Dru Sjodin

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Dru Sjodin

Dru Kathrina Sjodin (September 26, 1981 - November 22, 2003), a student of the University of North Dakota (UND), was a victim of kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder. Her disappearance garnered great media coverage throughout the United States.

[edit] Kidnapping and murder

During the early evening hours of November 22, 2003, Sjodin finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store located in Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Dru shopped at the mall's Marshall Field's department store and then left the mall. While walking to her car, she spoke with her boyfriend, Chris Lang, via cellular phone. Suddenly, Dru said something to the effect of "Oh no! Ok, ok!" and the call was abruptly ended. About three hours later, Lang received another call from her cell phone, but only heard static and the sound of buttons being pressed. It has been determined that this second phone call originated somewhere near Fisher, Minnesota.

On December 1, a suspect, 50-year-old registered level III sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., was arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance. According to police reports, Rodriguez admitted being near the Columbia Mall the day Sjodin disappeared, allegedly watching the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico. That movie was not playing at any theater in the area. The police also found receipts of purchases that Rodriguez had made at several stores near the mall including one receipt for a knife. Police also found a woman's shoe and a knife in Rodriguez's car that had blood on it that matched Sjodin's DNA. Rodriguez had been released from jail in May of 2003 after completing a 23-year prison term for stabbing and trying to kidnap a woman. Rodriguez had also previously pleaded guilty to raping another woman.

Sjodin's body was recovered on April 17, 2004 just west of Crookston, Minnesota when deep snow drifts began to melt. Crookston is also where Rodriguez lived with his mother. Sjodin's body was found partially nude and face down in a ravine. Her hands were tied behind her back and she had been beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and had several lacerations including a five and a half inch cut on her neck. A rope was also tied around her neck and remnants of a shopping bag were found under the rope suggesting that a bag had been placed on her head. The medical examiner concluded that she had either died as a result of the major neck wound, from suffocation, or from exposure to the elements. Thousands of people had helped search for the young woman and hundreds attended her funeral.

Because he had brought her across state lines, the trial was held in federal court, which meant that Rodriguez was eligible to receive the death penalty if convicted, a possibility not allowed under North Dakota law. On August 30, 2006, Rodriguez was found guilty in Sjodin's death and on September 22, 2006, he was sentenced to the death penalty.

[edit] Legacy

Legislation dubbed "Dru's Law", which will set up a national sex offender registry, was passed in 2006 and signed into law by President George W. Bush. A scholarship in Dru's name has been set up at the University of North Dakota. A memorial garden for Dru recently opened in her hometown of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota and another is planned for the UND campus.