Missing Student from Univ of North Dakota
 

The woman is a Gamma Phi Beta - I pray this turns out ok.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Dru Sjodin finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store at 4 p.m. Saturday, then did a little shopping at another store in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.

As she walked to her car, the 22-year-old University of North Dakota senior from Pequot Lakes, Minn., used her cell phone to call her boyfriend in the Twin Cities. They talked for about 10 minutes, he later told authorities, until the call ended with a startled cry from Dru:

"Oh, my God! No!"

Nobody has heard from her since.

A few hours later, there was a second brief and voiceless call to her boyfriend, and the signal from her cell phone was tracked to a rural area near Fisher, Minn., 13 miles southeast of Grand Forks.

Throughout the city Monday, people took up her disbelieving cry: "Oh, my God, No!"

Dru SjodinFamily PhotoAssociated Press"We're reeling now," said Mayor Mike Brown, who attended a Monday afternoon news conference, where Grand Forks police called for volunteers for an expanded search today in the Fisher area.

"We're stunned and numbed and sickened," Brown said. "We're a safe community, and things like this don't happen. It strikes at our very core."

Investigators for the U.S. Border Patrol began flying the countryside near Fisher on Monday morning looking for clues in the apparent abduction, which was reported to university police when Sjodin failed to appear at her second job Saturday as a waitress at the El Roco Lounge in Grand Forks.

Friends display a Dru Sjodin poster in Fisher, Minn.Richard SennottStar TribuneGrand Forks police Sgt. Mike Hedlund said investigators found "personal items and shopping things" in Sjodin's car in the shopping mall parking lot that led them to believe she had been abducted.

Investigators focused their search in the Fisher area after learning from technicians at Sprint that a cellular phone tower at a rest stop on Hwy. 2 about 3 miles west of Fisher picked up a signal from Sjodin's phone about 7:40 p.m. Saturday.

"Sprint can sense that the phone was [turned] on within 3 or 4 miles of that tower," said Grand Forks police Lt. Byron Sieber. "They lost the signal at 8 p.m., either because the phone was turned off or the battery went dead."

About 75 local, state and federal law officers worked from a command center at a church in Fisher, fanning out from the tower on foot, horseback, ATVs and in the air with helicopters from the Border Patrol and the Minnesota State Patrol.

"We're looking for the cell phone, clothing -- any physical evidence of any kind," Sieber said.

Hundreds of volunteers are expected to join the search today, marshaling at UND's Engelstad hockey arena in Grand Forks starting at 7:30 a.m. and riding to the Fisher area on buses.

Allan Sjodin, Dru's father, who lives in Minneapolis, spoke briefly at the news conference Monday, pleading, "The person who took her, please release her. We want her home for Thanksgiving. She's a fantastic young lady and we want her back."

Grand Forks police Lt. Dennis Eggebraaten said investigators "have talked several times" with the boyfriend, whom he would not identify. He said he is not considered a suspect.

After the boyfriend received the second call, which lasted "only a few seconds" and involved no conversation, he contacted Dru Sjodin's roommate. When Sjodin didn't arrive for work at the El Roco at 9 p.m., friends contacted UND police.

Grand Forks police joined the investigation Sunday morning, impounding Sjodin's car. Eggebraaten said that there was no sign of blood or a struggle inside the car, but that police were running tests on "various biological samples" taken from it.

He said police don't know whether the car was found where Sjodin had parked it or whether it had been moved.

Sjodin graduated in 2000 from Pequot Lakes High School, where she was an honor student, homecoming queen, a member of the art club and student council and played on the girls' basketball and golf teams. She is 5 feet 5 and weighs 130 pounds. She has frosted blond hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black slacks, black loafers, a pink and purple V-neck blouse, a black blazer-style jacket and carrying a small black handbag.

"She's very outgoing and intelligent," said Genevieve Diadoo, 22, a UND senior from Burnsville who works with her at the El Roco. Diadoo and other friends gathered at the El Roco on Monday night, trying to understand what happened.

"It's scary," Diadoo said. "It's scary to think that something like this could happen to any of us."

Paulette Pommrehn, a Gamma Phi Beta sorority sister and close friend, said the boyfriend called Sjodin's roommate and other friends over several hours Saturday trying to find out if she was OK.

"There was concern way before it was time for her to clock in at the next job," Pommrehn said.

Her roommate called UND police at 9:40 p.m., about 40 minutes after Sjodin didn't show up for her shift at the El Roco. Police later found Sjodin's car in the mall lot. The driver's-side door was locked, but the passenger-side door was not.

Police Sgt. Hedlund said several "personal items" that Sjodin bought at the mall were found in the car.

Hedlund said investigators have no evidence that Sjodin was stalked or harassed. However, they are checking tips that a man "with a foreign accent" called the Victoria's Secret store several times and asked for her by name.

