[stagebear]

Knife, blood, suspect linked
Minnesota AP

A knife stained with the blood of Dru Sjodin was found in the car of the man charged with kidnapping the 22-year-old University of North Dakota student, a source close to the investigation told the Minnesota AP on Monday. DNA testing of blood found on the knife is "very accurate" and indicates that the blood matches that of Sjodin, said the source, who asked not to be identified. "There is a lot of strong physical evidence in that car," the source said, referring to the 2002 Mercury Sable that belongs to suspected kidnapper Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50. The four-door maroon sedan was impounded by authorities before Rodriguez's Dec. 1 arrest at his mother's home in Crookston, Minn. An investigative source told the Grand Forks Herald that the knife was found in a pool of liquid household cleaner in the wheel well of Rodriguez's car. The interior of the car and the trunk obviously had been extensively cleaned, that source told the Herald. Authorities have also said a knife sheath was found near Sjodin's car in the parking lot of the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, N.D., where the Pequot Lakes, Minn., native was last seen Nov. 22 as she left work. The Pioneer Press reported Friday that blood had been found in Rodriguez's car that could very well be Sjodin's. Evidence in the case, sealed by a judge in the wake of Rodriguez's arrest, is expected to be released today. Rodriguez is a convicted rapist who was released from prison in May after serving 23 years for stabbing a woman he tried to kidnap on a Crookston sidewalk in 1980. He was registered as a predatory offender, the classification for those believed to be at the highest risk of committing another sex crime. Rodriguez told his attorney last week that he did not kidnap Sjodin, and he has given authorities no help in locating her. He faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 4 and remains in the Grand Forks County jail on $5 million bail. David Dusek, Rodriguez's court-appointed lawyer, has said Rodriguez prefers to remain in jail for his own safety. Minnesota Ap reported Monday that Rodriguez has been driven around the area by investigators but has not provided any useful information. Peter Welte, the North Dakota state's attorney for Grand Forks County, has said repeatedly that his office would not make a deal with Rodriguez in return for information about Sjodin's whereabouts. Welte initially asked a judge to seal the evidence in the case, to protect the investigation and Sjodin's family. But after several media organizations filed briefs to unseal the affidavit of probable cause, Welte said he would not oppose making it public. Dusek said he would decide today whether he would object to the unsealing of the affidavit. District Judge Lawrence Jahnke said Monday that his decision would be made shortly after noon today. Rodriguez's sister Illeana Noyes, of rural Crookston, said she spoke to Dusek for about an hour Monday, but she declined to elaborate. Rodriguez has admitted to investigators he was at the mall about the time Sjodin was last seen, but he denied having any contact with her. Sjodin was talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone from the mall parking lot about 5 p.m. on Nov. 22 when she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, my God!'' and the connection was lost. Rodriguez drove his car to work Monday, Nov. 24, at a construction site in McIntosh, Minn., about 30 miles east of Crookston, said those who worked with him. Investigators searched the car at the job site a day or two before Thanksgiving and impounded it soon after the search, sources close to the investigation told the Herald. Sjodin's disappearance and efforts to find her have generated more than 1,500 tips for Grand Forks police. Despite more than two weeks of searches by as many as 1,700 people at one time, no trace of Sjodin has been confirmed by police. Relatives, friends and some volunteers resumed the search Monday for Sjodin after taking a day off Sunday. The search Monday focused around Alvarado, Minn., about 20 miles north of Grand Forks. Law enforcement officials said they plan to extend their search to areas south of Grand Forks this week. Authorities will ask North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven for assistance in the searches. "What we're hoping for is personnel and equipment," said Grand Forks County Sheriff Dan Hill. "We're certainly not going to slow down on this thing." Grand Forks Police Capt. Mike Kirby said authorities have no reason to believe Sjodin is dead and they will keep searching. "We are committed to this," Kirby said. "The family is out and we will be out." Sjodin's father, Allan, told the Associated Press on Monday that he was shocked to learn that police recovered a knife from Rodriguez's car. But given Rodriguez's history, he said, the notion of Rodriguez using a knife was not surprising. "You know what? It's probably true," Allan Sjodin said. "That's his modus operandi." The Dru Sjodin case has also become a political issue in Minnesota because Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced he would seek to restore the death penalty. Minnesota is one of a dozen states that does not impose the death penalty. The state abolished capital punishment in 1911, five years after a dramatically botched hanging, and attempts to reinstate it have failed.