Gaps Found N.D. Student Suspect's Story
Posted on: Thursday, 11 December 2003, 06:00 CST
Investigators found about a three-hour gap between the time a North Dakota college student disappeared and the time the suspect in the case arrived home, according to a search warrant unsealed Thursday.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was at the Crookston, Minn., home he shares with his mother about 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 22, Delores Rodriguez told police, according to the Dec. 2 search warrant.
Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old student at the University of North Dakota, was last seen that day in Grand Forks, about 25 miles west of Crookston. About 5 p.m., she had spoken to her boyfriend via cell phone from the parking lot of the mall where she worked.
An affidavit unsealed Tuesday showed Rodriguez told authorities he had watched a movie, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," at the mall during that time, but authorities said that movie was not playing at the mall or anywhere nearby that day.
When confronted, Rodriguez "did not have an explanation" for the fact that the movie he named wasn't showing, according to the officer who applied for the search warrant. Its contents were first reported by The Forum of Fargo.
The search warrant showed Rodriguez cooperated with an initial search of his car Nov. 26, but refused a second search and asked for a lawyer. Police raided his house nine hours later.
Among the items seized were receipts from stores near the Columbia Mall time-stamped Nov. 22, swabs of "apparent blood" from the garage floor and three latex gloves from his car trunk, the papers unsealed Thursday show.
Rodriguez, 50, has said he is innocent. Charged with kidnapping, he is jailed in Grand Forks on $5 million bond.
On Friday, National Guard troops plan to start a three-day search for Sjodin using Humvees to reach isolated areas and wearing insulated clothing. Recent bitterly cold weather has made search conditions too dangerous for civilian volunteers.
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