ND - Dru Sjodin, 22, Grand Forks, 22 Nov 2003 - #2

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Originally posted by Love_Mama
Just heard on Fox TV that there will be a press conference in about 40 minutes.....which would be about 12:30 here in California.

Thanks for the heads up! I'm at work, but will try to turn on the radio.
 
Hey guys,

Keep us posted. I'm at work (always). No TV access. The message board at finddru.com is hopeless. So I'm counting on websleuths to post press conference info. From what I've sifted through the nonsense from the finddru message board is that they've called in the national guard and they are just announcing their involvement.

Thanks a bunch !

Websleuths rocks !
 
startribune.com Close window

Nick Coleman: A too-real nightmare before Christmas
Nick Coleman
Star Tribune
Published 12/04/2003

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The holiday theme at the Victoria's Secret store in Grand Forks this year is Christmas Dreams and Fantasies.

The fantasies are illustrated by large photos of compliant young women wearing wispy underclothing designed to blur the difference between naughty and nice.

If there's any question about where we stand on that scale right now, the nervous security guard posted inside the door of the Victoria's Secret store to keep reporters from bothering the customers is an easy tip-off.

A security guard was not deemed necessary before Nov. 22.

That's the Saturday Dru Sjodin disappeared, leaving her job at the store and walking past the Columbia Mall Santa Claus (who started his kid-hugging duties early this year) out into the parking lot and into the dark imaginings of the entire country.

It's not Christmas Dreams that have brought the networks to Grand Forks. It is Christmas Nightmares.

Somewhere, in the dark between Grand Forks and Crookston, Minn., on Nov. 22, a cell phone signal transmitted static and then, finally, faded out.

Sjodin, 22, is not a fantasy woman, just a hardworking college senior with a captivating smile and a lovely potential. In a country titillated by sex tapes of actresses and hotel heiresses and fixated on tragedies that befall attractive young people, Dru Sjodin is now part of the nightly news package, a story that is appalling and appealing at the same time, her pretty face and dreadful mystery now hyped 24-7 with a single name, like Laci.

Dru.

The only place that seems not to recognize her is Victoria's Secret.

The fantasy purveyor peddled its cheesecake on a holiday TV special just three days before a sex criminal who was considered too old to be an imminent threat is believed by police to have gone to the mall to abduct Sjodin.

As of Wednesday, with hundreds of people searching the flat, frozen beet fields along both sides of the Red River of the North for any sign of her, there was no mention of Dru Sjodin on the Victoria's Secret company Web site. None.

"Dónde está la muchacha?" "Where is the girl?"

That was the agonized cry in the Crookston courtroom Wednesday morning after Alfonso Rodriguez, the 50-year-old ex-con arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance, made a three-minute appearance in court.

Rodriguez, his gray hair dyed an unconvincing brown, did not look youthful. He looked disheveled and disoriented, the white tail of a bulletproof vest hanging from beneath a blue jacket that, in turn, hung shapelessly over his slight paunch and his worn blue jeans -- more pathetic than predatory.

He said but one word, "Yes," when asked whether he would agree to be extradited 25 miles to North Dakota. Then, his hands manacled together, he bent over the paperwork and scrawled his name. It was over. Neat, clean, bloodless.

Until Velma Axtell, a neighbor and close friend of Rodriguez's mother, leapt up and made an impassioned plea in Spanish, addressing Rodriguez by his family nickname, "Tito."

Tito, she cried, for the sake of your mother, tell us what happened. Where is the girl? Dónde está la muchacha?

Sobbing, the 48-year-old Axtell was hurried out of the courtroom, crying on a friend's shoulder.

"That was a Hallmark moment," said Ken Mendez, a friend who is the godson of Rodriguez's mother. "That could just as well have been Tito's mother speaking. She was telling him to do the right thing and to help the other family [the Sjodins] because this is tearing on their hearts."

Rodriguez did not respond in any discernible way.

In St. Paul, on the other hand, the politicians were pointing fingers and rushing to get in front of cameras, telling us how many daughters they have and reminding us that they have been in favor of throwing away the key all along and that if we have to kill 'em to get 'em off the street, that can be arranged.

