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 myste

time and so it is in that that sandy really smith comes into it right she's a first year student at bennett college is after the right she becomes part of nelson johnson his organization of the greensboro association for people. so they're into like fighting the vanishing, providing food and different resources for greensboro communities. she joins this group, an organization they more radical over time sobel becomes you global youth organization of black unity. they're like, well, not everybody is a student right. not everyone is associated with college universities. what do you expand to other people they become they get organizations throughout north carolina and. saint louis maybe as part of that right. that organization, ultimately in the 1970s, there's a push to kind of consolidate schools. and so they have the save our black schools movement that they can really smith helps and so they end up having thousands of student student activists from throughout by hbcu joining the series in raleigh right to protest to say black hbcu lose enough carolina and so these are images from that from that demonstration and theylso have events called black monda