Missing Student from Univ of North Dakota - Page 5

LadyBug103 · #61 12-02-2003, 08:20 PM

I was just watching the news about the story, and INside Edition is having a special on it now! Check it out!

PhiPsiRuss · #62 12-02-2003, 08:32 PM

KillarneyRose · #63 12-02-2003, 08:39 PM

I know this is probably a post for another thread, but I am furious to the point of feeling physically ill that this predatory animal was out of jail, walking around freely. Heaven help me, but I truly do believe that some people need to be locked up and the key thrown away.

PhiPsiRuss · #64 12-02-2003, 08:48 PM

1) He's innocent until proven guilty.

2) I don't like the fact that they locked up a suspect, but still don't have Dru.

3) If he is guilty, I blame the North Dakota legislature more than I blame the criminal. Sexual predators have about a 50% recidivism rate. This is like releasing a criminal and flipping a coin; heads - he becomes a good citizen, tails - he assaults someone else again. It really is about time that laws against sexual predators, especially repeat offenders, be made to reflect the need for public safety.

ThetaPrincess24 · #65 12-02-2003, 09:18 PM

What you say is true except for the fact this guy lived 30 miles away in Minnesota, not ND, and served time in a Minnesota prison, not ND, and thus was arrested last night from his home in Minnesota.

As for me, I dont believe any sex offender shoudl be set free for any reason, because of their high inability to be rehabilitated and to be a repeat offender, which not only creates more victims, but costs tax payers more money.

I believe sex offenders, in particularly those that touch children, should fry......

GeekyPenguin · #66 12-02-2003, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThetaPrincess24
What you say is true except for the fact this guy lived 30 miles away in Minnesota, not ND, and served time in a Minnesota prison, not ND, and thus was arrested last night from his home in Minnesota.

As for me, I dont believe any sex offender shoudl be set free for any reason, because of their high inability to be rehabilitated and to be a repeat offender, which not only creates more victims, but costs tax payers more money.

I believe sex offenders, in particularly those that touch children, should fry......

I think another thread needs to be created on this topic in News & Politics. Let's stay focused on FINDING DRU here.

PhiPsiRuss · #67 12-02-2003, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThetaPrincess24
What you say is true except for the fact this guy lived 30 miles away in Minnesota, not ND, and served time in a Minnesota prison, not ND, and thus was arrested last night from his home in Minnesota.

As for me, I dont believe any sex offender shoudl be set free for any reason, because of their high inability to be rehabilitated and to be a repeat offender, which not only creates more victims, but costs tax payers more money.

I believe sex offenders, in particularly those that touch children, should fry......

I stand corrected. The Minnesota Legislature should be ashamed that they let a repeat sexual predator back on the streets.

PhiPsiRuss · #68 12-02-2003, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I think another thread needs to be created on this topic in News & Politics. Let's stay focused on FINDING DRU here.

I just started such a thread here.

SmartBlondeGPhB · #69 12-03-2003, 12:37 AM

On behalf of all of my sisters, I would like to thank everyone for all of the warm thoughts and wishes to us and to the UND chapter.

Hopefully they will soon find her alive.

Moxie · #70 12-03-2003, 02:51 AM

just another update
*crossed fingers* and lots of love for dru!
---

Hundreds expected to search for missing student

Father: 'Honey, we are gonna find you'

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 Posted: 11:03 PM EST (0403 GMT)

(CNN) -- Wednesday is going to be a "very important day" in the search for a 22-year-old North Dakota student who has been missing for 10 days, said the Grand Forks police chief.

Despite an arrest in the case, finding her is our number one goal, said Police Chief John Packett.

"We estimate up to 1,500 citizens will be bussed to Grand Forks from as far away as the Twin Cities and Fargo to assist in the search. I think that's unprecedented in a situation like this and it certainly shows the community interest in this case," he said.

Dru Sjodin has been missing since November 22, when she was last seen leaving work at a Grand Forks shopping mall. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a 50-year-old man who served time in prison for rape, was arrested Monday night in nearby Crookston, Minnesota, on a kidnapping charge.

"Our community is a safer place this morning," Packett said during an earlier news conference.

"With the arrest of last night, this investigation has only reached the 50-yard line," Packett said. "As additional charges and information becomes available, we will not be satisfied or comforted until such time as we find Dru."

