BY DAVE KOLPACK, The Associated Press
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) -- Police asked for 1,000 volunteers -- including some riding all-terrain vehicles -- as they planned a new search for a missing college student Wednesday, after the arrest of a convicted rapist as a suspect failed to produce an immediate breakthrough.
Volunteers in Grand Forks were asked to report to the University of North Dakota campus to help look for Dru Sjodin, 22. The UND student from Pequot Lakes, Minn., has been missing since Nov. 22 when she left her job at the Victoria’s Secret at Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.
About 30 miles away in Crookston, Minn., volunteers were asked to bring all-terrain vehicles for the search. Crookston is where a suspect named Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was arrested on Monday.
Grand Forks County State’s Attorney Peter Welte said police had probable cause to believe that Rodriguez, 50, of Crookston, was in the mall parking lot the night Sjodin disappeared.
Rodriguez was being held in the Tri-County Correctional Center in Crookston. An extradition hearing was planned for Wednesday.
Grand Forks Police Chief John Packett said Tuesday that with Rodriguez’s arrest, “this investigation has only reached the 50-yard line.”
Authorities released photographs of the suspect’s car, a four-door, maroon 2002 Mercury Sable, and asked anyone who may have spotted the car around the time of Sjodin’s disappearance to call the police tip line.
“Our entire focus on this is in finding Dru,” Welte said. “This is by no means the end. This is a marathon and not a sprint.”
Sjodin’s father and brother spoke directly to their sister.
“Honey, we will find you,” her father, Allan, said.
Her brother, Sven, added: “I know we are just around the corner from you right now. We love you. Keep strong.” He fought tears as he backed away from news microphones, and his father put his arm around him and squeezed his shoulder.
In Crosslake, Minn., Sjodin’s mother spoke to Rodriguez.
“Please cooperate with authorities and lead us to Dru,” Linda Walker said.
In St. Paul, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty cited the Sjodin case in calling on the Legislature to approve the death penalty in cases involving sexual assault and murder or attempted murder. Minnesota is one of 12 states that don’t have the death penalty.
Authorities wouldn’t say how they connected Rodriguez to the case, though they said it is routine to look at sex offenders in the area when investigating such crimes. They moved to seal documents in the case, “out of respect for the family and concern for the integrity of this process,” Welte said.
Rodriguez has a history of sexual contact and attempted kidnapping with adult women, and has used a weapon in at least one assault, according to a Minnesota Department of Corrections summary of his criminal history posted on the agency’s Web site.
His past offenses require that Rodriguez be registered as a predatory offender, the department said. The classification is for those people whom authorities believe are at the highest risk of committing another sex crime.
Rodriguez was released from a Minnesota prison in May after serving 23 years for an attempted abduction in Crookston in 1979. Wayne Swanson, who prosecuted Rodriguez in that case as the Polk County attorney, said Rodriguez tried to abduct a woman off the street, and stabbed her when she fought back. The woman got away, and Rodriguez was later arrested with the help of a sketch the woman made, he said.
More than 100 people showed up in May in Crookston for a community notification meeting about Rodriguez’s return. Stephen King, a state corrections probation officer, told people at the meeting that Rodriguez was a well-behaved prisoner, with only one disciplinary offense.
But King, when asked why Rodriguez was classified as a Level 3 offender, noted that Rodriguez’s past attacks were brutal.
Officials in St. Paul said Rodriguez was considered for civil commitment in 2001, near the end of his prison term, but a psychologist who examined him decided against recommending him for the program, which could have kept him in custody indefinitely. A special board concurred.
Neighbors said Rodriguez lived with his mother, Dolores. No one answered the door at their home Tuesday.
Police have received more than 1,000 tips, including more than 50 calls after Rodriguez’s picture was released, Capt. Mike Kirby said.
Authorities said Sjodin may have been abducted while talking to her boyfriend, Chris Lang, on a cell phone the afternoon of Nov. 22. He called her roommate, saying he heard Sjodin say something like, “Oh, my God,” before the phone went dead. During a second call a few hours later, there was only the sound of static and numbers being pressed, he said.
The case had drawn more than 1,300 volunteers who have searched the area without success. In addition, about 30 FBI agents, along with investigators from 20 different agencies in three states and the Canadian province of Manitoba, were working on the case. A $140,000 reward was offered.