Blood Found In Rodriquez' Car~~Story Dru Sjodin

Milwaukee Channel News ^ | 12/4/03

[WestCoastGal]

Report: Video Puts Suspect At Mall Where Sjodin Worked Police Sergeant: Tape Shows Rodriguez In Lot When College Student Disappeared

POSTED: 7:04 a.m. EST December 5, 2003

UPDATED: 7:16 a.m. EST December 5, 2003

Authorities in North Dakota have tapes placing kidnapping suspect Alfonso Rodriguez in the mall parking lot from which authorities believe University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin was abducted last month, a Minneapolis newspaper reported.

According to a report on the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper's Web site, Grand Forks police Sgt. Mike Hedlund said the tapes show the 50-year-old kidnapping suspect in a Grand Forks mall parking lot at the same time Sjodin, 22, disappeared Nov. 22. Hedlund said that hopes of finding Sjodin alive fade with each passing day.

The Star Tribune also reported that a knife sheath was found in the parking lot.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press, citing sources close to the investigation, reported Thursday night on its Web site that police found a blood sample in Rodriguez's car that matched Sjodin's blood type in a preliminary DNA analysis. A more extensive analysis is under way, the newspaper reported.

Another newspaper, the Grand Forks Herald, reported that Rodriguez didn't show up for work the day Sjodin went missing.

Rodriguez, a three-time convicted rapist from nearby Crookston, Minn., is being held on a $5 million bond. His attorney said on Thursday that Rodriguez wants to stay behind bars for his own safety.

The prosecutor said there's little chance he would offer to cut a deal with Rodriguez in exchange for information to help search for Sjodin.

Police say Sjodin likely was on her cell phone when she was abducted. Her boyfriend told police he heard her scream "Oh my God!" before the line went dead. In a call from Sjodin's phone a couple hours later, the boyfriend heard only static and the sound of buttons being pushed. *************************************

My comment: It's just too bad we can't torture this guy to make him say where she is!!!!

[Oberon]

Probably will be too little, too late by then.

Although I would love to be proven wrong, it seems highly likely to me that it's already too late.

[Jackie-O]

Still praying for Dru.
Here are some links to most recent news on the case:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/12/08/missing.student/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105116,00.html

[null and void]

Thanks, Jackie.

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks, Jackie.

That second article said Rodriguez claimed he was molested by an adult female when he was a boy. I could see where that might mess up a young boy's mind, but... oh, BOO HOO! Lots of people are molested, and they don't do the stuff he's done! Anyway, it's just an interesting tidbit about this nut.

I know you watch crime shows sometimes, as I do. You know how profilers classify serious criminals as either "organized" or "disorganized"? I am no expert at all on such a thing, but my guess is that they would put Rodriguez in the "disorganized" category. Going on that assumption, and also going on the assumption that he is the real perp, I wonder how the heck he managed to hide the body so well? Or is it just that the snow is covering everything? If the latter, that is sure going to lead to some horror and heartache, when the thaw season comes on...

[Jackie-O]

I don't buy the molestation claim. I think it was just a convenient excuse for his criminal behavior. Had he claimed he was molested by a male, to me that would be more believable, more damaging to his phsyce than being molested by a female. While it could be possible, I would think it would be more traumatic for a boy to be molested the way a pedophile man would. Kinda gross to differantiate between the two, but am I making any sense?
I don't believe there was too much snow on the ground back on Nov. 22 when Dru was kidnapped...only in the weeks after. I'm curious to see what his whereabouts where in the days following the crime, see if he had a chance to hide her so well. That would tell us if he could be classified as an organized criminal.
Now you got me profiling Snotty... somewhat organized in the beginning, disorganized after the crime, do you agree?

[Velveeta]

Thanks, Jackie. Such a tragedy.

[Devil_Anse]

I'm not sure. I think Scott is an "organized" type of person, in general.

We may see him as disorganized, or clueless, or whatever, at times, b/c of some of the glaringly crazy things he's done. But I think those things are logical, in his world.

Example: We all think it was unbelievably telling and, therefore, stupid, of Scott to be selling Laci's car and trying to sell the house, within a month of her disappearance. We find these things absurd b/c: 1)We would feel bad doing such things if our loved one died through no fault of our own, and 2) We know if we had secretly been the murderer of our loved one, we would not have done these things b/c it would give us away.

But in his mind, IMO, there is no such thing as sentiment for a person who has passed on. (Nor does he feel any sentiment for the living, IMO.) So he's operating at a handicap--he's unaware that a normal person doesn't just start immediately putting the dead person's stuff to his own use. So he doesn't know to pretend that he doesn't want to part with all traces of "my dear Laci".

To him it makes perfect sense to sell off her stuff immediately, to him that's correct and normal behavior, so that's why he didn't think anyone would raise an eyebrow.

[Devil_Anse]

Sorry to get so far off track and to bring scumbag Scott onto this thread. Back to this poor missing girl.

[mewzilla]

It's a pity the state doesn't have the death penalty. Then they'd have something to bargain with: life in prison or a lethal injection.

