North Dakota : Sandra & John Jacobson
This week we are navigating the disappearance of a mother and son in Bismarck, North Dakota. Bismarck is the second most populous city in the state following Fargo. With a population of just over 54,000 in 1996 when my case took place. The crime rates in 1996, show that Bismarck’s violent crime rates were lower than the state averages.
The disappearance of 36 year old Sandra Mary Jacobson created many questions and even more suspicions with each passing year. Sandra was the mother to two boys and an employee of the North Dakota Department of Transportation. She was 5’6” tall, had bright green eyes, brown hair and wore glasses. She was known to family and friends as Sandy and her children meant the world to her. Sandy had been married twice. Once to her 16 year old son Spencer’s father, Vernon, and then several years later to Alan Jacobson, her 5 year old son John’s father.
Sandy had separated from Alan a few months prior to her disappearance and was under the impression that her husband was in the process of filing for divorce and could be serving her with papers at any moment. In the midst of the separation, Sandy, Spencer and John had moved into a mobile home in nearby Center, North Dakota. It is a small town 40 miles Northwest of Bismarck with a population of less than 600 people and is calculated to be the geographical center of North America.
It was a cold winter day on Saturday, November 16, 1996, in Bismarck, North Dakota. The high of 22 degrees and a light snow steadily dusting the capital city created a cold evening. Sandra had made plans to take her youngest son John to her mother’s house off of University Drive in Bismarck for dinner. While on route, Sandra made a call into the Bismarck Police Department from her cell phone to report some suspicious activity happening on a farm in Center.
When Sandra called into the Police Department, she sounded distressed and tried to explain to the dispatcher that there were people hosting satanic rituals on this farm. When asked as to why she didn’t contact the Center Police Department, she stated that she called the Bismarck Department because the local law enforcement officials couldn't be trusted. Sandy was adamant that her loved one was in danger of a satanic cult. The police took the report and the call ended.
Sandra arrived at her mother's house around 7:30pm and stayed for an hour. Her mother mentioned that she was concerned with Sandra’s mental state and asked her if she could take her to the hospital for treatment. Sandy was showing signs of mental illness. After some convincing, Sandy agreed but told her mother she had to get gas before they could go but would meet her back at her mother’s house. Sandy again loaded John back into her 1990 model gray Honda Civic and pulled out of the driveway.
She pulled into a local gas station and wrote a check to pay for her gasoline.
When Sandy did not arrive back at her mother’s house by 10pm and after several attempts to reach her, Sandy’s mother contacted the police department and reported both Sandy and John missing.
The next day, an abandoned gray Honda Civic was found near the Missouri River at Centennial Park. The driver’s side door was wide open, keys in the ignition, a full tank of gas and a purse was in the front seat. There was no driver’s license found inside the purse, but other identifying items were there. Sandy’s checkbook, her employee identification and other personal items. The dusting of snow left no indication of where the driver could have gone, if there was a struggle or any leads as to why this car was left here. Law enforcement immediately knew something was wrong when the door was open in the below freezing temperatures. Even with this concern, the car was not processed for fingerprints or DNA evidence. A quick search of the surrounding areas warranted no directions into which the driver could have gone.
Being that this was on a Sunday, and the missing persons report was filed late Saturday evening, the officer investigating the abandoned car and the officer assigned the missing persons report did not make the connection that this gray Honda could be a part of a crime scene until Monday. Once Detective Turnbull gathered the missing person’s report, the abandoned Honda, and the 911 call that had come in. He immediately was concerned that Sandy may have had a moment of psychosis and walked into the freezing waters with her child.
The sheriff’s department brought out a dive team in an attempt to search the Missouri River but had to abandon the mission fairly quickly due to high currents and inclement weather.
Sandy’s husband Alan was notified of his wife and son’s disappearance and he was called in for an interview. He stated that he had been away in Missouri for business from the morning November 16 through November 18th. During this interview, Alan notified Detective Turnbull that he had not filed for divorce and that they were having marital problems. He claimed that Sandy was certain that Alan was having an affair and that she would go through phases of religious obsessions. When Det. Turnbull asked when he had last heard from his wife, Alan said Sandy had called him at 6:15 the morning she disappeared and asked him specifically to recite the lord’s prayer for their son.
Further conversations on November 26th with Sandy’s loved ones, lead to a potential third person maybe being in Sandy’s car the day she disappeared. A close family member that remains unnamed in the police files, suspected that someone was with Sandy in her car. They said she was speaking differently than usual and that when they went to end the call Sandy did not say “I Love You” at the end of the call which she never neglected to say.
Detective Turnbull released Sandy’s belongings to Alan because they were married! Alan was even granted access to Sandy’s home where he took several items. Her Honda Civic was given back to him as well on December 23. The car was never processed.
Having no new leads on where Sandy could have gone, Det. Turnbull’s investigation slows to a halt. He also neglected to verify Alan’s work trip itinerary to verify his alibi. It would be over a month later when his supervisors suggested that Turnbull check into Alan’s work trip. In the interview, Alan stated that he and 6 other people rode in a van from North Dakota to Missouri and that they had left around 8am on Saturday, November 16. It was roughly a 15 hour drive. Alan said that they stayed in the Westport Hotel, Sunday night. The hotel manager confirmed that Alan did stay there for one single night on Sunday but he could not fax a copy of the report without a subpoena.
