Dru....

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Not sure if you saw the news, but cnn is reporting that her body has been found. The search was resumed today.

[kk_bama]

Very heartbreaking. But we can find solace in the fact that Dru will be properly placed to rest, and her family will be able to grieve. Pray for Dru's friends, family and sisters at UND!

[sageofages]

The world is a little sadder tonight....I am so sorry for the loss of one of your sisters. I keep her family and friends, the chapter of U of ND and all who knew her in my thoughts tonight.

[Cluey]

While this news is confirmation of all of our worst fears, I hope that this news will enable Dru's family, sisters and friends to properly grieve the loss of their loved one. My prayers continue for all of her family, sisters and friends. I also pray that justice will be served.

[BadSquirrelBeta]

Ladies, please forgive my board crash for this and please accept my condolences for this tragedy. What a shame...such a beautiful girl taken from the world in such a tragic way.

Godspeed to all of you.

In Panhellenic Love & Sisterhood...

[tinydancer]

This is such a sad thing to hear. My prayers are with her family and friends.

[CASIGKAP]

I am deeply sorry to hear of the loss of one of your beloved sisters. Know that my thoughts & prayers are with her, the family, & all her sisters.

[Jill1228]

Co-sign! I was heartbroken to read about our Triad sister

In Triad Spirit and Love

Originally posted by sageofages
The world is a little sadder tonight....I am so sorry for the loss of one of your sisters. I keep her family and friends, the chapter of U of ND and all who knew her in my thoughts tonight.

[FSUZeta]

pleases excuse the crash. when i heard the sad news yesterday that dru sjodin's body had been found, i was heartbroken . i wanted to come on and let you all know that dru's family, as well as her gamma phi beta family, will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. sincerely, lisa brock

[undtheta2000]

I also want to add my prayers and thoughts to your sister Dru...I am a student at Univ. of North Dakota and also a member of the Theta chapter here, so I know some of her sisters...They organized a service in memory of her. It was held this evening at our Memorial Union. I posted this link on another forum on this site, but I will add it here as well...
Grand Forks Herald- April 18

My prayers are with you all. May peace and comfort help to guide you through time.

[gphiangel624]

I got the newest issue of the Crescent yesterday and there is a big article on self-protection in there, with a small mention of Dru. I hope all chapters and women's organizations will do something like that to inform their members of the danger they can be in, anywhere and anytime.

I have only heard good things about Dru... I'm sure she is with the angels, as I'm sure she is one herself.

[nyrdrms]

Originally posted by gphiangel624
I got the newest issue of the Crescent yesterday and there is a big article on self-protection in there, with a small mention of Dru.

There is also a thank you from the chapter advisor on behalf of the Alpha Beta chapter to everyone who has sent their prayers, wishes, and hope to the chapter over the past few months.

[UOgphiBri]

I have been watching this case on the news here in Oregon, and had this weird feeling that there was some connection to her...through a friend or something...today I got the Crescent in the mail and there she was...a SISTER...I felt sick to my stomache that I had such a weird feeling....

[Jill1228]

This week's People has an article on her and in the table of contents there is a photo of some of her sisters wearing Gamma Phi Beta shirts

[kk_bama]

Just wanted to share the news that Dru's killer has been sentenced to death:

Jurors sentence convicted sex offender to death in North Dakota student's slaying
By DAVE KOLPACK
Associated Press Writer

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Jurors on Friday sentenced a convicted sex offender to death for kidnapping and killing University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, whose body was found in a Minnesota ravine nearly five months after she disappeared.

It was North Dakota's first death penalty case in more than a century. The state does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal cases.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 53, of Crookston, Minn., looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was announced.

"We hope the need does not arise for another 100 years," U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said. "The defendant's acts of the last three decades have brought us to this place at this time," he said, referring to Rodriguez's earlier convictions for assaults on women going back to 1975.

"I know it wasn't an easy decision for the jurors," Sjodin's mother, Linda Walker, said afterward, her voice shaking. "But Dru's voice was heard today."

The jury reached its decision after more than a day and a half of deliberations. The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez on Aug. 30 on a charge of kidnapping resulting in Sjodin's death.

Rodriguez's mother, Dolores, and sister, Ileanna Noyes, cried as the verdict was announced, as did a number of the jurors.

Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall parking lot on Nov. 22, 2003, and her body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and stabbed.

Rodriguez, who got out of prison about six months before the killing, was charged under federal law because Sjodin was taken across state lines.

Earlier, in his statements to jurors, Wrigley said the death penalty would be the "right thing, in the right case." He stood near her portrait and asked for justice.

Rodriguez's attorney, Richard Ney, asked the jury for mercy after calling psychologists and Rodriguez's family to talk about his childhood of poverty, abuse and exposure to farm chemicals. Ney also said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on three women in 1975 and 1980.

Walker and Allan Sjodin, Dru's father, said they could have accepted a sentence of life in prison.

"Whatever would have happened, we would have been equally satisfied," Sjodin said. "For Dru's sake, this needed to happen."