[Devil_Anse]

There's good news on that. He may be eligible for the federal death penalty. This is very likely a kidnapping case. The feds are in charge of kidnapping. I heard on one or two of the cable shows that Rodriguez, if guilty, may end up with the federal death penalty.

They can prosecute him in state court AND in federal court, too. Double whammy.

[LisaMalia]

I heard on tv last night (in a phone interview with a prison guard) that Rodriquez is resting comfortably in his holding cell. He is not among the other inmates per a request from his attorney. He had gotten some books from the prison library, and had spent the day reading.

Don't we treat our murderers well in this society?

I had a difficult time sleeping after hearing this. Sickening, utterly sickening.

[mewzilla]

Well, if this guy is eligoble for the federal penalty, I wonder why they haven't mentioned it. Unless they think they have enough to find Dru and still get a capital conviction for Rodriquez.

[ZULU]

We have all watched with anger and repugnance at apparently ONE MORE case of another victim falling prey to a repeat sexual predator.

Dru Sjodin, a young, beautiful, loving woman with a loving family and an full life ahead of her, has apparently fallen victim to Carlos Rodriguez, an individual with a long record as a sexual predator, an individual who refused "treatment" for his obsession while incarcerated, an individual who was, ONCE AGAIN, approved for release by YET ANOTHER psychiatrist who should have know better.

My prayers and sympathy go out to the family and friends of Ms. Sjodin, and I hope and pray by some miracle she is still alive and the Father of us all is protecting her.

While this heart-wrenching tragedy is unfolding in the upper mid-west, one of far too many instances of this kind, what, pray tell are our elected Congresspersons up to??????

Well, they passed a law requiring a special license to transport tigers, lions and big cats across state lines.

Thats right. They took the time to pass a law requiring a federal permit to move a lion or tiger, etc. across a state line. And why, pray tell? Becuase one idiot in New York was keeping a tiger and a crocodile in his apartment.

My point is not to argue the merit of a special permit to transport tigers. My argument is time, perspecitve and efficiency. How many Americans have been killed by tigers or lions or crocodiles in the past few centuries, aside from those actually handling them?? I can't recall ONE.

How many Americans, like Dru Sjodin, have fallen victims to violent sexual predators or paedophiles?? Countless numbers.

So what interests our overpaid, over-benefitted, practically-tenured Congressmen?? Tigers and crocodiles.

If you don't want to address a complicated, serious problem, generate a non-existant one and then provide a solution. It looks good in the papers. There is more croc in Congress than croc moving across state lines.

Sexual predators and paedophiles, people who have served notice on society that they are below a ravvenous beast on the scale of rationality, should NEVER get a second chance to re-enact their crimes. They should be locked up for life. It should be a FEDERAL CRIME to commit an act of sexual predation on another human being, using the same assumption that applies in cases of simple kidnapping - that the felon may very well cross state lines. And the penalty should be death or life in prison without parole.

Congress should start dealing with real issues, and leave tigers, lions, corcodiles and law-abiding gun owners ALONE.

[null and void]

Well said.

[Jackie-O]

I hope that is the case Dev. I know the DA said there would be no plea deals, it would be nice if they did have the option to dangle a life sentence in front of him for info that will bring this poor girl back to her family.

[WestCoastGal]

Just reported on Fox, Dru's shoe found near Red River. Knife found in wheel well of car in some sort of cleaning solution.

[WestCoastGal]

AREA OF RED LAKE RIVER where shoe was found, will try to narrow down exactly where.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Law enforcement officials searching for college student Dru Sjodin (search) revealed two new pieces of the puzzle over her disappearance — blood found in the car of the suspect in the case appears to match Sjodin's and a single shoe belonging to the 22-year-old was discovered near a river.

Grand Forks County Sheriff Dan Hill (search) confirmed Tuesday that officials had a preliminary match linking the blood found in Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.'s (search) maroon, four-door 2002 Mercury Sable to the DNA of Sjodin.

Hill also said that Rodriguez's car had other potential clues. Officials found a knife, described as a Jack knife with an approximately four-inch, jagged-edged blade, Hill said.

The knife was found in some kind of solution, but Hill said authorities did not know if the solution was accidentally or deliberately spilled on the knife. Hill also said that officials found a sheath in the parking lot where Rodriguez's car was located that likely matches the knife.

The other discovery was that of the shoe. Hill said a shoe was found near the Red Lake River (search) last week and Sjodin's roommate identified it as belonging to the University of North Dakota student. Law enforcement divers were sent to the scene.

[WestCoastGal]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the perp lives in Crookston, according to the following the river runs through Crookston, Mn. In my opinion he's toast!!!!

Crookston is in Polk County in northwestern Minnesota, approximately 25 miles east of Grand Forks, North Dakota. It is located on the Red Lake River, 52 miles upstream from its confluence with the Red River of the North at East Grand Forks, Minnesota

[WestCoastGal]

There may still be a way to get this guy the death penalty. The shoe was found on the Minnesota side of the river, she was abducted in ND, so kidnapping plus murder could possibly be a federal death penalty??

News conference at 3:40 EST by governors of Mn and ND.

[null and void]

ping

I wish it was good news.