[ThetaPrincess24]

Man faces hearing in student's disappearance
Minnesota man served sentence for rape

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 Posted: 10:10 AM EST (1510 GMT)

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was arrested Monday on a kidnapping charge.


(CNN) -- A 50-year-old Minnesota man faces an extradition hearing Tuesday in Crookston, Minnesota, following his arrest in the kidnapping of a North Dakota college student who vanished after she left her job at a mall just over a week ago, court officials said.

Authorities said Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston, was arrested shortly after the Grand Forks state attorney's office issued an arrest warrant for him on a kidnapping charge in the disappearance of Dru Sjodin, a student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Sjodin disappeared November 22, and the search for her is still in progress, police said.

Rodriguez, who is listed as a predatory offender by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, was released from prison on May 1 after serving time for charges that include rape, aggravated assault and kidnapping. The Web site on which he is registered describes him as 5 feet 4 inches tall, with "a history of sexual contact and attempted kidnapping with adult females."

"Offender used force and has used a weapon to gain compliance," the site says. It does not say how long of a sentence he served, but notes that he is no longer under supervision.

The Grand Forks Police Department refused to elaborate on the arrest.

"Out of respect for the Sjodin family and in the interest of the integrity of the investigation, no further information will be released at this time," a police statement said.

A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday.

Sjodin disappeared as she left the mall in Grand Forks where she worked at a Victoria's Secret store. Her car was found in the parking lot.

Friends contacted police after she failed to show up at a second job that night, and after an alarming phone call with her boyfriend that was cut short. In that call, friends say, her last words were "no, no, no, OK, OK, OK."

The search had been centered in Fisher, Minnesota, about 10 miles east of Grand Forks, where the call was traced to her cell phone, The Associated Press reported. It was widened to the Crookston area because the cell phone signal could have carried that far, officials said.

Since Sjodin's disappearance, more than 1,000 volunteer searchers have braved the snow and cold to search for her.