A knife and blood matching Dru Sjodin’s type were found in the car belonging to the man accused of kidnapping the University of North Dakota student, a source told The Associated Press on Monday.
The source close to the investigation told the AP about the knife discovered in the car’s trunk and also confirmed earlier media reports about the blood and a knife sheath being found in the parking lot of the mall where Sjodin disappeared.
Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., was last heard talking to her boyfriend on a cell phone on Nov. 22 after she left her job at a Victoria’s Secret at the Grand Forks mall.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, has been charged with kidnapping Sjodin. Evidence in the case, which was sealed by a judge after Rodriguez’s arrest, should be released on Tuesday, the source said.
Rodriguez’s maroon, four-door 2002 Mercury Sable was impounded by authorities before his Dec. 1 arrest in Crookston, Minn. David Dusek, Rodriguez’s public defender, has said that his client said he had nothing to do with Sjodin’s disappearance.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Lara Weber (lweber@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
