After startled cry, UND senior vanishes (Dru Sjodin)

Star Tribune ^ | November 25, 2003 | Chuck Haga and Richard Meryhew

[maggief]

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Dru Sjodin finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store at 4 p.m. Saturday, then did a little shopping at another store in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.

As she walked to her car, the 22-year-old University of North Dakota senior from Pequot Lakes, Minn., used her cell phone to call her boyfriend in the Twin Cities. They talked for about 10 minutes, he later told authorities, until the call ended with a startled cry from Dru:

"Oh, my God! No!"

Nobody has heard from her since.

A few hours later, there was a second brief and voiceless call to her boyfriend, and the signal from her cell phone was tracked to a rural area near Fisher, Minn., 13 miles southeast of Grand Forks.

Throughout the city Monday, people took up her disbelieving cry: "Oh, my God, No!"

(snip)

[Ispy4u]

I didn't mean to imply that my hypothesis was fact. I agree with you already that it is impossible for him to travel that far that fast.

However convinient language in strange situations makes me disbelieve that the story is as implied.

The boy may be completely innocent, he may have hired someone to do it, she may be faking her dissapearance, or any combination above. I don't know.

But those four words, as stated, make me suspicious.

[Fred Mertz]

Maybe the boyfriend hired someone to off her.

[cajungirl]

Odd, I find the story horrible and probably true. I think she was walking and a man was at her car hiding with a gun and that caused the exclamation. My heart hurts for her parents. Young women ought to be excorted to their cars. I just hate it when my own are out alone late at nite.

[Ispy4u]

Is it just me or her last words just a little too perfect for the situation?

[mewzilla]

Someone was on the other end of the phone. I'm sure the cops are checking the boyfriend's alibi.

[Catspaw]

I'll give you a hand.  The police have two other suspects.  One of them made harassing phone calls to her at work, a person with a "foreign accent."  The other was "putting pressure on her" because he wanted "more out of the relationship than she was willing to give." 

Harassing Phone Calls

In new information that could potentially shed some light on the case, authorities have learned that the store had been receiving harassing phone calls from an unknown man shortly before the disappearance. Most of the calls were directed at Sjodin.

Speaking on Good Morning America today, Sjodin's father, Allan Sjodin, said his daughter had not told the family about the phone calls at work.

"She hadn't mentioned the phone calls," said Allan. "She mentioned that another person, a different person, was putting some pressure on her."

According to Allan, the unidentified person had wanted "more out of the relationship than she was willing to give."

Who Was the Caller?

Speaking on Good Morning America today, Sgt. Michael Hedlund said the police department was assuming that the friend who had wanted "more out of" his relationship with Sjodin was not the person calling her workplace. He did, however, warn that it was not possible to make a definitive assumption as yet.

"We don't know a whole lot of details on the calls yet," said Hedlund. "Our understanding [is that] there was a subject with a foreign accent — we don't know what nationality — and a majority of the calls requested Dru by name. Whether she actually even spoke to the subject, we're not sure."

Police have sent some items from Sjodin's car to a crime lab for analysis and have expanded the search to include civilian volunteers.

The police have also been using helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, horses and dogs to search fields near Grand Forks as well as the area around Fisher. Landowners have been asked to check their properties.

[Ispy4u]

I've already read all of that. I find none of it calming my feeling about those "too perfect" last words.

Like I said, I could be dead wrong. But there's something about someone saying just the right thing that makes me wonder.

[Velveeta]

My heart hurts for her parents.

Mine too. She's been missing since Saturday, doesn't sound good.

[Catspaw]

Why don't you tell me what she should've said when she was dragged out of her car? What would be the appropriate words to say when one is abducted?

[Jim Noble]

I smell boyfriend involvement, too.

Almost certainly correct.

But, is there more than one?

[mewzilla]

FWIW, it sounds fishy to me, too. But I'm sure the cops will check the boyfriend's phone records, whereabouts. And if the boyfriend has nothing to hide, he'll co-operate. Statistics show that most murder victims know their attacker. The boyfriend's a reasonable suspect.

[mountaineer]

people in parking lots offering to let people smell samples of perfume they are supposedly selling at discount prices.

Another technique would-be assailants use is to approach a woman who just got into her car, tap on the window, wave some money and say, "You dropped this." When she rolls down the window to express her gratitude and take the bill, he makes his move.

[maggief]

Also check out the blurb in post #8.

[Catspaw]

See post #26. There are two other suspects, one that wanted more out of the relationship that she was willing to give and another who was making harassing phone calls to her at her place of work.

[rudy45]

Was she carrying? Has anyone noticed how the media rarely if ever mentions the fact that a crime victim was unarmed?

[Catspaw]

We have two young women in our area that were abducted from parking lots within the past 7-8 years. They've never been found. One of them, Laurie Depies, looks very much like Dru.

[hellinahandcart]

But those four words, as stated, make me suspicious.

What if it was stated more like "OMG!!!NOOO!!!!" than "Oh my God, no!"

Sound a bit more natural that way?

[Devil_Anse]

Terrible, terrible.

That second phone call reminds me of when poor Alice Donovan, who was abducted in a Wal-mart parking lot, called her daughter, apparently while her abductors were holding her.

This poor girl worked for Victoria's Secret. That is a legitimate job, but I could see where a women's fancy undies store might attract some creeps. I hope the police are investigating the creepy caller to the store--and also the person who "wanted more out of a relationship with her."

[Catspaw]

Sorry, Laurie Depies disappeared 11 years ago. It just doesn't seem that long.

http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_12064152.shtml

[Ispy4u]

Generally a real surprise shocking enough for someone to think "OMG,no!" usually is verballized with a shriek or a scream.