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American Morning

Missing Student

Aired December 03, 2003 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000, volunteers will once again take up the search for a University of North Dakota student. Twenty-two-year-old Dru Sjodin disappeared on November 22. A suspect in the case was arrested on Monday.
Sjodin's father says he believes she'll be found alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLAN SJODIN, MISSING STUDENT'S FATHER: What we want is everyone to continue doing what they have been doing, just like these folks have been saying: Check your shelter belts, check your buildings, check anything, check everything. We want information. We have the strength and wherewithal to be out there. We're going to continue to be there, honey. We're going to find you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Today's search will be centered around the home of the suspect, convicted rapist Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. He lives in Crookston, Minnesota, which is about 25 miles from Grand Forks, North Dakota, which is where Sjodin was last seen.

Just a little while ago, I spoke with Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks Police Department, and I asked him what led authorities to Alfonso Rodriguez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. MIKE HEDLUND, GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA POLICE: We have an investigative task force, as you are aware, of approximately 20 different law enforcement agencies -- investigators from those various agencies. They are looking into the pasts and the activities of a lot of people.

One of the categories of individuals that they were looking into would have been registered sex offenders throughout this region. Crookston being only approximately 25 miles from Grand Forks was, of course, well within that region. And Mr. Rodriguez is a class 3 level sex offender registered in the state of Minnesota, so he was definitely someone who was brought to the attention of the investigators relatively early in this investigation.

O'BRIEN: So, it was more his background as opposed to something he might have said to someone, or something other people have tipped you off about him. Is that fair to say? HUDLUND: That would have been at least the initial situation. Of course, there's more than that that is involved. And, as you mentioned, we can't really discuss all of the details, but that would have certainly been one of the first things that would have brought him to our attention.

O'BRIEN: OK. Is he your only suspect at this time? Do you think that there are more suspects? Are you opening -- are you keeping open the net in case there might be other people involved? Or do you think he operated alone? What's your theory behind his arrest?

HUDLUND: I guess we're not trying to rule out any options at this point in time. We believe that we have the individual that's responsible for this situation, but the investigative task force does continue to follow all leads and all tips just to ensure that there isn't anyone else involved. I guess they just don't want to close any possible doors that might help us find Dru.

O'BRIEN: Which, of course, we can understand. Let's talk a little bit about this car, the 2002 maroon Mercury Sable. It's the car that Rodriguez apparently was driving the day that Dru Sjodin went missing. You've released this picture here that we're showing. Any leads that you've gotten so far from this picture?

HUDLUND: Since Mr. Rodriguez's arrest, we have received quite a few additional phone calls, and those are covering a variety of avenues, some that believe they either saw Mr. Rodriguez or his vehicle, and we're trying to follow those up as best as possible. At this point, I'm not aware of anything that's leading to concrete evidence or looking into any particular location with that vehicle, but we're still hopeful.

O'BRIEN: You've got searchers now looking in Crookston, which is where Mr. Rodriguez is from; also Grand Forks County and Polk County. Have you found anything yet? Do you feel confident about what you are going to be able to find? Obviously the terrain - we're looking at some pictures here -- very rough. Folks have to come out on ATVs to be able to make a little headway there. Give me a little sense of the search.

HUDLUND: We've had a couple different days where we've used volunteer searchers. The majority of the time it's been law enforcement only, where we've been checking out specific locations. Today, we're going to be covering a large amount of territory, both in Polk County and Grand Forks County, as you mentioned. The sheriff's offices in each of those counties are coordinating the searches, and we're expecting a massive number of volunteers.

We put out a request for 1,000 volunteers today to assist in those searches, and from the number of calls that we've had from a variety of groups from several different states yesterday, we're expecting -- I'll be very surprised if we don't have at least that number of 1,000 volunteers today.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it seems like the turnout in these searches has been really overwhelming, which I'm sure is very helpful to some degree for the family. They are obviously holding out hope that Dru will be found safe and alive. You know the statistics, though, which go essentially 72 hours after someone is missing, the chances of their survival drop precipitously, diminish greatly. Are you holding out hope that this young woman is alive?

