about what happened. >> reporter: when a woman disappears, police will have questions about a man in her life and in this case that would not be so simple. there was the estranged husband who admitted to an argument that wants landed him in jail. >> she came at me and i grabbed her by the arms and then she called the police. >> reporter: then there was the secret boyfriend, he was not telling all he knew.>> he was not upfront from the beginning. >> reporter: and there was a third man. the former colleague, with a crush. >> cliff shared with friends that he found the love of his life. >> you have three potential suspects.>> a tangle.

>> reporter: could investigators unravel it? >> we ask ourselves what does this mean? >> reporter: would her family ever find justice. hello and welcome today on. they say good things come in small packages. sandi johnson's family and friends would agree. the young mom was petite, pretty, and devoted to her two kids. but when she went missing police wondered if sandi some life was as happy as it seemed. the quickly uncovered a web of romantic relationships and a dark mystery that would take years to solve. here is andrea canning with the disappearance of sandi johnson. >> reporter: it is a celebration the mother ever wants to miss. the child's fifth birthday.

but suddenly she was gone. out of his life. >> there is nothing anybody could really do to fix that repair the missing part. >> reporter: his mother, sandi johnson was outgoing. energetic. and an awesome mom. >> those kids were everything to her. >> reporter: why was she not there to sing happy birthday to her son? >> all they knew was that she disappeared into thin air. >> she should have seen you get married and go into the military and become a police officer one day. >> it is the toughest thing to deal with. >> reporter: it was heartbreaking and baffling. >> it was a true mystery as to what happened to sandi. >> reporter: structure mystery, what happened to the vibrant young mom who vanished from seattle suburb endured for

years. those who loved sandi johnson, those who long term, waited almost 2 decades for answers . and a slice of justice. the story starts in april, 1996. april 26th, to be precise. and friday. in the seattle area, the weather was doing what it does in this part of the world. clouding up and spritzing rain. that day sandi johnson, a 28- year-old wife and mother have a day to do list as long as for arm. >> she was going to run into her errands that day to get ready for her sons birthday party the next day. >> reporter: vicki was a good friend of sandi's they bonded in the hospital after their sons both premature, were born on the same day. sandi was a little younger than vicki , a tiny woman with a huge zest for life. >> i loved being around sandi. and it seemed like she really cared about people. >> reporter: no one knew that better than sandi's cousins. gina and nancy. they grew up together.>> sandi

is action, action, move, do. talk it up and laugh always. she is a mile a minute. and beautiful. gorgeous. >> tiny. >> she were a 00. >> she modeled even. >> she did some modeling. i remember she did some kind of a bridal thing at one time. >> reporter: for friday, sandi took the day off from her job at a car dealership to prepare for the party. sandi's husband greg said she was always a mom first . >> everything was about the kids, you know. everything revolved around the kids. >> how excited was she to be a mom? >> i think she was really excited. i think that is what she wanted. she liked it. >> reporter: sandi had a plan. the kids would spend the day with vicki, while she zipped around town and that morning she left vicki a message on her phone.

but 4:00 came and went and no sandi. vicki's hands were full with her kids and sandi's. at first, she was not too concerned . >> maybe around 4:30 or 5:00 i started calling her because i thought you are not here yet and it was not like her and i was feeling frustrated. >> reporter: the hours went by and still, no sandi. vicki's frustration turned to anger. but then she started to worry. around 7:00 at night she began working the phones. >> we started calling greg and we started calling calling hospitals, the police. we were on the phone said we were worried. >> reporter: vicki and her husband kept sandi's kids at their home that night. did you sleep that night? >> probably not much. i don't really remember. it is a fog. unreal. what could've happened to her? >> the next morning --

