After this weekend's wide-scale searches utilizing the North Dakota and Minnesota National Guard, a smaller group of police and Dru Sjodin's family and friends continues to work to bring the missing UND student home.
Sgt. Jim Remer of the Grand Forks Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau said the police are in touch with Sjodin's family every day to discuss how family, friends and law enforcement can work together to find Sjodin.
"We all miss her and love her way too much to give up," said friend Paulette Pommrehn.
Sjodin, 22, disappeared from the Columbia Mall parking lot in Grand Forks more than three weeks ago. Prosecutors have charged convicted rapist Alfonoso Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston with kidnapping.
Allan Sjodin, Dru's father, has said the family will keep searching, although maybe not every day.
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Grand Forks Police Sgt. Michael Hedlund said police were talking with the Sjodin family to advise them about searches the family may conduct on their own.
"I've had several conversations with both (Dru's brother) Sven and Allan, and I can't imagine what they are going through," Hedlund said. "The way they have handled this is very admirable."
The Grand Forks Police Department continues to take tips they receive and to follow up any leads that haven't been wrapped up.
They also are preparing information for the state's attorney's office that will be used as evidence against Rodriguez in court.
Remer said feelings about how the case is progressing at the department are mixed.
"On the one hand there is a sense of accomplishment because of how the kidnapping investigation turned out," he said. "But how can anyone feel anything but that this is unresolved - because Dru hasn't been found."
About 10 investigators from the Grand Forks Police Department remain on the case, Hedlund said.
"Eventually, some of them will have to get back to their regular duties as well," Hedlund said. "But we're going to continue with the investigation. It is ongoing."
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After an intense search last weekend that included help from the Minnesota and North Dakota National Guard, Maj. Mike Fonder of the Grand Forks County's Sheriff's Department said there would be no more large-scale searches for Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minn.
"We will still follow up on any leads," Fonder said. "But right now there's no other places to look."
About 150 National Guard troops from Minnesota and 90 Guard soldiers from North Dakota joined the weekend search. Minnesota soldiers also helped a Fargo dive team use underwater cameras to search the Red River near Thompson.
Spc. Jenny Mills, a North Dakota National Guard member and UND student who has met Dru Sjodin, said she waded through snow drifts as soldiers checked ditches, culverts, fields, outbuildings and other remote areas.
"It's disappointing that we didn't find anything, but we did the best we could," Mills said. "We tried."
Staff Sgt. Allen Saeman, a Guard soldier from Fargo, said he was surprised to find so many abandoned buildings in the area.
"We went through them all," Saeman said. "I think this was a very good mission, but we didn't find what we were looking for."
Rodriguez 50, a convicted sex offender, is charged with kidnapping Sjodin from the Columbia Mall parking lot Nov. 22. Rodriguez has told his lawyer, Grand Forks attorney David Dusek, he is innocent.
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Many of Sjodin's friends are having trouble studying for final exams knowing she still is missing, said Pommrehn, one of Sjodin's sorority sisters at UND.
"I need to somehow keep my head in the books and Dru in my heart," Pommrehn said Monday. "But my priorities have changed. If I get a 'B,' then I get a 'B.'"
Pommrehn said she "doesn't have time" to be angry at Rodriguez.
"It may be harshly put, but I don't want to waste any energy or emotions on him," Pommrehn said. "He doesn't deserve it."
Herald staff writer Lisa Davis contributed to this report.
