Bismarck Police Department's three cold cases sound like something out of a crime novel or a primetime television show. Four people have disappeared from Bismarck in three incidents since 1989, never to be seen or heard from again.

Roy Hagel has been missing since 1989, Michele Julson since 1994 and Sandra and John Jacobson since 1996.

Sgt. Bill Connor has been investigating the three cases since around 2004. Each year, officers have to verify with family members that the people are still missing to keep their names in the National Crime Information Center database. The department decided more should be done to find out what happened to each of the people to try and provide closure for their families.

At a press conference Thursday morning, Connor gave out information on the three cases in an effort to get them back into people's minds so anyone with information about the missing persons, their disappearances or their actions around the time of their disappearances will come forward.

"I haven't really had a solid lead on any of them since I took them over," Connor said.

Any information is welcome, no matter how unimportant the details may seem, Connor said.

"Maybe (someone) heard these people say something before they disappeared," he said.

While Connor would like to see the cases solved, the closure sought would not be for him or other investigators who have worked the cases.

"I'd certainly like to see these cases cleared," he said. "My main concern is for the families."

Anyone with information about the cases should call the Bismarck Police Department at 223-1212 and ask for Connor.

All four people have been entered into the Web site, www.doenetwork.org. The site gives a brief synopsis of each case and photographs of the missing persons. Connor also has obtained dental records of the four people and DNA from their family members.

Connor said he has run the names, Social Security numbers and dates of births through search engines that monitor financial transactions. None of the four has any activity since they disappeared. No one with any of their fingerprints has been arrested for crimes under assumed names.

Connor said experts with the FBIhave told him its hard for people to live under assumed names for very long without having a significant amount of cash or connections. Hagel, Julson and Sandra Jacobson were people of limited means, unlikely to have enough cash on hand to never take out a loan or apply for a credit card.

"Any one of these people, yes, there's a chance they could be alive. There's also a chance that they aren't," Connor said. "I would say there's a good chance all of these people are dead."

Roy Hagel

Hagel was last seen at a bowling tournament in Fargo on Feb. 26, 1989. He called a friend on March 6 from Kingman, Ariz., saying he had been in nine states in nine days, was nearly out of money and was going to return to Bismarck.

His vehicle was found on March 10, 1989, near Death Valley Monument.

"His car was found in kind of a desolate area off the road near the monument," Connor said.

Hagel's wallet and keys were on the front seat of the vehicle. Park rangers tracked one set of footprints about six miles into the desert. He was never found.

Connor said investigators in the Death Valley area say a "fair amount" of people every year come to the monument in the desert and "wander off," never to be seen again.

Hagel, 38 at the time of his disappearance, sounded depressed when talking to his friend and had some recent setbacks, Connor said. He said there was some speculation Hagel had staged his own disappearance because his father had left when he was young, gone to Washington, come back and disappeared again.

Someone once reported seeing Hagel in California, but that account could not be confirmed, Connor said.

Bismarck police are handling Hagel's case because "this is where he left from," Connor said.

Michele Julson

Julson, usually called Shelly, dropped off her 3-year-old son at his paternal grandfather's house around 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 2, 1994. She planned to pick up her paycheck from the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, maybe play some bingo, then return for her son.

Julson, 26 at the time, never picked up her paycheck, and police do not believe she played bingo that day. Her son's father and grandfather reported her missing that night when she didn't return for her son.

Police searched Bismarck for Julson's light blue 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, but did not find it initially. Connor was a patrol officer at the time and prided himself on his ability to find stolen vehicles or other vehicles police were seeking.

"I looked high and low for that car when I was a patrolman," he said.

On Aug. 8, the sporty blue car was found parked at the Comfort Inn in Bismarck. Police can't say for sure, but they do not believe it had been there since Aug. 2.

"I think it would have been found earlier if it had been there,"Connor said.

Since police initially believed Julson had left her vehicle at the Comfort Inn, her vehicle was not processed. The vehicle was clean, with the exception of a half-eaten gas station sandwich on the front seat, Connor said. He said Julson's father later told officers he found some scoria rock near the car's intake manifold. Connor said that might be significant because there is little, if any, scoria around Bismarck.

People reported seeing Julson in Fargo, then at WeFest in Detroit Lakes, Minn. She was briefly taken off the missing persons list, but later was put back on when she had no contact with her family.

Connor said police no longer believe she was ever at WeFest.

Julson was very attached to her young son and close to her family, Connor said.

"She had no intentions or no reasons to be leaving Bismarck," he said.

Police do not believe she left Bismarck willingly.

"With Michele, we do suspect foul play,"Connor said.

Julson was a blackjack dealer with the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation. The night before she disappeared, she dealt blackjack at the Elbow Room. Connor said she may have met some workers that night who were staying at the Comfort Inn.

Julson had many friends, was outgoing and could talk to anyone, Connor said.

"Maybe she just ran into the wrong person,"he said.

Sandra and John

Jacobson

Sandra Jacobson, 35, planned to go to her parents' home in Bismarck for supper around 5 p.m. on Nov. 16, 1996, with her son, John. She told her mother that something had come up and they would be late. Sandra Jacobson had been living in Center.

En route to her parents' house, Sandra Jacobson called the Bismarck Police Department from her cell phone. She was very upset and was talking about some satanic ritual abuse she believed was taking place on a farm near Center. She said she did not trust Center or Oliver County law enforcement officials, so she called Bismarck police.

Sandra and John Jacobson arrived at her parents' home around 7:30 p.m. She seemed to be having mental difficulties, and she agreed to let her mother take her to the hospital. But first, she wanted to fill her car with gas. Police found a receipt confirming she filled gas after leaving her parents' home. She and John, 5, were never seen again.

Sandra Jacobson's gray 1990 Honda Civic was found the next day at Centennial Beach in Bismarck. Her purse was in the vehicle.

The Burleigh County Sheriff's Department's dive rescue and recovery team tried to search the river, but diving was difficult and dangerous. Ice had already formed on the river and a strong current of water was coming out of the reservoir.

Connor was a canine handler at the time of the Jacobson disappearance and remembers searching the river bank with his dog for sign of the mother and son.

Concerns about Sandra Jacobson's mental state brought about suspicions that she had walked into the frigid river with her son. However, Jacobson had another son who was a teenager at the time, and she was close to him, too, Connor said. He said it's also hard to believe she would have committed suicide and taken her son with her.

"It's something you don't normally see, especially in a mother," he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)