Spring Brings New Hope to Dru Sjodin Case

ByABC News
March 24, 2004, 7:31 PM

March 29, 2004 &#151 -- Long, frigid winters are typical in North Dakota and Minnesota, but the season was particularly brutal for the family of missing college student Dru Sjodin.

Sjodin, 22, has been missing for more than four months. Though authorities have had a suspect in her disappearance in custody since December, they have not found the University of North Dakota student.

A snow-covered North Dakota landscape and frozen-over lakes have stalled a search that once boasted hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials daily. Grand Forks, N.D., police suspended their formal search in mid-December, hoping Alfonso Rodriguez, the convicted rapist arrested in Sjodin's disappearance, would provide information that would lead them to her. But, officials say, Rodriguez has refused to cooperate.

Until recently, Sjodin's relatives and volunteers conducted their own searches without law enforcement officials. With the spring season officially here, investigators and volunteers hope the trail will warm up as the ground and lakes begin to thaw. They plan to restart a full-fledged search around early to mid-April.

Sjodin's family still holds hope that she will be found alive, but have resigned themselves to the likelihood that she is dead.

"We have our moments, some good, some not-so-good moments," said Allan Sjodin. "I'm her father. I have to continue to have hope. But we know that the evidence doesn't look so good and we try to prepare ourselves for both outcomes."

A Phone Conversation, Blood, and a Knife

Dru Sjodin's disappearance generated national headlines largely because of its chilling eeriness.

Sjodin was last seen walking in the parking lot of the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks on Nov. 22. She had left the Victoria's Secret store where she worked and was talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone. The boyfriend, Chris Lang, told police he heard Sjodin say "Oh my God" and then the line went dead.