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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Mike Hedlund

Aired November 30, 2003 - 09:31   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.


SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Minnesota say an apparent abduction attempt is not related to the case of a North Dakota student now missing for eight days. That conclusion from a case involving a Minnesota teen who tells police she was kidnapped Friday outside the store where she works and narrowly managed to escape. The apparent abduction happened just 45 miles from where North Dakota college student Dru Sjodin disappeared on November 22.
Meanwhile, about 200 volunteers are joining in the search for that missing student. Dru Sjodin's mom says the reward for her daughter's safe return is now up to $140,000.

For the latest on this search, we are joined on the phone by Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks, North Dakota police department.

Sergeant, thanks very much for joining us today. I know it has got to be a very difficult time. It has been one week since the abduction. What can you tell us about the case involving Dru?

SGT. MIKE HEDLUND, POLICE, GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA: Well, we have a very large investigative team made up of investigators from I believe 20 law enforcement agencies, both state, local and federal now. This investigative team is working extremely hard. They're following up on a wide variety of tips that have come into our tip line and other leads that have been developed.

As you mentioned, the volunteers are going out today to search an area that we did need a greater number of personnel to be able to cover effectively. There's a number of other areas that are also being searched on a more - on a smaller basis with primarily law enforcement personnel. Interviews are ongoing, and we're hoping to be able to have positive results soon.

CALLEBS: Now, also we know she was apparently on the phone with her boyfriend when the abduction took place. What can you tell us about that? Certainly, I presume you are going over the cell phone records, and have any calls been made from that phone since her abduction?

HEDLUND: There was one call that same night at approximately 8:00 p.m., and that call tripped off of only one cell phone tower. That was the primary emphasis for our search early this past week. This past Tuesday, we had 1300 local volunteers coming out to assist us, searching a very large area around that cell phone tower. A number of tips have since come in, and leads were also developed during the course of that search. We are following those up as best we can.

CALLEBS: Tell us a bit about the Grand Forks area and why now you are appealing for more volunteers. It seems like you had a small army out in the area.

HEDLUND: Yes. For the most part this past Tuesday when we had the very large area near that cell phone tower, that's the only day we used civilian volunteers. There have been law enforcement related volunteers and some other organized search groups that have been used. But for the most part, the searchers this past week have been law enforcement related, until today.

There was an area that some of the leads had developed where they did want to have search a bit more closely, it's a bit larger area in Grand Forks County that they needed to have checked. That's the reason for the request for volunteers today.

Grand Forks is a city of about 50,000 people. East Grand Forks, Minnesota is right across the Red River, and that's about another 7500 people. The University of North Dakota, with roughly 12,000 students is in Grand Forks, North Dakota here, with a total population of approximately 70,000 to 80,000 people. It's a fairly rural area, largely agricultural surrounding the community, and Grand Forks, with the larger shopping complexes for the area, and then the University of North Dakota is basically the regional hub for this area.

CALLEBS: Sergeant Mike Hedlund, best of luck to you out there. I know it has got to be a very painful holiday for so many people out there who are actively searching for Dru Sjodin. Best of luck to you. And again, thanks for joining us this morning.

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 November 30, 2003 - 09:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Minnesota say an apparent abduction attempt is not related to the case of a North Dakota student now missing for eight days. That conclusion from a case involving a Minnesota teen who tells police she was kidnapped Friday outside the store where she works and narrowly managed to escape. The apparent abduction happened just 45 miles from where North Dakota college student Dru Sjodin disappeared on November 22.
Meanwhile, about 200 volunteers are joining in the search for that missing student. Dru Sjodin's mom says the reward for her daughter's safe return is now up to $140,000.

For the latest on this search, we are joined on the phone by Sergeant Mike Hedlund of the Grand Forks, North Dakota police department.

Sergeant, thanks very much for joining us today. I know it has got to be a very difficult time. It has been one week since the abduction. What can you tell us about the case involving Dru?

SGT. MIKE HEDLUND, POLICE, GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA: Well, we have a very large investigative team made up of investigators from I believe 20 law enforcement agencies, both state, local and federal now. This investigative team is working extremely hard. They're following up on a wide variety of tips that have come into our tip line and other leads that have been developed.

As you mentioned, the volunteers are going out today to search an area that we did need a greater number of personnel to be able to cover effectively. There's a number of other areas that are also being searched on a more - on a smaller basis with primarily law enforcement personnel. Interviews are ongoing, and we're hoping to be able to have positive results soon.

CALLEBS: Now, also we know she was apparently on the phone with her boyfriend when the abduction took place. What can you tell us about that? Certainly, I presume you are going over the cell phone records, and have any calls been made from that phone since her abduction?

HEDLUND: There was one call that same night at approximately 8:00 p.m., and that call tripped off of only one cell phone tower. That was the primary emphasis for our search early this past week. This past Tuesday, we had 1300 local volunteers coming out to assist us, searching a very large area around that cell phone tower. A number of tips have since come in, and leads were also developed during the course of that search. We are following those up as best we can.

CALLEBS: Tell us a bit about the Grand Forks area and why now you are appealing for more volunteers. It seems like you had a small army out in the area.

HEDLUND: Yes. For the most part this past Tuesday when we had the very large area near that cell phone tower, that's the only day we used civilian volunteers. There have been law enforcement related volunteers and some other organized search groups that have been used. But for the most part, the searchers this past week have been law enforcement related, until today.

There was an area that some of the leads had developed where they did want to have search a bit more closely, it's a bit larger area in Grand Forks County that they needed to have checked. That's the reason for the request for volunteers today.

Grand Forks is a city of about 50,000 people. East Grand Forks, Minnesota is right across the Red River, and that's about another 7500 people. The University of North Dakota, with roughly 12,000 students is in Grand Forks, North Dakota here, with a total population of approximately 70,000 to 80,000 people. It's a fairly rural area, largely agricultural surrounding the community, and Grand Forks, with the larger shopping complexes for the area, and then the University of North Dakota is basically the regional hub for this area.

CALLEBS: Sergeant Mike Hedlund, best of luck to you out there. I know it has got to be a very painful holiday for so many people out there who are actively searching for Dru Sjodin. Best of luck to you. And again, thanks for joining us this morning.

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