Sandra Jacobson, 36, and her 5-year-old son John vanished from Bismarck, North Dakota, on November 16, 1996. That evening Sandra had plans to go to her mother’s house but called the Bismarck Police Department to report witnessing satanic ritual abuse at a farm near Center, North Dakota; she said she distrusted local law enforcement, which is why she rang Bismarck instead. When she arrived at her mother’s she seemed distressed and her mother urged a hospital visit; Sandra chose instead to stop for gasoline with John and never returned.

Later that night a gray Honda Civic was found abandoned near Centennial Beach by the Missouri River with the driver’s door open and Sandra’s purse on the seat; only her driver’s license was missing. Search efforts were hampered by bad weather; a shoe believed to belong to John was recovered but no other trace of mother or son has surfaced. Sandra was separating from her husband Alan Jacobson at the time; he said he was on a business trip but his alibi could not be confirmed, he refused at times to provide a DNA sample, and he removed items from Sandra’s home. No clear evidence of foul play has been established and the case remains unsolved.

Did anyone in Bismarck or the Center area at the time see Sandra’s Civic near the river or remember activity at the farm she described?