The fact that none of them knows what happened to Dru Sjodin and that Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. has not been convicted did not stop their lips from flapping.

Here in the Red River Valley, the case of a missing 22-year-old seemed far too sad and unfinished for any comfort to come from the politicians.

Hundreds are combing the dead fields. Divers are under the ice. The police are stretched to the limit. A bright young person with friends and family and a face that has lit up 100 million TV screens is who knows where.

At the Columbia Mall, Santa had the day off Wednesday, his throne near the Victoria's Secret store vacant, a 3-foot-tall jack-in-the-box grinning stupidly at passersby. It didn't feel like Christmas.

But the mall was trying to get shoppers in the mood, playing Christmas songs on the overhead sound system. I stopped to listen to a vocal group -- female singers I did not recognize -- as they sang a cheerful ditty.

"Hey, Santa," they were singing. "I wish with all my might: If you hear me, bring my baby home tonight."

Nick Coleman is at ncoleman@startribune.com.

© Copyright 2003 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
 
Does ANYONE know where the Red Lake River is.....?????????? where they found the shoe. I'll get over to Dru's site....see if I can find out before the press conference!

xxo
mama
 
Originally posted by forbidn2u2
Hey guys,

Keep us posted. I'm at work (always). No TV access. The message board at finddru.com is hopeless. So I'm counting on websleuths to post press conference info. From what I've sifted through the nonsense from the finddru message board is that they've called in the national guard and they are just announcing their involvement.

Thanks a bunch !

Websleuths rocks !



I agree Forbidden. I have the most difficult time trying to weed thru the posts on dru's website. Does it run extremely slow for anyone else? And the fighting is just too sad and dismal for words. :-( I also saw some hats that are known trouble-makers from other message boards I've lurked at before. That's a sure sign of a mess .......

Thanks to all of you for keeping up with the news for those of us at work. I just leave WS up on my desktop ALL day for my updates. You all are the absolute BEST!!!!!!
 
It was just announced that it will be held at 4 pm eastern not 3:30.

This from the FindDru.com site.
 
Originally posted by Love_Mama
Does ANYONE know where the Red Lake River is.....?????????? where they found the shoe. I'll get over to Dru's site....see if I can find out before the press conference!

xxo
mama
\I think I will go there too, before the News Conf.
 
Originally posted by thomasf1925
I agree Forbidden. I have the most difficult time trying to weed thru the posts on dru's website. Does it run extremely slow for anyone else? And the fighting is just too sad and dismal for words. :-( I also saw some hats that are known trouble-makers from other message boards I've lurked at before. That's a sure sign of a mess .......

Thanks to all of you for keeping up with the news for those of us at work. I just leave WS up on my desktop ALL day for my updates. You all are the absolute BEST!!!!!!

Hi Thomas,

It runs slow for me too. A lot of times I can't even get it to come up. I just check there periodically. I don't post either. The people are nutz.
 
Originally posted by Love_Mama
Does ANYONE know where the Red Lake River is.....?????????? where they found the shoe. I'll get over to Dru's site....see if I can find out before the press conference!

xxo
mama

I remember seeing a map of that area once. I'll see if I can find it again.

Edited to add:
Here is info about the Red Lake River:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/canoeing/redlakeriver/index.html
 
Was there a press conference on this, today? I read on another forum that there might be. Anybody know? Thanks.
 
Originally posted by forbidn2u2
Hi Thomas,

It runs slow for me too. A lot of times I can't even get it to come up. I just check there periodically. I don't post either. The people are nutz.
I just came from there...and, it is quite slow...I get kicked off a lot and can't pull up the new pages...must be very busy.
 
Did someone see the press conference?
I just turned on the tv, nothing. I'm late I know.
This has me sooo upset....I wish for her to be found ALIVE.
 
The sheriff's dept said there is NO chance Dru will be found alive.

WHY LORD???
 
Originally posted by alpharee
Did someone see the press conference?
I just turned on the tv, nothing. I'm late I know.
This has me sooo upset....I wish for her to be found ALIVE.
I did channel surfing..all cable news , cnn fox and msnbc carried just a tiny bit of it...DRATS
 
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