"My understanding is she was not aware of who this person was," Hedlund said. "But what the nature of the calls was, we don't know. We don't know if they were harassing, or if someone was just trying to contact her. It could be completely unrelated."

A store manager declined to comment Monday.

Diadoo said she wasn't aware of anyone harassing Sjodin at the El Roco.

"All the girls here, we get hit on by guys all the time," she said. "It comes with the job, and we shake it off. But I didn't know of anybody bothering her. There were no phone calls like that."

'A beautiful girl'

As authorities searched near Fisher on Monday, members of Sjodin's family traveled to Grand Forks. Sjodin's father arrived Monday morning along with David and Robert Sutfin, Dru's uncles. Dru's brother, Sven, who is two years older and lives in southern California, also was en route, a family member said.

Dru's boyfriend also was in Grand Forks, while her mother, Linda Walker, stayed at home in Pequot Lakes, hoping to hear good news or her daughter's voice. Sjodin's parents are divorced.

A graphic arts major, Sjodin planned on graduating from UND next summer after traveling to Australia to study, her mother said. She also dreamed of attending art school some day.

"She had a tremendous love for art and was very creative," Walker said.

Walker said she spoke Monday with Patty Wetterling, whose 11-year-old son, Jacob, was abducted on a road near St. Joseph, Minn. in October 1989. The boy hasn't been seen since.

"It's the worst nightmare anybody can ever live through," Linda Walker said. "Pray for me, pray for my daughter. Go hug your kids today."

At Sjodin's UND sorority house, members spent much of the day making posters and pink-and-white ribbons to distribute.

"We're doing all that we can really to find her," Pommrehn said. "We miss her and we're concerned."

Pommrehn said that when she and other sorority members learned of Sjodin's disappearance Saturday, they feared the worst. "Right away, all of us thought 'there's something up,' " she said.

"Sometimes, it'll really hit -- like [Sunday], I was just a wreck," Pommrehn said. "But we're trying to keep a positive outlook on it. Because we know Dru in our hearts so well, because she's so strong, we know she's going to find a way home. She's a beautiful girl."

At Pequot Lakes High School, teachers and administrators said the same.

"She had a tremendous personality," Principal John McDonald said. "And she always had a smile on her face. No matter how you were feeling that day, whenever you'd see her, you'd have a smile on your face, too."

Said Dave Guenther, the school's visual arts instructor, "She's such a neat kid. . . . That's the hard part."

McDonald said he learned of her disappearance Sunday, but kept hoping the news was "an error or mistake." But when he heard it broadcast on TV and radio again and again Monday, it sank in. Guenther said several of Sjodin's former high school classmates drove to Grand Forks on Monday to help look for their friend.

". . . if I could get the time, I'd take off right now, too," he said. "I just feel helpless."

The writers can be reached at crhaga@startribune.com and richm@startribune.com.

How very scary. My thoughts and prayers will be with this woman and her family for her safe return.

Reminder to the women out there... malls can be very dangerous places, especially this time of year. Pay attention to your surroundings while walking to your car, look around and under your car before getting in! And, even better, try not to go alone. If you work in a mall, walk to your car with a co-worker and drive each other to the other one's car.

Please be safe.. stories like this break my heart.

Dee

how terribly terribly sad.
my thoughts and prayers are with all concerned.

Very sad and scary!!!!
My thoughts and prayer are with everyone involved!!!!

-wendi

This is a bad situation...I just hope there is a happy ending around the corner. I'm not sure about how many of you heard about the story of Jill Behrman, but she was abducted about 3 years ago and it shocked Bloomington like none other. These bad things just don't happen in Bloomington. They found bones that appear to be Jill's this past summer. I knew her since 6th grade and just found it totally devastating. I hope that they find her and that she is safe.

oh my god.... :(
best of wishes for everyone involved.... keep us posted if you hear anything else

Wow, that is horrible and very scary. Hopefully she will be found safe. We lost a student (a Phi Kappa Psi) last summer, he went missing in Ecuador while traveling and he has not been found. It is really rough on a school to deal with that, but this woman's poor family!!!! My thoughts and prayers are with them.

My prayers are with her and her family, friends and sorority. :(

We are sending positive thoughts her way.

All of you please stay safe. What seems like a safe situation can turn very quickly sometimes. Heed the advice from Hootie and AGDee.

I'm on the Beloit Phi Psi ListServe and I followed the agony that they went through. I hope that this lady is found safe, and found soon.

How horrible...I really hope they find her. :(

My prayers. Please keep us posted.

Perhaps I misread this, but she screams oh my god no into the phone and her boyfriend does not:
a) call her back on her cell phone
or
b) call the police

But instead waits several hours until her gets the voiceless phone call and then calls her roommate (!) who in turn calls the police!