>> no sandi. had to get up and get ready to go to the birthday party. just told sean it is okay, your mom will be there. >> reporter: meanwhile greg johnson was looking around his home. it was nothing to indicate that sandi had left in a hurry and somehow forgot to tell anyone. a strange is that would be. >> all her stuff was there. called the police, called family , my sister, i think probably told her father. >> for you in a full on panic or are you like, maybe she ended up going out with friends . >> no. i was pretty worried. the circumstances at the house. i knew there was trouble. or something not right. >> reporter: to the birthday party for sean went ahead on saturday. there was a cake and some presence. but no sandi. the adults huddled and whispered >> the whole time we are all trying to talk without the kids hearing us about where is she and what happened. >> i think we made a second call to the police department in the afternoon. >> did you think, we've got

this party and sandi will show up for the party? >> that was our hope. >> we all tried to proceed as normal. greg was crying like crazy. good guess is on and he was trying to hide it. but there were tears. >> you remember anything about that day? your fifth birthday? >> unfortunately, i don't. you know. >> reporter: but sean johnson knows that the day his life changed forever. the day the apple questions started. >> why is my mom not around and why this happened. >> reporter: they were very questions the police would start asking. because that's a night they were called to is seattle supermarket. store employees have noticed an abandoned vehicle in the parking lot. it was sandi johnson's car. rookies were in it and so was her cell phone. but there was no sign of sandi. coming up.

that first break finding sandi's car gives police hope but a second clue , will throw them for a loop. >> we are asking ourselves how does this come together and what does this mean? >> when "dateline" continues. a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid before it begins. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day.

choose acid prevention. choose nexium. progress. choose acid prevention. moving in a positive direction. we all want our lives to do that. why is progress also in our name? we've always believed insurance should do more. that's why we've gifted over a thousand vehicles to veterans , funded housing programs for families in need and why we're working to make roads safer... you're doing good. ...and housing more fair. for us, that's real progress. ♪♪ stay ahead of your moderate-to-severe eczema. and show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor.

ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. [♪♪] your skin is ever-changing, take care of it with gold bond's healing formulations of 7 moisturizers and 3 vitamins. for all your skins, gold bond. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. choose advil liqui-gels for faster, stronger and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels. because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation.

so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. i think it's a great prandrea canning: hours after sandi johnson was reported missing, the police made a disturbing discovery. sandi's car, a ford escort station wagon like this one, was found in the parking lot of a seattle grocery store. hours after sandi johnson was reported missing, the police made it disturbing discovery. sandi's car in. a ford escort

station wagon like this one was found in the parking lot of the seattle grocery store. the doors were unlocked, the keys were in the ignition, sandi cell phone was lying on the seat . but sandi herself, was nowhere to be found . cousins gina and nancy. >> when they found sandi's car , did you go from thinking, she is missing and maybe will find her to -- >> she is gone. >> she is gone. i figured if someone had her, that is it. >> reporter: this was the detective for the king county sheriff's department in 1996. >> it must have been extremely alarming from the perspective of law enforcement when you find sandi's car abandoned with the keys and her cell phone. inside. >> at least it gave us an area to focus upon. the vehicle was located in

southwestern king county. >> reporter: the cops noted an unusual detail. the drivers seat was pushed back. sandi, was tiny, cope with the seat in the forward position. is close to the steering wheel as possible. been just as they were processing the car, the cops got another break. sandi's wallet was located lying in the parking lot at the hardware store. oddly enough, it was miles from her car. they were puzzled. >> we ask ourselves how does this come together and what does this mean? >> what does it tell you when you find a car and a wallet and no sandi? >> sandi, clearly had been taken away from her vehicle in some manner. and at that point were very focused on why was this vehicle located here? why was a wallet found across town? >> reporter: to detectives, it all added up to foul play. >> it was a very strange and compelling case. a mother of two small children, essentially just dropped off the radar screen.

