CROOKSTON, Minn. – The sister of the suspect in the case of a missing University of North Dakota (search) student pleaded with a local police officer to keep tabs on her brother after his release from prison in May because she feared he might strike again.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. (search), 50, has been charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Dru Sjodin (search), 22. The student has been missing since Nov. 22, when police believe she was abducted from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks, N.D.
Rodriguez's sister, Ileana, called Sgt. Gerry Moreno several times following her brother's completion of a 23-year prison term for stabbing and trying to kidnap a woman. She asked Moreno to keep her brother, who had previously pleaded guilty to rape, locked up or away from the community.
Moreno told The Forum of Fargo, N.D., that he wasn't in a position to help her.
"Once a person does their time, they have no ties to probation," Moreno said in Sunday's edition of the newspaper.
Ileana Rodriguez turned to the 26-year police veteran, because they grew up together in Crookston. Moreno also went to the same elementary school as Alfonso Rodriguez, and as children they would play together, he said.
When they were children, "there was nothing unusual that made me think he was a weirdo," Moreno said.
Investigators in the Sjodin case have put their two-state physical search for her on indefinite hold and were trying to piece together clues on her whereabouts.
Alfonso Rodriguez faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 4, and arraignment on Feb. 6.
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