Stories like this always have me suspicious.

I hope all turns out okay.

I can see your point but the police says the boyfriend is not a suspect.

Plus, with cell towers being able to determine where her cell phone was being used, it would seem that that tower would be able to determine where his cell phone was used.

If the police find that BOTH cell phones were being used around the same tower, as opposed to across town, THEN they should be suspicious.

And, if someone said "Oh my God" into their cell while talking to me, I don't know if I would call them right back. I may think they were in heavy traffice, etc and wouldn't want to take away from their concentration while driving. And, I don't believe it's been said if the cell call came from her car while driving or what.

Regardless, it's so sad and I pray for her safe return, or at the very least, to find her so they can have some closure.

Very very sad.

Important Web Information Posted
 

http://www.grandforksgov.com/Dru.jpg
City of Grand Forks Web Page

Yahoo Article

The first link doesn't work.

It did, and it will again. This is getting so much national attention that the City of Grand Forks web server is probably just being overloaded.

Two University of North Dakota GLOs have posted this on their web sites:

Delta Delta Delta
Sigma Nu

There is nothing that most of us can do to help find Dru. There is, however, something that we can do to help spread good karma among her sisters in their time of anxiety, fear, and hope.

We should all encourage as many of our chapters to at least send cards, if not also flowers to the Gamma Phi house at UND. Their flower is the Pink Carnation.

Their address is:
Gamma Phi Beta
3300 University Avenue
Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203-0530

I just e-mailed several hundred Phi Psis encoyuraging them to have their chapters do so.

I don't know what to say...this made me want to cry. Her poor family and sisters. I encourage everyone to send cards to the chapter...Awful.

Pray for her safe return.

Hundreds show up to search for missing student

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 Posted: 11:31 AM EST (1631 GMT)

Dru Sjodin went missing late Saturday, after leaving work. Police believe she may be abducted.


GRAND FORKS, North Dakota (AP) -- Hundreds of volunteers lined up Tuesday to join the search for a University of North Dakota student who has been missing since Saturday. Police believe she may have been abducted.

Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old senior in graphic arts from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, was last seen late Saturday afternoon, as she was leaving the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks where she worked.

Her mother, Linda Walker, said her daughter was talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone about 5 p.m. Saturday when her boyfriend heard her say, "Oh, my God." Walker said the phone then went dead.

On Tuesday morning, the volunteers were given identification badges and assigned to teams, then bused to an area east of the city to search for Sjodin.

"I was up all night, because I've just been itching to get out and do this," said Jerrod Arneson, one of the searchers. "You never think something like this would happen here, and when it does, you want to do something."

The search was concentrated on an area around Fisher, Minnesota, east of Grand Forks, where police had traced a call from Sjodin's cell phone.

Police said Sjodin's red car, a two-door Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, was found in a Columbia Mall parking lot. Lt. Dennis Eggebraaten said a package that Sjodin apparently bought at the mall was inside the car.

"There was no sign of a struggle that we could determine," he said.

Police were investigating calls to Sjodin at the Victoria's Secret store where she worked. They said she had received at least one call from a man she did not know, who asked for her by name.

Jean Ann Bienek, the store's manager, declined to comment, citing store policy.

Authorities said Sjodin's roommate notified police at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, after Sjodin failed to show up for work at her second job in a bar.

Her family is offering a $20,000 reward.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/Central...student.ap.jpg

ohmygoodness... what a terrible story :(

Dru, her family and her sisters are all in my prayers.. I am praying for her safe return.

this is such an awful story. how scary

She is in my prayers

A lot of malls have secruity cameras. Maybe they will get lucky and see something on one of them.

I don't know -- I know plenty of people who would overreact and say stuff like "Oh my God, no!" if something as small as the fact that they realized their cell phone signal was fading out bappened. If the missing girl was one of those people, her boyfriend probably didn't think much of it. He might have called her back and when she didn't answer the phone, assumed she wasn't getting service.

Whatever the case, my thoughts are with her family and I hope everything turns out for the best.

This literally made me sick to my stomach. God bless that poor girl; I really hope this story has a happy ending.

Thanks.:)

Just in case no one has done so yet, I just posted about Dru on two prayer chains. My own prayers are with her & her families (biological and GPB).

This is so awful. Sending prayers for this young lady & her extended family.

Please ladies, pay attention while you are out & about. Head up & alert, looking around, inspecting cars as you approach them.

Don't be searching in your purse, don't be juggling a dozen packages. I know you aren't going to ask security guard to walk you to your car, I don't either. But if that parking lot is not VERY well lit, just do it. No one will think you are foolish and who cares if they do?

Have your keys out & ready before you leave a building or mall. Better yet, lace your keys between your fingers and make a fist with them to be used as a weapon if needed.