With no clear indication of where Alan stayed the night Sandy disappeared, Turnbull noted in his file that his alibi had been vetted.
January 7, 1997, Alan’s co-worker, Arnold, wrote a letter to Detective Turnbull verifying that he was with Alan. He said he picked him up at 8:15 at NW Tire on South Bis Expressway and that the two drove the 11 hours south east to St. Joseph, Missouri, stayed the night and then the next morning drove on to St. Louis. He said that they did some sightseeing and when they got back to the hotel, Alan had a message to return to Bismarck. Arnold took Alan to the airport Monday morning for him to fly back to Bismarck. This note was left in the file as further verification of Alan’s alibi but was not checked. Turnbull did not call this co worker and verify any of the information or find out where they stayed at in St. Joseph.
In the spring of 1997, police put out a plea to media for assistance in keeping an eye out for Sandy and John. The only item that was uncovered was a child’s shoe found along the Missouri River on May 20. Alan told detectives he believed it was his son’s shoe, but both Spencer and Sandy’s mother were adamant that the shoe was far too large for John to wear.
7 years pass without an advancement in Sandy and John’s disappearance. In 2004, the Missing and Exploited Children’s Center reached out to Alan for pictures for missing flyers but they also wanted DNA to create an accurate age progression photo. Alan declined any attempts for them to reach him. This is when they reached out to Sergeant Connor.
Sgt. Connor was one of the deputies on call the night Sandy’s car was found. He had a K9 partner that he took up and down the beach and area for hours that night and turned up no evidence.
He was able to gain access to the file and reopened the investigation. In 2005, Alan agreed to sit down with Sgt. Connor where he claimed that he did send in photos to the children’s center. He said he mailed them photos and that he had no interest in sending in a DNA sample.
When Connor asked Alan again about the divorce and how the marriage was he told him that he did indeed have an affair and that is why they originally separated. He then went on to say the two reconciled and the two had scheduled to attend couples counseling through Sandy’s insurance but Sandy never showed up for the appointment.
This threw a red flag up for Connor. Being medical records, he had to file for a subpoena before he was granted any sort of paperwork. Once he had it in hand there was no record of any sort of appointment.
Alan proceeded to tell Connor about the late night conversations that he and Sandy had. Connor found some call logs in the file that Alan had provided to Detective Turnbull back in 1996. It showed that Sandy had contacted Bismarck United Life Insurance Policy twice just hours before she disappeared. Both calls lasted 10 seconds each after someone answered the phone. In an attempt to track down any information related to these two calls, Connor contacted the insurance company. It had been sold to another company and ultimately led to a dead end.
However, it did spark an idea for Connor to reach out to the Human Resources Department at the department of transportation where Sandy worked. The director recalled Alan coming into the office and aggressively demanding information about her benefits.
Alan confirmed that he received a payout on a $30,000 policy that he was the sole beneficiary roughly 5 years after.
Connor interviews Sandy’s mother who told him that she was confident that Sandy and Alan were days away from divorce proceedings despite what Alan was telling him. She told Connor that Sandy was an avid journalist and wrote down every aspect of her day. If Connor could find her journal it would answer several questions. The state of Sandy’s mind, where she believed her marriage stood and so much more. With no documentation proving the marriage was in dissolution, Alan was granted access to all of Sandy’s belongings. Remember how I said he was given her purse just days after her disappearance and her car within weeks? He also went into her home and gathered up many items. In an interview with Detective Turnbull, Sandy’s then 16 year old son told him that he had seen his mother’s wedding rings in a change dish on the counter in Alan’s house. When Connor spoke to Alan about this years later, he said he knew that he didn’t take it from Sandy’s house but couldn’t remember why he was in possession of them.
A polygraph test was suggested but Alan’s lawyer declined to take one.
The amount of mistakes made by this police department is ongoing. From not verifying alibis properly, to not processing potential crime scenes and not securing evidence. Connor learned that the 911 call from Sandy into the Bismarck PD was deleted!
Detective Turnbull’s investigations originally included a conversation with Sandy’s Ex Husband, Vernon. He talked about how Sandy had beliefs in end of the world scenarios and that at one point they had made a suicide pact that in the event of an apocalypse the two would meet at Memorial Bridge, located just down the road from Centennial Park, and jump together. Could this be the terrible conclusion to this case? Vernon struggled with substance abuse and admitted to being high when Sandy had called him hours before her disappearance and that he had not answered. He passed the polygraph he was given and even told them that he didn’t believe Sandy would commit suicide as she believed that your soul could not enter heaven if you commit suicide. Vernon became a victim of Homicide in 2005 where he was run over by his own car and died due to blunt force trauma on the side of the road. His murder is also unsolved.
Sandy and John’s disappearance remains a mystery even though they were declared deceased.
Sandy would be 63 years old now and John would be 31.
Age progression of John to 30 years old.
If you have any information related to Sandy or John’s sudden disappearance from Bismarck North Dakota please contact the Bismarck Police Department at 701.223.1212.
