Sid Walker of Walker Travel in
Pequot Lakes, Minn., has kept in touch with me over the years. I
hadnt heard from him for a while when an e-mail arrived a few weeks
back.
Ive kind of been out
of the flow for the last year, he wrote. I dont know if you
followed the story of Dru Sjodin, the University of North Dakota
student who was abducted and murdered Nov. 22, 2003. Dru was my
stepdaughter.
Dru Sjodin, a
22-year-old senior at the University of North Dakota, was leaving
her job around 5 p.m. at the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, N.D. She
was headed for her evening job, talking to her boyfriend on her
cell phone when the call was abruptly cut off. A few hours later, a
second phone call to the boyfriend was made but there was no voice
on the other end.
Dru didnt show up for
her evening job, and the police were notified. Her car was found in
the mall parking lot.
A search was begun
with local and national volunteers participating. Three days after
her disappearance, a shoe believed to be Drus was found in the
search area.
On Dec. 1, 2003,
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a 50-year-old, recently paroled sex offender
from Crookston, Minn., who had served 23 years for abducting women,
was arrested and charged with kidnapping Dru.
He was brought to
North Dakota, where the authorities had uncovered enough evidence
to convince a judge to hold him for trial for kidnapping. He pled
not guilty and was held on $5 million bail.
All through this
period, the search for Dru was hampered by winter weather, but in
April 2004 a full-scale search was resumed. On April 17, her body
was found near Crookston.
The charge against
Rodriguez became kidnapping resulting in death -- a charge that
could bring the death penalty. He comes up for trial in March of
next year.
In the ensuing
months, Drus grieving family has enlisted the support of federal
legislators to create Drus Law, which would establish a national
online database of sexual offenders. The Senate passed the bill
last year, but it didnt make it through the House. It was
reintroduced as HR 95 in the new session of the House and is
expected to be reintroduced in the Senate.
The members of the
House Committee on the Judiciary cosponsoring the bill are Paul
Gillmor (R-Ohio); Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) and Earl Pomeroy
(D-N.D.).
The address of the
committee is 2138 Rayburn House Building, Washington, D.C.
20515.
Meanwhile, Drus
family, friends and supporters will keep you informed at www.drusvoice.com.