>> was a baffling to the whole police department what happened to sandi? >> yeah. her disappearance became a priority with the sheriff's office right away. >> reporter: sandi spence family put up flyers and joined the search parties in the greater seattle area, but there was one notable exception. were you participating in the search? >> not much. >> reporter: why not? >> i just cannot do that. are pretty much stayed around the house with the kids and family. >> today one question white is he not looking for? >> never questioned me. maybe amongst themselves, i don't know. >> reporter: but detectives are already taking a good, long look at sandi johnson's husband . digging for details about the state of the couple's marriage. >> the first thing you are doing is looking at those people that are closest to the person that is missing. you have to. so, it made perfect sense to focus on the husband early on.

>> it always seems like the spouse. >> in this particular case we really did not know the dynamics of what had happened in their marriage. i mean, it is up to us to find out what are the details. >> reporter: they learn sandi met greg and she pursued him and he fell fast. >> she had a lot of energy. a lot of >>.>> you see like you may be more low-key. was she a good complement to you? >> i think so. >> reporter: in late 1990, sandi got pregnant and the couple married. sean was born in 1991. daughter katie followed. for the next few years, the couple's life was tech picked but happy. but in early 1996, four months before sandi disappeared , the marriage hit a rough patch. greg moved out of the house and friends told the police there were money pressures among other things. what went wrong with the relationship? >> i think she said she could not talk to me or communicate with me. you know, we had seen a marriage counselor and working

on some stuff. and i think it was getting better. >> you want to get back together. >> i was not against that at all. the maxwell law enforcement developed a very different portrait of the marriage and the chances for reconciliation. listed richardson and carla, prosecuted the case for king county. >> they were talking about divorce and they had gotten to the point and it was assumed that they would be divorced. that was pretty reason for this it happened within the month before that that decision had been made. >> reporter: and investigators discover something else that troubled them. >> law enforcement learned that they had argued only the day before she had gone missing. there had been a big argument witness by people at her place of work. so to focus some attention on her estranged husband. >> the argument was over money, which was a frequent point of dispute for them. she had trouble and he had

trouble. sort of meeting the bills. >> reporter: investigators questions were mounting and they had a couple with money problems, a troubled marriage, has been who did not search for his wife, and follow through the day before she disappeared. it was time to sit down with greg johnson. how did they treat you in that first encounter? the police? >> they were like, you know, you did it, you know. accusing me of killing my wife. told my sister that, you know, greg is -- did it. >> reporter: the usual suspect was starting to look like the right guy. >> it is getting bad and i am to the point that i'm afraid. >> when "dateline" continues.

- [narrator] life with ear ringing sounded like a constant train whistle i couldn't escape. then i started taking lipo flavonoid. with 60 years of clinical experience, it's the number one doctor recommended brand for ear ringing. and now i'm finally free. take back control with lipo flavonoid.

andrea canning: sandi johnson was missing. police believe she had been killed and they were zeroing in on her estranged husband greg. his world had turned upside down. sandi johnson was missing. police believe she had been killed and they were zeroing in on her estranged husband, greg. his world had turned upside down. >> life changed fast. i mean. i can tell you stories. i come home from work and there is three or four tv stations in front of your house ready to do the 5:00 missed. >> reporter: the more investigators talk to sandi's family and friends about the

couples on the rock marriage, the more suspicious they became of greg. sandi confided in her cousin, gina, that living with greg had gotten very difficult. >> she called me one time and said , it is, you know before sandi went missing with police responding and greg spending the night in jail. how bad did it get? how i got in jail, you mean? well, she came at me and i grabbed her by the arms -- i said you have to do what you have to do. >> reporter: the evidence was not just anecdotal. about argument for the couple more than a year before sandi went missing had ended with police responding. and greg spending a night in jail. how bad did it get? >> how i got in jail, you mean? she came at me and i grabbed her by the arms and sat her down and i did not hit her nothing. when she called the police. because she had, there were marks on her arms. anytime there is a domestic dispute, cops are called. somebody goes to jail. i am the one who went to jail. >> reporter: investigators found the domestic violence incident troubling. and they look for a possible motive, they found one of the classics. money.

