Sjodin Case: Why Was Sex Offender Free?
Dec. 2, 2003 -- -- A day after a convicted rapist was arrested in the disappearance of a college student, Minnesota's governor called today for new laws to keep sex predators incarcerated longer and make them eligible for the death penalty in murder cases.
Police, meanwhile, vowed to press on with the search for Dru Sjodin, 22. Sjodin, a student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, has been missing since Nov. 22. She had just left work after finish her shift at a Victoria's Secret store in a Grand Forks mall, and was last seen in the mall parking lot. She had been talking on her cell phone to her boyfriend, who told police he heard her say "Oh my God" before the line went dead.
"Dru, we will find you," Grand Forks Police Chief John Packett told a news conference today. "With the arrest of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., last night, this investigation has only reached the 50-yard line. We will not be comforted or satisfied until we have found Dru."
Rodriguez, 50, was arrested Monday evening in Crookston, Minn., where he lives, and charged with kidnapping. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday, when authorities will seek his extradition to North Dakota.
Police said they have reason to believe suspect Rodriguez was in the parking lot where Sjodin was last seen. Authorities declined to comment further on specifics of the case, citing respect for Sjodin's family.
Rodriguez has convictions for rape, attempted kidnapping andaggravated assault, and has used a weapon in at least one assault,according to the Minnesota Corrections Department. He was released from a Minnesota prison in May after serving a full 23-year sentence for an attempted abduction in Crookston in 1979.
Today, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Dru Sjodin's case is a wakeup call for legislators to consider new laws that would enable sex offenders to be imprisoned longer — and face the death penalty when sexual assaults are coupledwith murders or attempted murder. Minnesota is one of 12 states that do not have the death penalty.
Pawlenty said he is tired of hearing stories about convicted sex offenders preying upon victims after getting out of prison.
"As a Minnesotan, as a governor, as a dad of two youngdaughters, I'm fed up. I'm fed up with these stories where we have children abducted, women abducted with a not very good system for resolving the issue," Pawlenty said at an afternoon press conference. "I know this is strong language, particularly for Minnesota. It [pushing for the death penalty] will be an uphill battle, but I am going to push it."
A Community in Fear
Pawlenty also called for legislation that would enable sex offenders to be tracked for the rest of their lives after their release from prison, perhaps with Global Positioning System technology.
"There are circumstances where sex offenders are not curable and they need to be incarcerated longer, be kept off the streets longer or worse," he said. "Once they're released, they need to be tracked for the rest of their lives. We have the technology."
In the 1979 assault case, Rodriguez tried to abduct a woman off the street and stabbed her when she fought back. The woman escaped, and Rodriguez was later arrested with the help of a sketch.
Authorities said he was a well-behaved prisoner, with only one disciplinary offense during his incarceration. Rodriguez, officials said, had not shown any signs of recidivism during his time in prison, and in February 2001 an evaluation board recommended that he not be considered for civil confinement even after he finished serving his sentence.
Still, Rodriguez was classified as a Level 3 sex offender because of the brutal nature of his crimes.
Under Minnesota law, Rodriguez had to register with the state Department of Corrections as a predatory offender. But he was not required to be under constant supervision.
When Rodriguez was released from prison in May, there was a town meeting to alert residents that he would be in the community, living with his mother.
His presence in the community created fear, some of the neighborhood residents said.
"I'm a widow and I'm older, and I was scared, so I had my son-in-law come over and install a motion light after he moved in," Sonja Thygeson, who lives about four houses down from Rodriguez, told The Associated Press.
Another neighbor, Milton Stave, told The AP "there were a lot of frightened people around," when it was announced that Rodriguez was moving in.
‘We Will Find You’
At the police news conference this morning, Sjodin's family pledged to keep searching for the young woman.
"Honey, we will find you," said her father, Allan Sjodin. "We're still looking for you. We know you're there."
"I know we are just around the corner from you right now. We love you," said her brother, Sven. "Keep strong."
Sjodin, from Pequot Lakes, Minn., had been receiving harassing telephone calls from a man with a foreign accent at the Victoria's Secret store where she worked, and the woman's friends said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America police told them Rodriguez speaks with an accent. But police did not say whether his accent matched the caller's, the friends said.
"We just hope that he didn't do anything to her," Sjodin's sorority sister Randi Canady said today on Good Morning America.
Police have said there is no apparent connection between the disappearance of Sjodin and the attempted abduction of a high school senior in Fertile, Minn., about 50 miles from Grand Forks.
The high school girl told police she was leaving the grocery story where she worked on Friday evening when a man who had apparently been waiting in the parking lot forced her into his car and drove off. She jumped out of the moving vehicle when it slowed down and ran to a nearby home, where the resident called 911.
Law enforcement officials urge anyone with information about Sjodin's whereabouts to call the Grand Forks Police Department tip line at (701) 780-8213. The reward for information leading to hers safe return has grown to $140,000. Her family and friends have set up a Web site, http://finddru.com.