In November 1974 a small family in Independence, Missouri, disappeared under circumstances that remain unresolved. Ten-month-old Michael Lloyd Johnson, his four-year-old sister Sheri Lynn Johnson, and their mother, Freda Denman were last seen that month; the exact day is uncertain. Their landlord did not report them missing until March 1975, when police found Freda’s personal items left in her closet while the clothing of her husband and both children was gone. Investigators also noted a small amount of blood on a cushion, a pair of men’s pants, and some socks, but forensic testing at the time was inconclusive. A TV Guide left open to the listings for Sunday, November 10, 1974, suggested a possible last date in the home.

Freda’s husband was later identified as Henry Lee Harbison, who had been using the name Michael Johnson and had a criminal record including time in federal prisons. Early theories ranged from the family fleeing due to Harbison’s legal trouble to harsher suggestions from former associates that the family had been murdered; Freda’s relatives have also speculated the children may have been given away. The disappearance of Michael and Sheri is officially categorized as a non-family abduction. Did anyone in Independence at that time have contact with the Johnson family or remember seeing them after November 1974?