were you able to collect a life insurance policy? >> i did, yes. >> how much?>> not that much. i know what it was but i will not say. it was a substantial amount of money. >> reporter: investigators were more and more convinced they had their man. the polygraph they gave greg just days after sandi vanished was key. >> they asked if i would be willing to take a polygraph. just to clear my name or whatever. i said, sure, i have nothing to hide. what i know is that the polygraph was inconclusive and at that point i thought, they thought it was me. >> the police say you failed the polygraph test. >> yeah. i'm sure they did. >> see you are disputing that. >> i am. it was inconclusive results on the polygraph. >> reporter: cops felt he failed it and the results made

them even more certain they were on the right track. king county prosecuting attorneys christian richardson and carla. >> greg had not done well on a polygraph test. so they as if you would take another test and he called a lawyer in the lawyer said you need to stop talking to the police right now and so we did. >> it must have been a big red flag for police. >> yes, i think it was. i think when someone floods a polygraph test police get concerned them suspicious and often want to go with that person harder and find out why. >> reporter: greg may have get up at detectives use the polygraph results to turn up the pressure. they told your sister you failed the polygraph test. >> yes. >> why? >> i guess they wanted to turn her against me.>> reporter: lots of people in town returning that direction. mr. stark weeks after sandi went missing, her dear friend, vicky, started to think greg was somehow in fall. >> the police came to me and said certain things that would lead you to think that maybe he did it.

>> what did they tell you that made you start to suspect greg. >> he did not pass the test. there were people at the work party had heard them fighting. just enough it is like, could he have done it? >> reporter: cops were starting to think so. especially when you consider the domestic incident that put greg in jail. the argument the dealership the night before sandi disappeared. and the possible money motive. given the history with greg, was a family immediately looking to greg as a possible -- >> yes. >> suspect in this? were some family members convinced that greg must have done this. >> i think if you were pretty, you know, you have to put the blame on someone. 100%. >> how was sandi's family looking at you? >> there were a bunch the thought that i was the person. >> and you are telling everyone, i did not do this. >> right. >> and there were people who are not believing you. >> yeah.

you know. i get the fact that, you know, 90% of the time it is the husband or the boyfriend, i get that. but it was not this time. >> did you feel on this case that you target number one? >> yeah. i was the only target. >> reporter: spread greg johnson was wrong about that. flew back to, investigators were uncovering secrets of sandi's . things her estranged husband did not know, that will provide them intriguing new suspects. >> detectives discover what sandi has been hiding. a man named jeff. did he also have a secret? coming up. >> that was suspicious to police that he was not upfront about that. >> reporter: and then a former colleague of sandi's . was he hiding something also? >> cliff look to be doing everything he could to present himself as a caring and concerned friend. we found out that, that was not the real cliff read.

>> when "dateline" continues. response to ine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? ♪♪ now with vitamin d for the dark days of winter. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast.

why choose a mobile network built

the power of nature. for places you'll probably never be... ...instead of for where you are most of the time? xfinity mobile was designed for where you need it most. now xfinity internet customers can buy one line of unlimited and get one free for a year.

a manhunt is underway in kentucky. officals say numerous people have been shot near the i-75 highway north of the city of london. the mayor says no one was killed . the suspect is 32-year-old joseph couch, on the run and considered armed and dangerous. the white house is requesting an investigation of the u.s. woman's death in the west bank. 26-year-old was a recent graduate of the university of washington in seattle. and was fatally shot during a demonstration friday. back to "dateline". welcome back to "dateline". i'm craig melvin. sandi johnson was missing and detectives had been looking into her estranged husband greg . the couple's crumbling marriage and money problems pointed to a possible motive.