HUDLUND: You're right about the statistics, and, of course, the odds are against us in this case. But I guess we can look at the recent case in Utah with Elizabeth Smart, and as long as there's a shred of hope, I guess we're going to keep hanging on to that, and hope that we will be able to find her alive. The odds are not in our favor, but until we have, you know, strong evidence the other direction, we're going to hang onto that shred of hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That was Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks, North Dakota, police department talking with us this morning on the investigation.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired December 3, 2003 - 07:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds, perhaps more than 1,000, volunteers will once again take up the search for a University of North Dakota student. Twenty-two-year-old Dru Sjodin disappeared on November 22. A suspect in the case was arrested on Monday.
Sjodin's father says he believes she'll be found alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLAN SJODIN, MISSING STUDENT'S FATHER: What we want is everyone to continue doing what they have been doing, just like these folks have been saying: Check your shelter belts, check your buildings, check anything, check everything. We want information. We have the strength and wherewithal to be out there. We're going to continue to be there, honey. We're going to find you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Today's search will be centered around the home of the suspect, convicted rapist Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. He lives in Crookston, Minnesota, which is about 25 miles from Grand Forks, North Dakota, which is where Sjodin was last seen.

Just a little while ago, I spoke with Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks Police Department, and I asked him what led authorities to Alfonso Rodriguez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. MIKE HEDLUND, GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA POLICE: We have an investigative task force, as you are aware, of approximately 20 different law enforcement agencies -- investigators from those various agencies. They are looking into the pasts and the activities of a lot of people.

One of the categories of individuals that they were looking into would have been registered sex offenders throughout this region. Crookston being only approximately 25 miles from Grand Forks was, of course, well within that region. And Mr. Rodriguez is a class 3 level sex offender registered in the state of Minnesota, so he was definitely someone who was brought to the attention of the investigators relatively early in this investigation.

O'BRIEN: So, it was more his background as opposed to something he might have said to someone, or something other people have tipped you off about him. Is that fair to say? HUDLUND: That would have been at least the initial situation. Of course, there's more than that that is involved. And, as you mentioned, we can't really discuss all of the details, but that would have certainly been one of the first things that would have brought him to our attention.

O'BRIEN: OK. Is he your only suspect at this time? Do you think that there are more suspects? Are you opening -- are you keeping open the net in case there might be other people involved? Or do you think he operated alone? What's your theory behind his arrest?

HUDLUND: I guess we're not trying to rule out any options at this point in time. We believe that we have the individual that's responsible for this situation, but the investigative task force does continue to follow all leads and all tips just to ensure that there isn't anyone else involved. I guess they just don't want to close any possible doors that might help us find Dru.

O'BRIEN: Which, of course, we can understand. Let's talk a little bit about this car, the 2002 maroon Mercury Sable. It's the car that Rodriguez apparently was driving the day that Dru Sjodin went missing. You've released this picture here that we're showing. Any leads that you've gotten so far from this picture?

HUDLUND: Since Mr. Rodriguez's arrest, we have received quite a few additional phone calls, and those are covering a variety of avenues, some that believe they either saw Mr. Rodriguez or his vehicle, and we're trying to follow those up as best as possible. At this point, I'm not aware of anything that's leading to concrete evidence or looking into any particular location with that vehicle, but we're still hopeful.

O'BRIEN: You've got searchers now looking in Crookston, which is where Mr. Rodriguez is from; also Grand Forks County and Polk County. Have you found anything yet? Do you feel confident about what you are going to be able to find? Obviously the terrain - we're looking at some pictures here -- very rough. Folks have to come out on ATVs to be able to make a little headway there. Give me a little sense of the search.

HUDLUND: We've had a couple different days where we've used volunteer searchers. The majority of the time it's been law enforcement only, where we've been checking out specific locations. Today, we're going to be covering a large amount of territory, both in Polk County and Grand Forks County, as you mentioned. The sheriff's offices in each of those counties are coordinating the searches, and we're expecting a massive number of volunteers.

We put out a request for 1,000 volunteers today to assist in those searches, and from the number of calls that we've had from a variety of groups from several different states yesterday, we're expecting -- I'll be very surprised if we don't have at least that number of 1,000 volunteers today.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it seems like the turnout in these searches has been really overwhelming, which I'm sure is very helpful to some degree for the family. They are obviously holding out hope that Dru will be found safe and alive. You know the statistics, though, which go essentially 72 hours after someone is missing, the chances of their survival drop precipitously, diminish greatly. Are you holding out hope that this young woman is alive?

HUDLUND: You're right about the statistics, and, of course, the odds are against us in this case. But I guess we can look at the recent case in Utah with Elizabeth Smart, and as long as there's a shred of hope, I guess we're going to keep hanging on to that, and hope that we will be able to find her alive. The odds are not in our favor, but until we have, you know, strong evidence the other direction, we're going to hang onto that shred of hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: That was Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks, North Dakota, police department talking with us this morning on the investigation.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.