Police released photographs Tuesday of Sjodin's 1994 red Oldsmobile Cutlass with a primer-gray front fender on the driver's side and of Rodriguez's maroon-colored 2002 Mercury Sable in hopes of jogging the memory of anyone who might have spotted the vehicles around the time of her disappearance.

Her family appealed to the public to keep searching and told the missing woman not to give up hope.

"Honey, we are still looking for you. We know you're there. Our strength is drawn from you," said Sjodin's father, Allan Sjodin.

"What we want is everyone to continue doing what they're doing, just like these folks are saying. Check shelter belts, buildings, check everything. We want information. We have the strength. We will continue. Honey, we are gonna find you."

"We are a strong family, and we know she is out there," said her brother, Sven Sjodin. "She is a strong girl. I know we are just right around the corner from you, Dru. If you're watching TV right now, you have a bunch things to say, and we'll see you in a while. We love you."

Rodriguez was released from a Minnesota prison in May after serving a nearly 23-year sentence for rape, kidnapping and assault. An extradition hearing in the case in Crookston, about 25 miles southeast of Grand Forks, was postponed until Wednesday.

State's Attorney Peter Welte said investigators can place Rodriguez not only in Grand Forks at the time Sjodin disappeared, but also in the parking lot of the shopping center where she worked.

"We do have probable cause that he was in Grand Forks at that time and that he was in the parking lot," Welte said.

Rodriguez was convicted of raping two women, and his name appears on Minnesota's sexual predator list as someone with "a history of sexual contact and attempted kidnapping with adult females."

The list, maintained by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, reports convictions for rape, aggravated assault and attempted kidnapping on his record.

Megan Murphy, Sjodin's roommate, said the arrest was "obviously some good news."

"I think it makes everybody feel a little bit better -- that at least we're finding something and it could lead us to her, help us find her," she told CNN's "American Morning."

More than 1,000 volunteers have been out in the cold and snow around Grand Forks to search for Sjodin, whose disappearance has shocked a community known for its low crime rate. Searchers cut holes in the frozen Red Lake River, near Crookston, and sent divers down to look for clues in a body of water that was not iced over when Sjodin was last seen.

Hans Tweed, a friend involved in the search effort, said investigators are looking for "pretty much anything" that might lead them to the missing woman -- "any kind of evidence, clothing, receipts."

Sjodin was last seen leaving work at a Victoria's Secret store in a mall. Her car never left 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."

Authorities have concentrated the search around a rest area just seven miles from the mall, where police traced a second call from Sjodin's cell phone to her boyfriend. This time no words were exchanged, but authorities were able to trace the call to within four miles of a cell phone tower.

Authorities have said the second call came about three hours after the first call.

Police also had investigated calls to Sjodin at the Victoria's Secret store, including at least one that a colleague said was the voice of a man with a foreign accent.

Authorities say anyone with information about the case should call (701) 780-8213.

DGMarie · #71 12-03-2003, 02:58 AM

This is all so sad. In my heart of hearts I hope they find her but I must admit it does not look good to me. I hope I'm wrong.

JennRN · #72 12-03-2003, 09:59 AM

God, this story is so sad. I hope hope hope, and pray that they can find her unharmed, and soon!!

ZTAngel · #73 12-03-2003, 12:18 PM

sigh....
One of the many reasons why a sexual predator should never be freed. They don't change and they'll just commit the same act again.
I hope they find this woman. And I hope she's still alive when they do find her.

dzrose93 · #74 12-03-2003, 02:12 PM

I wish we'd hear some good news soon! I pray that they find Dru alive and well. However, after being missing for this long, I'm very concerned about her.

#75 12-03-2003, 03:07 PM

It is still so unfathomable that women of today can't go anywhere in public without fearing for her life. I wish the world would change the view that women are objects to be had and taken with no concern for her, as a human being. I am not trying to get on a soap box that says women are always seen as the underdog but I wish women could go out in public without the protection of a male. I guess if wishes were horses, we'd all take a ride.

I feel so sorry for Dru and her family to have her fall victim of such a senseless, terrifying crime that NO ONE should have to experience. The United States in general needs to beef up their security measures for everyone's well being and strengthen the legal system so that people that have committed atrocious crimes in the past don't get out because "oh they've been good in prison, so they should be good on the outside." This is not true in every case. Sexual predators have proven time and time again that they are going to commit other crimes if let out. I agree sexual predators should fry because they ruin people's self-assurance and security.