Missing!

I don’t know her personally but I felt the need to get the word out there so if anyone recognizes her. Only God knows where she is right now.

Dru Sjodin

A UND student was reported missing after she didn’t show up for work Saturday night.

Dru Sjodin, 22, last was heard from at about 4 p.m. Saturday, as she was leaving from her job at Victoria’s Secret in Columbia Mall.

Sjodin’s family is offering a $20,000 reward for her safe return.

UND Police Chief Duane Czapiewski said Sjodin’s roommate notified University Police at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday after Sjodin didn’t show up for a 9 p.m. shift at her second job at the El Roco.

The case wasn’t classified as anything more than a missing person case until Sunday morning, when the Grand Forks Police Department was notified, said city Detective Mike Sholes.

Sholes said as the police department’s investigation into Sjodin’s disappearance developed, they became more concerned.

“It’s not uncommon for people to go missing for a variety of reasons, but certain characteristics of this (case) demand immediate attention,” Sholes said.

Suspicious call

A cell phone call, presumably made shortly before her disappearance, has police and family concerned.

“Around 5 p.m., she was on her cell phone speaking to her boyfriend in the Cities,” Sjodin’s mother, Linda Walker, said from her home in Pequot Lakes, Minn. “He heard her say ‘Oh, my God,’ and then the phone went dead.”

Sholes said the Grand Forks Police Department is investigating the case as an abduction, most likely sexually motivated.

Sjodin’s car was found in a north Columbia Mall parking lot, near J.C. Penney, with the driver’s side door locked and the passenger’s side door unlocked. The items she had purchased at the mall after work were left either in or around the car, according to Sjodin’s mother and friends.

Call from Fisher

About 8 p.m., Walker said another call from Sjodin’s cell phone was made to Sjodin’s boyfriend. Sjodin’s boyfriend answered the call, but the line was dead.

Sholes said cellular phone information from that call encouraged the police department to focus its search in the Fisher, Minn., area.

Walker said as far as she knows, her daughter doesn’t know anyone from that area and would have no reason to be there.

“She’s very responsible,” Walker said. “This is totally out of character for her.”

The investigation

Sjodin’s car was impounded Sunday morning, and immediately, Grand Forks Police began processing the car.

Grand Forks Police said they had no suspects as of Sunday evening. But Sholes said they are looking at prior abduction cases reported to police, as well as files that may have been kept regarding suspicious persons at the mall. Police also are viewing video surveillance tapes from Columbia Mall.

“If the public has any information around the parking lot on the north side of J.C. Penney’s at 5 p.m., or the southeast parking lot of old Target; or if any suspicious people approached them at Columbia Mall at any time, we would like to have that information,” Sholes said.

At home, Sjodin’s mom pleaded for help.

“I just need everybody’s help to try to find her,” Walker said. “It’s the worst nightmare anyone could go through.”

Friends make fliers

Sjodin’s friends went to work Sunday, putting up missing person signs throughout the area. They gathered at Sjodin’s apartment and began calling fellow friends and students to be on the lookout for her.

Friends say Sjodin was a friendly, outgoing person who is not the type to disappear without telling someone where she was going.

“She’s not the type of person that just wouldn’t show up,” said Ivy Arnesen. “We’re just hoping to get some information about her.”

About Sjodin

Sjodin graduated from high school in 2000 in the Pequot Lakes area, and was an honor student and homecoming queen, Walker said. She said Sjodin was hoping to go to Australia this summer and had plans to graduate with a degree in graphic design in August.

Sjodin is 5 feet 5 inches and weighs 130 pounds. She has frosted blond hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black slacks, black loafers, a pink and purple V-neck blouse, a black blazer style jacket and a small black handbag.

Anyone with information is asked to call University Police at (701) 777-3491 or Grand Forks Police at (701) 787-8000