Alfonso Rodriguez Jr — Credit: Broward County · Public domain
On the evening of November 22, 2003, Dru Katrina Sjodin, a 22-year-old student at the University of North Dakota and member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, finished a shift at a Victoria's Secret store in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After making a purchase at another store, she walked to her car in the mall parking lot while speaking to her boyfriend by cell phone. The call ended abruptly, and a second, garbled call came through roughly three hours later. When Sjodin failed to show up for her other job, concern grew for her safety.
A week later, on December 1, 2003, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., then 50, was arrested in connection with her disappearance. Rodriguez had recently been released from prison after serving 23 years for rape, aggravated assault, and kidnapping, and was classified as a Level 3 sex offender considered highly likely to reoffend. Investigators found inconsistencies in his account of his whereabouts, along with knives purchased at a nearby store, one of which was found submerged in cleaning solution in his car, and another with blood matching Sjodin's DNA. A woman's shoe was also recovered from the vehicle.
Sjodin's body was found on April 17, 2004, in a ravine near Crookston, Minnesota — the town where Rodriguez lived with his mother — after snow drifts melted. Her hands were bound, and she had been beaten, stabbed, and sexually assaulted, with a severe neck laceration and a rope tied around her neck; remnants of a shopping bag suggested it had been placed over her head. The medical examiner determined she died from the neck wound, suffocation, or exposure.
Because Sjodin had been transported across state lines, the case was prosecuted federally under the Federal Kidnapping Act, making Rodriguez eligible for the death penalty despite neither North Dakota nor Minnesota having capital punishment. On August 30, 2006, a federal jury convicted Rodriguez of kidnapping resulting in death. He was formally sentenced to death on February 8, 2007, by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson.
In 2021, Judge Erickson, by then serving on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, overturned Rodriguez's death sentence, citing misleading and inaccurate testimony from the medical examiner and limitations placed on mental health evidence during trial. In March 2023, prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue the death penalty, and on May 18, 2023, Rodriguez was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Sjodin's case drew national attention and led to the creation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry, established by legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006. A scholarship in her name was established at the University of North Dakota, and memorial gardens were created in her hometown of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, with another planned for the UND campus.
Columbia Mall parking lot, Grand Forks, North Dakota (body recovered near Crookston, Minnesota)
Case status
solved
Case timeline
1981-09-26
Dru Katrina Sjodin is born.
1953-02-18
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is born.
2003-05-01
Rodriguez is released from prison after serving 23 years for rape, aggravated assault, and kidnapping.
2003-11-22
Dru Sjodin is kidnapped from the Columbia Mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and murdered.
2003-12-01
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance.
2004
A scholarship in Sjodin's name is established at the University of North Dakota.
2004-04-17
Sjodin's body is found near Crookston, Minnesota.
2006
Legislation known as 'Dru's Law' establishing the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry is signed into law by President George W. Bush.
2006-08-30
Rodriguez is convicted in federal court of kidnapping resulting in death.
2006-09-22
A jury recommends Rodriguez receive the death penalty.
2007-02-08
Rodriguez is formally sentenced to death by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson.
2011-10
Defense attorneys file a federal habeas corpus motion claiming Rodriguez is mentally disabled.
2013-06-28
Rodriguez admits guilt in a death row interview with Dr. Michael Welner.
2021
Judge Ralph R. Erickson, now on the Eighth Circuit, overturns Rodriguez's death sentence and orders a new sentencing phase.
2023-03-14
Prosecutors announce they will no longer seek the death penalty for Rodriguez.
2023-05-18
Rodriguez is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Best coverage
Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status; see the dossier above for sourced case facts.
VIDEO
Danelle Hallan / 30 min
SOLVED | Dru Sjodin | How she CHANGED the laws on predators forever
People
Ralph R. Erickson
LAW ENFORCEMENT
U.S. District Judge who sentenced Rodriguez to death in 2007; later, as an Eighth Circuit judge, overturned that sentence in 2021.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.
CONVICTED
Convicted in federal court on August 30, 2006, of kidnapping resulting in the death of Dru Sjodin; originally sentenced to death, later resentenced to life without parole in 2023 after his death sentence was overturned on appeal.
Drew Wrigley
LAW ENFORCEMENT
U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case against Rodriguez.
Dru Sjodin
VICTIM
22-year-old University of North Dakota student kidnapped and murdered on November 22, 2003.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old University of North Dakota student, was kidnapped from a Grand Forks, North Dakota mall parking lot on November 22, 2003, and murdered by Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a registered high-risk sex offender. The case led to federal legislation creating a national sex offender registry.
Where did the murder happen?
Columbia Mall parking lot, Grand Forks, North Dakota (body recovered near Crookston, Minnesota).
Who was convicted?
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. (Convicted in federal court on August 30, 2006, of kidnapping resulting in the death of Dru Sjodin; originally sentenced to death, later resentenced to life without parole in 2023 after his death sentence was overturned on appeal.).