If you can get pepper spray or mace, carry it IN YOUR HAND on the way to the car, not the bottom of your purse.

Read The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence By Gavin de Becker. It is a book no woman should be without.

Take a self defense class.

Make it a HABIT to lock your car and home automatically each and every time you get in.

Don't think that if you are no longer young and blonde and slender and pretty that you are safe. Abduction and rape is not about physical attractiveness.


And pray for Dru :'-(

I have posted two threads on GC about this...I go to UND, the school Dru is from. The news has spread all over town, and as I can see all over the country. I knew it was in other states in the area...It's amazing to see how so many have pulled together to help out in this horrible thing. I know I am praying, hard, and am trying to keep a positive look at it all- hoping that she is somewhere safe, not hurt...and that is also praying hard...I will keep this updated as more information is known...

My thoughts and prayers are with Dru, her family, friends, and her chapter. This saddens me so much and I can only hope that wherever she is, she is safe.

It is horrible to hear stories like these. I pray that she is found safe!

Latest Press Release
 

http://www.grandforksgov.com/Dru.jpg
Grand Forks Press Releases about Dru Sjodin


City of Grand Forks News Release - 11/26/2003


SEARCH FOR DRU SJODIN CONTINUES

Law enforcement officials are continuing the search for missing University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin. Today’s search is in the same areas that have been covered by searchers in the past two days. Law enforcement officials are focusing their attention on areas that some items of interest were located and they are trying to determine if any of those items are directly related to the case. At this point there have been no items found that have been able to provide any significant leads or direction for the search.

The family of Dru Sjodin has expressed that they have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the Grand Forks community. They appreciate the interest and cooperation of the media. At this time, the family is refraining from further interviews and asks that the media direct questions to the Grand Forks Police Department. They have provided a statement to the Grand Forks Police Department that is listed below:
Dru Sjodin Family Statement
The family hopes that anybody with information concerning Dru’s disappearance will immediately contact the Grand Forks Police Department at 701-780-8213.

We also want to express our heartfelt thanks to the local, state and federal authorities, and the volunteers for their efforts in searching for Dru.

We ask everybody right now to pray for Dru’s safe return.


Release issued: 10:00 Am on Wednesday November 26, 2003
Release prepared by: Sgt. Michael Hedlund
For further information contact: Sgt. Michael Hedlund – 701-787-8008

OH My Gosh!!!! This just sickens me horribly!! my thoughts are with her family and friends, and Im praying for a safe return.


Nichole

Latest Update:


Friends of Missing Student Search for Her
By DAVE KOLPACK

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - While most University of North Dakota students went home for Thanksgiving, about 30 friends of Dru Sjodin stayed to search for her.

Sjodin, 22, a senior from Pequot Lakes, Minn., has been missing since late Saturday afternoon, when she left her job at the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks. Authorities believe she was abducted while talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone.

``We're going to be up here as long as it takes, until we find something,'' said Hans Tweed, who with Eli Loven and Adam Ruud organized a search party of about 30 friends from Sjodin's hometown. ``We haven't slept barely and haven't done anything but worry about her.''

The search was centered on Fisher, Minn., about 10 miles east of Grand Forks, where a call was traced to her cell phone Saturday night. It has been widened to the Crookston, Minn., area, because the cell phone signal may have carried that far, officials said.

Sjodin's car, a 1994 red two-door Oldsmobile Cutlass, was found in the Columbia Mall parking lot and analyzed by the state crime lab. Police refuse to release a preliminary report of the lab findings.

Sjodin's mother, Linda Walker, said she believes someone knows where her daughter is, and pleaded with that person to ``come forward with her and bring her home safely to us.''

Sjodin's roommate, Meg Murphy, said she last saw Sjodin early Saturday and received a call from Chris Lang, Sjodin's boyfriend, about 6 o'clock that evening.

Lang was worried. He had received two calls from Sjodin - the first was cut off and her boyfriend heard her say, ``Oh, my God'' before the phone went dead. The second call, a couple of hours later, was only static and the sound of numbers being pressed.

Murphy said she called police Saturday night after Sjodin failed to show up for her second job at a restaurant.

``Sometimes I feel it's not even happening, that she's just going to walk through the door or call or something,'' Murphy told the Brainerd Daily Dispatch. ``And then when you watch the news, or when the police call again or go through her room, the reality hits.''


11/27/03 03:54

Are there any updates on this? I've been trying to keep up, but it's not the top news out here in CA and I really want to know what's going on- if they're still searching or what? Any news?

The url, for the City of Grand Fork's press releases, is here.

No good news yet. :(

Oh my gosh, this is such sad news. I pray for Dru's quick and safe return. Her family, sorority sisters, and friends will also be kept in my prayers.