but as investigators retraced sandi's steps in the hours before she vanished, they discovered a stunning secret and an entirely new person of interest. here is the disappearance of sandi johnson. >> reporter: the search for the person responsible for the disappearance of sandi johnson from the seattle suburb was widening. >> we had to look at everyone close to sandi at that point in time. >> reporter: investigators discovered the recently separated sandi had a friend named jeff kane that she kept a secret from her estranged husband. she was supposed to meet him for lunch the day after she disappeared, cops soon learned there had been more than lunch on the menu. after work on that friday, sandi had popped by his house to touch up her tan. >> she was there the night before she went missing and use the tanning bed, i believe. and they were going to contact each

of the by phone the following morning. >> reporter: that revelation made kane the last person known to have seen sandi alive . cops brought him in for questioning. according to prosecutors, he was alarmed after he learned sandi was missing. he was worried about that. >> and he tried to get a hold of her and could not get a hold of her and tried to find her and he finally went over to her house and left a note on the door because he was worried. because she had not shown up for lunch . >> and was one of the last and people to have spoken to her on that friday and in fact she spoke to him more recently than she had spoken to her husband. >> reporter: when detectives we interviewed sandi's friend they grew more suspicious. it turned out kane had not been totally candid with them about the nature of his relationship with sandi . >> he initially held back at the ever had a romantic or sexual relationship and that came out later, which also was a little suspicious to police that he was not upfront about that from the beginning. >> why did he hold back?

>> i don't know. perhaps he was concerned about in general he was a married woman and didn't want that to get out. reese max as they did with the husband, they put him on a polygraph machine and he passed the test and offered an alibi. the cops told him he could go home, for now. when they further laid out their timeline of sandi's last days, detectives discovered that jeff kane was not the only man sandi was supposed to meet . there was another guy, a former coworker named cliff reed who befriended sandi. sandi plan to stop by reed some to pick up a present for her son, the day before his birthday party and cliff reed told cops she never turned up . her has been new reed from when he visited the house. >> the first time i met him he said he would fix his car and he stayed for dinner. >> what did you think? >> he seemed like a nice guy. >> reporter: on the face of it, greg's appraisal of sandi's coworker seemed right. the detective said sandi and cliff reed were drawn together by mutual need . did sandi sea cliff is someone she could lean on for help?

being a single mom at the time? >> i think sandi was going through a traumatic time in her life . she was separated from her husband and at some financial challenges. and cliff reed was someone at work that would listen to what she had to say. would offer support. >> he helped her financially, so he was there for her. >> cliff was there. he had given alone to sandi of about $1800 at some point prior to her disappearance. >> reporter: despite his apparent generosity, there was something about cliff, the coworker, the cops were not buying. >> cliff look to be doing everything he could to present himself to sandi as a normal and caring and concerned friend. we clearly found out as we look closer into cliff reed that , that was not the real cliff reed.

>> reporter: in fact, reed had a troubling history with women. >> cliff did not like women at all. he was misogynist. and cliff had very bad names for women he felt had done him wrong. and basically from what we could tell, had a sort of generalized hatred for the female person. apart from being sorted, self- centered and narcissistic, he constantly thought the women were doing him wrong. >> reporter: but none of that was against the law. cops had no reason to hold him. weeks went by without an arrest and all detectives had was a trio of suspects. is the investigation drug going, greg, now icicle parent is trying to get on with his life, working at boeing and raising his two kids. did you think sandi was dead? >> yeah. >> you accepted that? >> yeah. >> how hard was that? >> it was hard.

>> reporter: as months in the years past, sandi's friends and family struggled to keep or the publics memory. her good friend, shauna, took the lead. >> we tried to get the story alive every year and the news media would come on the anniversary of her disappearance and try to talk to us and ask us and i would try to talk and keep the story in the news media. >> reporter: just before sean's 10th birthday, five years after his mother vanished, greg moved the family to las vegas. he had had enough of the seattle area and wanted a fresh start without a cloud of suspicion hanging over him. did ye eel like we've kind of got to give up on this until something comes our way?

strike at some point feel like we kind to give up on this to something comes our way. >> on the other hand we knew somewhere, someday sandi would be found . in the hope was that when that happened there would be some type of evidence that would assist us in putting this case together. >> reporter: they were about to get their wish.>> coming up. all the men in cindy's life claimed they did not see her the day she disappeared. which one of them is lying? >> the neighbor saw her car and recognized her car parked outside his house. >> when "dateline" continues.

