Girl Goes Missing — 3 Days Later, Cops See This On Camera | The Case of Dru Sjodin
Pay attention to the woman in the yellow jacket. She has no idea that she is being stalked. Moments earlier, a man is seen sitting right by the exit, just out of frame of the camera. People don’t seem to notice him as they walk by, but he’s been sitting there for over 15 minutes. But what nobody knows is this man has spent the last 23 years in prison and has just been released.
When the woman in the yellow jacket exits the store, the man gets up and follows her into the parking lot. Minutes later, in another part of the same shopping mall, security footage shows 22-year-old college student Dru Sjodin entering Marshall Field’s. As she walks through the store, she gets a phone call from her boyfriend.
The moment she exits the store, the phone call suddenly disconnects, and Dru Sjodin goes missing. Dru’s disappearance would remain a mystery, and women across the Midwest would continue to be terrorized if it wasn’t for one survivor who will come back and take down a killer. The year is 1999. In this small town of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, 18-year-old Dru Sjodin is living a happy life with her mother and father.
Dru is finishing her senior year of high school, and as graduation approaches, she and her family begin to narrow down their choice of colleges. Her father, Allan, sees that the University of North Dakota is on the list. Together, they decide that Grand Forks, North Dakota will be her new home away from home.
– I had convinced Dru to come to Grand Forks because it was a safe place. – Even though sending Dru more than 300 miles away is hard, both of her parents encouraged her to go, knowing it is the perfect place for her to fulfill her dreams. As Dru settles into college life in Grand Forks, she makes sure to stay close with her parents, coming home whenever she can on school breaks and keeping in touch, calling them regularly.
– She truly was coming into herself, knew who she was, just a generally warm, caring, loving, wonderful young lady. – 2003, Dru is now a senior at the University of North Dakota. She’s been doing well in school and has a thriving social life with many close friends and her new boyfriend, Chris. She also works as an intern and volunteers in her community, all while working two part-time jobs.
On Saturday, November 22nd, she scheduled for an afternoon shift at the Victoria’s Secret Store inside the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks. At 4:00 PM, Dru finishes her shift and decides to walk through the mall to do some shopping. Security footage from Marshall Field’s shows Dru entering the store and browsing through the aisles.
She’s looking for something to give her mother for Christmas. At around 5:00 PM cameras capture her holding her phone to her ear as she walks through the store. She’s talking to her boyfriend, Chris Lang. But at 5:04 PM, just minutes after she picked up the phone, the call abruptly drops with no warning, and Chris is left hanging on the other line.
– Chris immediately tries calling Dru back, but there is no answer. He tells himself it was probably just bad cell reception and assumes she’ll call back soon. Then at 7:42 PM, after over an hour of waiting, his phone rings. It’s Dru. Chris is relieved and eagerly picks up his phone, but there is no response from the other end of the line.
For the next few seconds, he waits, hoping to hear her voice, but all he hears is static, wind, and the distinct sound of buttons being pushed. Moments later, the call abruptly ends again. Chris decides to call Dru’s mother, Linda, to let her know something strange is going on with Dru. – He says something to the effect, “I don’t wanna alarm you, but I haven’t heard from Dru.
I tried to call her, and she hasn’t shown up to her second job.” And I then knew immediately something had to be wrong. – Linda calls Dru’s father right away. Their instincts tell them Dru is in trouble. And to make matters worse, both parents are hundreds of miles away from their little girl. Knowing they need to act quickly, they begin calling Dru’s friends and coworkers, and once they realize no one has seen her or even heard from her, the police are called.
It’s 9:00 PM on November 22nd. A winter storm sweeps across Minnesota, making the roads increasingly dangerous. But without hesitation, Allan gets in his car and begins the nearly five-hour drive to North Dakota. His daughter is missing and he needs to be there. – I immediately jumped in my pickup and drove to Grand Forks.
There was a snow storm that night. I had to follow behind a semi because it was snowing so crazy. You don’t wanna think the worst. You know, you’re trying to be positive. – Shortly after 2:00 AM, over nine hours since Dru seemingly vanished, her father, Allan, arrives in Grand Forks. – I drove over to the parking lot at Columbia Mall, found her car, and then saw all of her possession still in the car.
– He finds her belongings, her wallet, cash, and driver’s license. The shopping bag from Marshall Field’s is there too, with her mother’s Christmas gift still inside. The only thing missing from the vehicle is Dru’s cell phone. – That really set off a lot of alarms. All of the indicators were that there was something sinister going on.
– Allan makes a decision to stay in the parking lot for the rest of the night. – I was waiting for Dru to show up. I was hoping that she had, you know, gone off with someone and just was coming back to get her vehicle. That was my hope. – But as the hours pass and the cold deepens, there was still no sign of her.
