Posted on Wed, Nov. 26, 2003
Law enforcement, volunteer search yields little
By Stephen J. Lee
Herald Staff Writer
FISHER, Minn. - No clues emerged Tuesday after more than 1,300 volunteer searchers pored over miles of farmland and frozen river here looking for any sign of Dru Sjodin.
The volunteers joined about 70 federal, state and local law enforcement officers.
"They worked very hard," Capt. Mike Kirby of the Grand Forks Police Department said of the searchers. "They were on their hands and knees, brushing away snow."
They were looking for any clue connected to the UND student who went missing Saturday night in what family and police fear was an abduction.
The area was searched so thoroughly that police are asking volunteers only to be on standby today and plan to use only law enforcement officers in the search.
"That area was covered very well," Lt. Dennis Eggebraaten, a lead investigator said. "I wish we would have found certain items and the cell phone itself. We didn't find exactly what we wanted."
Items of interest
An irregular area around the cell phone tower three miles west of Fisher was searched. The area searched was described by Lt. Byron Sieber of the Grand Forks Police Department as extending roughly seven miles east and seven miles west of the tower, four miles north and six miles south of the tower.
Not all the fields were covered, but roads, ditches, coulees, bridges and edges of fields were closely walked, Sieber said. Helicopters, horses and ATVs were used, as well as the foot searching and hand and knee searching by volunteers.
"We also had law enforcement officers out there doing 'knock and talks,'" Sieber said. "They stopped at farmsteads and homes in this area and interviewed people."
Several "items of interest," were found and are being analyzed, but nothing that is being called evidence linked to Sjodin, Kirby said.
One of the items found appears to be a "cordless phone," that was "smashed to pieces," Sieber said.
But Kirby and Sieber emphasized that Sjodin's cell phone has not been found.
Sjodin's cell phone "is a very small item, and we still can't say for certain it's not in that area, with the snow cover," Sieber said.
There is no clear indication where else to search.
"We are leaving all the possibilities open right now," Sieber said. "That includes the fact she may be in a building in this area, with the cell phone with dead batteries. That's the best case scenario."
Few clues
Sjodin last was heard from about 5 p.m. Saturday as she was walking from Columbia Mall to her car, talking on her cell phone to her boyfriend in the Twin Cities.
After a 10-minute conversation, Sjodin exclaimed, "Oh, my God," or "Oh no," and the call disconnected, the boyfriend told police.
It appears Sjodin was abducted, police say. There was no blood and no obvious signs of a struggle in the car, but certain items were missing. Her 1986 Olds Cutlass was found about 11 p.m. Saturday parked north of the north entrance to J.C. Penney at the mall.
Tests of evidence taken from the car were "not conclusive," Kirby said Tuesday.
Video surveillance tapes from security cameras outside Columbia Mall are being analyzed, police said.
Nothing of Sjodin has been seen yet on the tapes, and no witnesses have come forward who saw anything happen to her in the mall parking lot.
The main clue remains Sjodin's cell phone.
Her boyfriend, who has not been identified by police and is not considered a suspect, received another call from her cell phone at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday. No one spoke on the phone and it quickly was disconnected.
However, a signal from the phone continued for 24 hours, according to the Sprint telephone company, which told police about noon Sunday the cell phone was located within three to four miles of the tower west of Fisher.
The search began in earnest Monday.
(snip)
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/7351831.htmA zest for life
Friends speak about Dru
By Lisa Davis
Herald Staff Writer People following the Dru Sjodin story are learning about her love for life through the stories of friends who miss her. "Even if she didn't know you, she'd give you a smile," friend and sorority sister, Randi Canady said. Friends call Dru bubbly, friendly, energetic, charismatic -- the type of person everybody wants to be around. Her friends are trying to keep a positive attitude, but they sometimes catch themselves slipping. Dru hasn't been heard from since Saturday. Friends on Tuesday caught themselves saying "Dru was," then correcting themselves to say "is." "None of us will think anything but good thoughts," Dru's UND advisor Lynda Kenney said. "We want her to come back and make us giggle."
Stands out
Audra Van Hoff said Dru stood out among a group when they first met during sorority recruitment a few years ago. Van Hoff was the leader of a group that introduced women to the different sorority houses.
"She's just one of those people," Van Hoff said. "You have quiet and loud. She was just one of the ones you knew was present."
Canady summed up Dru's appearance and her personality: "So pretty that she's one of those girls you want to hate, but you can't because you love her so much."
(snip)
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/7351803.htmOne way or the other, I fear this poor girl has been murdered. The chief suspect is the boyfriend.
I don't think it was the boyfriend, more likely the stalker that had been harassing her.
Heads up.
(Looks like I was right in my belief in the boyfriend's innocence.)