wegovy® is the only fda-approved weight-management medicine that's proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with known heart disease and with either obesity or overweight. wegovy® shouldn't be used with semaglutide or glp-1 medicines. don't take wegovy® if you or your family had medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop wegovy® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis and gallbladder problems. wegovy® may cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes, especially if you take medicines to treat diabetes. tell your provider about vision problems or changes, or if you feel your heart racing while at rest. depression or thoughts of suicide may occur. call your provider right away if you have any mental changes. common side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. with wegovy®, i'm losing weight, i'm keeping it off. and i'm lowering my cv risk.

that's the power of we. ♪ ♪ check your cost and coverage before talking to your health care professional about wegovy®. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, and more... all in one delicious, monthly, soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus: the one you want for one-and-done protection. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower

respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? ♪♪ now with vitamin d for the dark days of winter.

now with vitamin d andrea canning: it's hard to let go of hope. sean johnson could barely remember his mother, yet he never stopped imagining her coming back into his life. shawn johnson could barely remember his mother but he never stopped imagining her back in his life. >> i remember thinking like, she will return sooner or later. she has walked through the door. >> reporter: it was not to be. one august day in 2004, they have a worker in washington noticed something strange off the road. it was a shallow grave. investigators recovered skeletal remains. the records revealed it was sandi. >> i was in the seventh grade and i remember coming home from

school and asking my dad, why is there reporters trying to talk to us or whatever. my dad explained what they had found her remains. >> reporter: finally sandi's family had the cold comfort of a funeral. greg thought is kids back to washington for the service. it was difficult for everyone, especially greg. there were some at the funeral who still wondered if he had a role in sandi's death . power you received at sandi's funeral ? were some people angry? >> i think some people that still did not like me. family members that did not like me. the people that were behind me in the beginning, those are the ones that i stayed with. and hung out with. i don't have time for people that were against me. >> reporter: among the mourners at sandi's service were detectives from the cold case squad. and the discovery of her birds had jumpstarted their investigation. and cops were taking a cold hard look at everything. and everyone.

all over again. the corner did an autopsy and investigators hope they found something that will point them in the direction of sandi's killer. or at least tell them how she died. but no luck. >> there was so much decomposition and so little left that there is absolutely no way to tell what killed her. we could not say why sandi johnson died in that is because she was so well hidden for so long. >> reporter: where sandi's remains were recovered added another piece to the investigative puzzle. it 50 ml of the notorious green river killer, gary ridgway. he murdered scores of women in washington and disposed of some of them in the area where sandi's bones were found . his victims were almost all believed to be prostitutes. now king county cops had to make sure there was not something they had missed earlier about sandi. was it ever posed to her family?

did she ever engage in prostitution? a hard question. >> i believe that someone, a detective asked her mom that. and it was not well received, as you can imagine. city was not a prostitute. and that would be hard thing to hear a question like that. even though it had to be asked. >> reporter: police ruled out the green river killer. detective circled back to the secret boyfriend. jeff kane. they came away convinced he had nothing to do with sandi's death . jeff kane was cleared. as for the husband greg you have done so many things that raise suspicion early on, ultimately, he had an alibi the checked out. he clocked in and out of his job at boeing the day sandi went missing. colleagues had seen him there and after work he was with friends who vouched for him. finally, greg johnson was off the list. how well do you remember that moment where the police came to see you and said, you are not a suspect anymore. >> i remember it very well.

