what happened. when a woman disappears, we know police will have questions for the man in her life. in this case, that wouldn t be so simple. in this case, there was the estranged husband who admitted to an argument that once landed her in jail. she came at me and grabbed her by the arms, then she called the police. then, there was the former colleague with a crush. cliff shared with friends that he had found the love of his life. so, you have three potential suspects. yeah it s a tangle. could investigators unravel it. we re asking ourselves what this means. would her family ever find justice. just 17 years of built up emotion, you know? hello, and welcome to dateline, 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 s home life was as happy as it seemed. they quickly uncovered a web of romanti
something that outraged the family. sandy was a good friend to me. she was one of the nicest people i have ever known. i certainly did not kill sandy. do you feel like he got away with murder? yes. absolutely. absolutely. sandra s family does not play the prosecutors. i think they took on a big undertaking. i am thankful. i think they did more than the job. the good news for sandy is that they know that clifford 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. wort why would anyone imagine while justice for sandi may anyone not look quite like what anyone imagined, her family is taking show solace in the beautiful person sandi was and the reflection they see of her in her children. your dad says that he sees your
succeed in one crucial point, that is that he hid sandy s body. we had no way to prove how she died. without the proof of how she died, it would be hard to say that cliff read intended to kill sandy. for the defendant, there was also a risk that the jury would find the prosecutor circumstantial case convincing. cliff reade and the attorney knew that he was facing a chance of being convicted in the murder of the second degree which can carry up to 20 years. prosecutors put a plea bargain on the table. the aging reed made his choice. how do you want to enter your plea? guilty. they made a deal. he pleaded guilty not to murder but to manslaughter. good the good thing about a plea avoids the risk of not winning a trial or a jury, but the appeal that everything that drags forever. the family had to deal with the loss of three times.
first when sandy disappeared, second when her remains were found, and third when charges were filed, the case was stirred up again. please rise. court is now in session. on april 11th, 2014, sandy s family was in court to see him sentenced. i was like for you to see him in the courtroom? all i feel is this rush of hot blood. it was tough. 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? it is not a whole lot. the guy killed my mom, you know, everyone knows it. cliff reed s plea was not any plea, it was an elfrid plea. he would not be required to admit to killing sandy. in fact, when he had the chance to speak, cliff reid said