GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – A man was arrested Monday night and faces a kidnapping charge in the disappearance of a college student who may have been abducted while talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone, police said.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, was arrested in Crookston, Minn., where he lives, and was being held in the Tri-County Correctional Center, Grand Forks police said.
Dru Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., has been missing since Nov. 22, when she left her job at the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.
Soon after Sjodin disappeared, her boyfriend, Chris Lang, called the student’s roommate, saying he had received two calls. The first was cut off and Lang heard Sjodin say, “Oh, my God,” before the phone went dead. A second call a couple of hours later was only static and the sound of numbers being pressed.
The case had drawn more than 1,300 volunteers who have searched the area without success. In addition, about 30 FBI agents, along with investigators from 20 different agencies in three states and the Canadian province of Manitoba, were working on the case. A $140,000 reward was offered.
Police said a search for Sjodin was continuing. Police said no other information would be released until a news briefing Tuesday morning.
AP-ES-12-01-03 2249EST
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