The murder of Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old student at the University of North Dakota and Gamma Phi Beta sorority member, occurred on November 22, 2003.

Sjodin was kidnapped by Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. from the Columbia Mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2003, Dru Katrina Sjodin (born September 26, 1981) finished her shift at the Victoria's Secret store located in the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

[2] After shopping for and purchasing a new purse from Marshall Field's, Sjodin left the mall and began walking to her 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

[7] A week later, on December 1, a suspect, 50-year-old registered level-3 sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. (born February 18, 1953),[8] was arrested in connection with Sjodin's disappearance.

He admitted to using many drugs during his youth and committed his first sexual assault with a knife when he was 21 by attempting to rape a woman he asked to give him a ride home.

Notably, Rodriguez possessed two specific tool kit knives available only at a certain home center store located approximately a mile from the mall.

In Rodriguez's car, police found one of these tool kit knives submerged in a cleaning solution in the rear wheel well.

[2] Sjodin's body was recovered on April 17, 2004, just west of Crookston, Minnesota, when deep snow drifts began to melt.

[15][16] Her hands were tied behind her back; she had been beaten, stabbed, and sexually assaulted, and had several lacerations including a five-and-a-half inch cut on her neck.

NSOPW is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and state, territorial and tribal governments, working together for the safety of adults and children.