it was relief. it was a good day for me. it really was. >> reporter: of that left sandi's friend from work , cliff reed. cold case detective, now retired, decided to see if he he could find physical evidence tying cliff reed to the death of cindy johnson. it turned out the passage of time gave police need tools. >> forensics have changed over the years and there was the potential of testing a lot of things that would not have been able to be tested back then for dna specifically. >> reporter: they went back to work cliff reed lived in 1996. all these years later and for the place apart. they found what looked to them like a bloodstain under the carpet. could it be something? >> we took all the carpet from his room. >> reporter: they had sandi's teal green ford wagon and the ripped about apart. >> we researched her car and collected some more evidence it had the tested to see if we can

find anything. >> reporter: this sort of analysis turned slowly. in 2006, cold case detectives began working with prosecutors, christian and carl. they dug deeper. >> they were learning more and more about cliff's lies and sort of his relationship with sandi and some specifics about that day. the did not at out . >> reporter: for instance, sandi had taken that friday, april 26th off work to get ready for sean's birthday. among her parents, she told friends she was picking up a birthday present for sean from cliff reed. >> cliff reed never acknowledged that sandi was to come to his house that day or had ever come to his house that day. >> he said he at the scene or two weeks before. >> reporter: what is more, cliff reads neighbors said sandi must have been there that day. >> the neighbor saw her car and recognized her car parked outside his house. >> reporter: that was troubling to police.

but more incriminating was this. the same neighbors said he saw cliff reed driving sandi's car away from the apartment that day. and that grocery store lot where sandi's car was found , it was within walking distance of clips apartment, just over a mile away. and cliff's neighbors remembered him walking home from the direction. >> this was very much out of character in speaking with the people that know cliff the best, cliff reed was not the kind of person that would willy- nilly go out for a walk . >> reporter: they were suspicious of this fact. cliff he was notorious, cleaned his apartment top to bottom. >> after she disappeared he vacuum the entire house and rented a carpet cleaner and clean the house and got rid of the vacuum bag. >> reporter: it turns out with three data bitter history with

two ex-wives and police had learned about allegations of a violent episode cliff reed had with an escort he had hired two months before sandi went missing. >> cliff reed was on top of her , strengthening her and threatening to shooter. groping her underneath her clothing. >> reporter: that case never went anywhere but raised red flags for the cops looking into sandi johnson's death . >> at that point we realized, my goodness. a similar scenario could have played out a cliff's residence with sandi johnson . >> reporter: in the motive, police say a found one. cliff reed was obsessed with sandi johnson. >> cliff shared with friends that he had found the love of his life. >> reporter: reads friends used words like enthralled, head over heels, to describe two detectives his feelings about sandi and said he was going to marry sandi and even bought a bigger car to carry her kids around him. the trouble was, the feelings apparently were not mutual.

>> she expressed one of her friends, that her frustration was growing and that he wanted more than she wanted and it was never going to be that. >> reporter: it was just the day before she went missing that sandi had told a coworker the reed had become a problem and he needed to understand that she was not interested . police wondered whether sandi had chosen that morning when she went to cliff's house to get that gift to set him straight. and if so, had she paid for it with her life? >> i think that sandi was probably the first attractive female that had ever been nice to him . and that is what it her in. he created this fantasy world around her because she was nice to him. >> and when she finally wised up and called it off and said nothing will happen, he killed her. >> reporter: for police, the pieces seem to be falling into place into the investigation into sandi johnson's death. even as they waited for the forensic results to come back. meanwhile, her friends and family kept faith, eventually there will be justice for sandi. did you start to feel again

that maybe this will not happen? >> i was hopeful and all i can say is i was hopeful. coming up. just as this case finally gets going, a major speedbump. >> how frustrating was that? >> very. >> and for this family that has been through so much, a heart stopping moment. >> i feel this rush of hot blood. it was tough. >> when "dateline" continues. sh, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients

that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy.

craig here pays too much for verizon wireless. so he sublet half his real estate office... [ bird squawks loudly ] to a pet shop.

meg's moving company uses t-mobile. so she scaled down her fleet to save money. and don's paying so much for at&t, he's been waiting to update his equipment! there's a smarter way to save. comcast business mobile. you could save up to 70% on your wireless bill. so you don't have to compromise. powering smarter savings. powering possibilities.