– I had a thousand things going through my mind. At that point, none of them were good. – 8:00 AM November 23rd, 15 hours since Dru was last seen, the sun rises over the Columbia Mall parking lot, but there is still no sign of the 22-year-old. Both of her parents are deeply concerned. Dru would never just disappear like that, leaving everything behind.
Dru’s mother and father begin organizing a search. They appear on local television, urging the public to help. And because of their insistence, the police finally start taking her case seriously. They turn their attention to Dru’s cell phone, the only item missing from her car, hoping the cell data might provide a crucial lead.
– The Sprint phone records indicated that her phone was still on and pinging in the Crookston area, which is a town east of Grand Forks in Minnesota. – We believe at this time that we had a kidnapping. And you bring in Minnesota, it’s a kidnapping that’s crossed state lines. – The local investigation quickly gains national attention, and the story of Dru’s abduction spreads across the country.
– The family of missing college student Dru Sjodin is still holding out hope that she will be found alive. – We had people out on ATVs, we had people out on foot, shoulder to shoulder, walking ditch banks, and even with the cold and the snow, we had busloads of people walking up and down ditches and roadsides.
– Dru’s parents helped lead the search effort with more than 1,300 volunteers searching through rural roads, covering streets, storefronts, and campus buildings with flyers, refusing to give up hope. – We’re not gonna quit. We’ll keep looking until we find her. – But as the search area expands, so does the fear that whoever took Dru has been one step ahead of them.
It’s now November 25th, six days since Dru’s disappearance. Searchers combing the riverbanks near Crookston, Minnesota spot something along the edge of the water. At first, they can’t tell what the black object is, but as they move closer, they realize it’s a shoe. – The shoe was found under the bridge on the Highway 75 bypass going into Crookston, which goes over the Red Lake River.
Actually, how it exactly got there, we don’t know. – Dru’s loved ones confirm that the shoe matches the one she was wearing the night she disappeared. – To find the shoe, it was pretty an indescribable emotion. It’s hard to even imagine because it was so cold to think my daughter’s out there now without shoes on.
Just a gamut of emotions. – As days turn into weeks, the search runs dry, her cell phone stops pinging, and Dru’s parents fear that her case will go cold. But just as hope begins to fade, more than 1500 miles away in a small town in Oregon, a woman named Shirley Iverson is sitting at home watching the evening news.
A segment about Dru’s disappearance comes on, and as the reporter lays out the details of the case, suddenly, Shirley has a sinking feeling in her stomach. The circumstances sound familiar, too familiar, because one night, 29 years earlier, she came face to face with a man that would change her life forever.
The man who she believes took Dru Sjodin. It’s 1974. Shirley Iverson is an 18-year-old college freshman. – I went to my car to drive home. As I got to my car, there was a rap on the window, and it was a man asking for a ride home. It was someone whose brother was a classmate, and this was his older brother, Alfonso.
You know, a ride home about seven blocks would be no big deal. So, I gave him a ride home and he sexually assaulted me. The terror is just profound as you’re being strangled. I drive home, and to this day, one of the hardest things was climbing that flight of stairs to awaken my mother and to tell her what happened.
– After the news report ends, Shirley immediately calls the tip line, convinced that the same man who assaulted her is responsible for Dru’s disappearance, and she tells investigators his name is Alfonso Rodriguez. Now, armed with the photo of the man Shirley identified, police begin reviewing hours of surveillance footage from the mall recorded on November 22nd, 2003, the day Dru disappeared.
In the footage, they spot a man who closely resembles him walking up and down the aisles, and later lingering near an exit. But the images are not clear enough to make a definitive identification. At this point, there is still nothing directly linking Alfonso to Dru, so they decide to confront him directly, driving over an hour to Macintosh, Minnesota, where Rodriguez is working at a construction site.
– Within minutes of questioning Alfonso, he admits that he was not only in Grand Forks on the day Dru drew disappeared, but that he was also shopping at the Columbia Mall. But as the cops press him further, he claims he has nothing to do with Dru’s disappearance and denies any connection to her. – Investigators hold him overnight, but by morning, the district attorney’s office determines there isn’t enough evidence to file charges.
They’re forced to release him. But Special Agent Dan Ahlquist can’t shake the feeling that Shirley is right, and Alfonso is the man who took Dru. With the clock ticking, they know they need to make their next move quickly. Dru could still be alive somewhere, and Alfonso might be the key to finding her. They place him under 24-hour surveillance and get a warrant to search his car.
– And the first thing that struck me is the car appeared to be kind of immaculate. In the trunk, there was a fishing rod and a pair of rubber gloves and a smell of cleaner. – Inside the vehicle, detectives find something odd, a glass jar filled with bleach, – In that cleaning substance was submerged a lock blade knife.
– Next, the forensics team begins a detailed search of Alfonso’s car. – He’s looking at this light-colored interior. He’d pointed with his finger at a tiny little speck. Then we looked at the right rear passenger’s window, and there’s some of these tiny little specks on the glass. The blood that was present was found to be Dru Sjodin’s blood.
