Officers still struggle with Dru Sjodin’s murder
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Law enforcement officials who worked on the Dru Sjodin case say they still struggle with her senseless killing.
“ All you got is a guy going to prison or the death chamber and a family that doesn’t have a daughter,” said Dan Ahlquist, a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “It’s over, and their family member is gone.”
A federal jury in Fargo last month convicted Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 53, of Crookston, Minn., in the kidnapping and death of Sjodin, a 22-year-old University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes, Minn.
She disappeared in late 2003, and her body was found in a ravine near Crookston in the spring of 2004. Rodriguez was sentenced to death.
Grand Forks Police Lt. Jim Remer said there are still many missing details and lingering questions about what took place during the three hours when Rodriguez kidnapped Sjodin.
“ We’re probably never going to know exactly what happened unless Alfonso tells us,” Remer said. “It would be interesting to know everything. Does it make a difference? Probably not.”
Remer sat behind prosecutors during Rodriguez's trial.
He and FBI Special Agent Chris Boeckers served as a sounding board for U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley and his team of prosecutors.
“ I just have a world of praise for them and their agencies,” said Wrigley, who asked that both men be on hand for the trial.
Boeckers, citing FBI policy, declined to comment on the case.
“ When I look back, I see how well everyone buckled down and worked together,” Remer said. “I think the whole area can be proud of the people involved.”
Ahlquist said that at one point during interviews of Rodriguez he believed the convicted sex offender would confess, but Rodriguez ultimately asked for an attorney.
“ I dwelled on it for one fact,” Ahlquist said. “I wasn't able to get him to confess.”
Remer’s former supervisor, Dennis Eggebraaten, said now that the trial is over, the early days of the investigation “seems like a blur.”
“ We’ve all lived with this for three years,” he said. “Now that this is over a lot of people just want to move on.”