andrea canning: investigators had been building their case against cliff reed, and now it was decision time for prosecutors kristin richardson and carla carlstrom. in 2012, 16 years after sandi johnson vanished, investigators had been building the case against cliff reed and now it was decision time for prosecutors . in 2012, 16 years after sandi johnson vanished, police had plenty of circumstantial evidence . but years of forensic testing, still cannot link him to sandi's death . >> it came back zero. >> how frustrating was that? >> very. it would have been nice to have some dna and that would have been nice. >> we tried everything that we could. >> reporter: the prosecutors faced a tough choice. charge cliff reed with murder and risk using a potentially unwinnable case, or leave sandi's case unresolved, which as it turns out, had happened before.

back in the late 90s, cliff reed had been briefly charged with sandi johnson's murder, but prosecutors back then thought the case was just too thin to go forward . >> the question always has to be is there any chance the case will improve, if we wait? and in this case there was absolutely nothing left to be done. so, no. it was not going to improve. it was now or never. >> reporter: they chose now. >> we try hard cases and we are successful. >> reporter: after all, they had reads lies, a neighbor who saw him driving her car, a witness who saw reed cleaning his house the day after sandi disappeared and most importantly, his obsession with her. cliff reed was arrested in montana and extradited to washington state and charged with second-degree murder. sean, who would last seen his mother when he was just five was now grown up. a medic in the army. when he heard the news from one of his mom's friends. >> i got a call from her and it blew me away. >> it must have clear things up

for you. >> like reopening. like a cut. and rubbing salt in it. you know. >> reporter: going to trial was roll of the dice for both sides. prosecutors would have to win a difficult case with no forensic evidence. >> the biggest problem we had was cliff managed to succeed in one crucial point. and that is that he hit sandi's body . and we had no way to prove how she died. >> reporter: without the proof of how she died, it would be hard to say cliff reed had intended to kill sandi. for the defendant, there was also a risk that a jury would find the prosecutors circumstantial case convincing. >> cliff reed and his attorney knew he was facing a real chance of being convicted of murder in the 2nd degree, which can carry up to 20 years. >> reporter: prosecutors put a plea bargain on the table and reed made his choice. >> guilty.

>> reporter: they made a deal. cliff reed pleaded guilty, not to murder, but to manslaughter . >> the good thing about a plea is that it avoids not only the risk of losing at trial or a hung jury, and the appeal and every thing that drags on for ever. and his family had to deal with this loss three times. first when sandi disappeared. second, when her remains were found in third, when charges were filed. the case was stirred up all again. >> please rise. >> reporter: on april 11th, 2014, sandi's family was in court to see cliff reed sentenced. what was it like for you seeing him in the courtroom? >> i mean. all i feel is this rush of hot blood, you know. it was tough. it was tough. >> reporter: cliff reed got less than four years in prison. as mandated by washington law. how do you feel about that? the fact that he is doing time but not a lot.

>> not a whole lot. the guy killed my mom. you know. everybody knows it. >> reporter: the plea was not just any plea, it was an alford plea. meaning he would not be required to admit to killing sandi. in fact when he had a chance to speak, cliff reed said something that outraged the family. >> sandi was a very good friend to me. she was one of the nicest people i have ever known. and i certainly did not kill sandi. >> the youth are likely three got away with murder? >> yes. absolutely. >> reporter: but sandi's family does not blame the prosecutors. >> i think they took on a big undertaking and i mean, i'm thankful. >> i believe they did more than their job. >> the good news for sandi is world knows cliff reed killed her. she did not abandon her children. she did not go missing. he killed her and put her in

the woods and that is worth something to know that and say that. >> reporter: want justice for sandi may not look quite like what and when imagine, her family is taking solace in the beautiful person sandi was. and the reflection they see of her and her children. your dad said he sees your mom and you. and in your sister. you think she would be proud of you and what you have accomplished? >> i think she would. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales, and this is dateline. >> the wedding was beautiful. i thought he was the love of my life. i wanted them to find