– When I heard that her blood had been found in the car, it hit me in the gut. Like- I- Like, I couldn’t breathe. – The news is tough for Dru’s family to hear, but they continue to hold on to hope that she could still be alive, even though they know the odds grow slimmer with each passing day. – I just remember crying into the night and praying and hoping that I would hear from her, that she would show up, or- I would hear some wonderful news.
– The team surveilling Alfonso is notified right away. They hurry to arrest him and bring him in for further questioning. If there is any chance that Dru is still alive somewhere, Dan knows the only person who can tell them where she is is Alfonso himself. But when they press him for more information, he shuts down, refusing to tell them anything.
Dru’s family, friends, and rescue teams relentlessly continue their search. But 147 days after her disappearance, a sheriff walking alongside a rural roadside makes a disturbing discovery. – I was walking along this road. Looking down into the ravine, I saw something. And I walked down there to see what it was, and it was Dru’s body.
– Dru’s parents are in a state of shock. Their little girl is gone. – My last exit out of Grand Forks was seeing the yellow cordoned-off area, and all I remember asking is, “Would somebody please be with her all night?” – It was devastating. You spend your whole life protecting your kids, and then to have this happen, it was really a shock for me.
– Dru’s friends and family mourn her loss, and the entire community comes together to honor a young woman who brought light and warmth to everyone around her. – God of Grace, we thank you for Dru for the many ways her all too brief life has touched and enriched so many lives. – She had a huge heart, she had a beautiful smile, and she’s just a fantastic young lady that went way, way too soon.
– For the next two and a half years, Dru Sjodin’s family waits for their day in court, waiting for the man responsible to be brought to justice. Finally, on August 14th, 2006, the trial begins. As the case unfolds, the jury comes face to face with Alfonso Rodriguez. They learn about his history of violence and walk through the surveillance footage from November 22nd, 2003, and the last hours of Dru’s life.
Two hours before Dru’s disappearance, Alfonso was seen walking up and down the aisles, as if he is browsing for something, but he isn’t interested in anything on the shelves. Instead, he peers over them and then lingers, standing still and watching other customers move through the store. – He then sits on a bench right next to the exit.
And he sits there for some 15 or so minutes. – He did appear to be watching women as they were exiting the store. It was quite chilling to see him hunting like that. At one point, a blonde female exits the store pushing a shopping cart, and Rodriguez got up and followed that person out of the store. – The woman who, from a distance, bears a striking resemblance to Dru, has no idea how close she was to a dangerous predator.
She leaves the store unharmed, unaware of the man behind her. Less than two hours later, Dru appears on the other side of the mall, shopping at Marshall Field’s. That’s when Alfonso Rodriguez follows her outside of the store, through the mall, and into the parking lot. – He decided it was time to make his move, pulled out his knife, forces her into his car, and drives out of the area.
– With Dru trapped in the car, Alfonso brings her to a remote area where, tragically, he takes Dru’s life. – I have dreams about that. She shouldn’t have to worry about being unsafe. You should be safe. That is very, very, very haunting for me. – All I remember was staring out my window and just feeling so helpless and so hopeless.
And, you know, the maternal instinct was, I wanted to somehow be able to save her. – During the trial, Dru’s parents and loved ones sit silently in the courtroom. When it’s time for Shirley Iverson, Alfonso’s first victim, to take the stand, all eyes are on her as she tells the jury her story. She bravely describes the night of her attack.
Dru can’t be there to speak for herself, but through Shirley’s words, her voice is heard. – With Dru Sjodin’s father sitting quietly a few feet behind him, Rodriguez offered few words. His head down as the charges against him were read aloud in court – To it that Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. did abduct Dru Sjodin in the JCPenney store parking lot.
– After less than four hours of deliberation on August 30th, 2006, the jury returns their verdict, Alfonso Rodriguez is guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Dru Sjodin. – I know it wasn’t easy a decision for the jurors, but Dru’s voice was heard today. – I did wish that there was more that we could do because it couldn’t bring Dru Sjodin back, but we obtained justice on that day.
– Right now, he’s serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. – When the community and Dru’s family learns that Alfonso Rodriguez was a level-three sex offender and had already served 23 years for his crimes against Shirley and others before he was released and took Dru’s life, Linda knows something needs to change.
Dru’s mother becomes determined to ensure this never happens again and pushes for the creation of a national database of sex offenders open to the public. Linda’s advocacy is a success. In 2006, the White House adopts the bill named Dru’s Law, establishing the database nationwide. – As I speak across the United States after losing my daughter, I really searched and looked towards what could I have given her.
– Through organizations such as Fight Like a Girl, Linda helps to provide self-defense training for young people across the country. – As long as I have a voice, I will try to give voice to all victims, not just Dru, but to all victims. I think she’d be pretty proud. – Dru’s legacy lives on through the love and compassion of her family and friends, and through the countless lives her story continues to inform, empower, and help keep safe.
