Prosecutors close in with forensic evidence

FARGO, N.D. — As she lay dying in a ravine, Dru Sjodin may have made a desperate phone call for help, prosecutors in the trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. seemed to suggest to jurors Tuesday.

Less than three hours after the college student disappeared in November 2003, her boyfriend got a call from Sjodin's phone and heard wind and three tones — as if someone were pushing buttons.

The line disconnected, but Sjodin's phone stayed on for hours as Grand Forks police desperately tried to use the signal to locate the missing University of North Dakota student.

Sjodin's body was found April 17, 2004, in a desolate area outside Crookston, Minn., five months after she vanished from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall. Her hands were bound and her throat cut. Authorities found the phone about 15 yards away.

Suggesting that Sjodin was alive when she was dumped could help prosecutors counter defense arguments that the kidnapping and slaying happened in North Dakota. Defense attorneys contend that Rodriguez should not be facing a federal charge — which carries the death penalty — because the crime did not involve multiple states.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, an option not available had Rodriguez been charged in Minnesota or North Dakota courts.

The image of a bound and terrified Sjodin dialing for help also could help the state reinforce for jurors the suffering she endured.

Rodriguez's attorneys seemed to suggest Sjodin's phone might have dialed when it fell while her body was being dumped.

Also Tuesday, jurors viewed photos and a video of the site where a searcher discovered Sjodin's body. Sjodin was found face down and nude from the waist down. Jurors saw her blonde hair and the back of her bright pink blouse. Her black coat had slipped from her shoulders but remained trapped on her arms. The police video showed one farmhouse in the distance.

The night 22-year-old Sjodin disappeared, temperatures dipped as low as 15 degrees.

Rodriguez, 53, is charged with kidnapping across state lines causing death. He is being tried in federal court in Fargo.

After showing the gruesome photos of Sjodin's body, prosecutors turned to science to close in on Rodriguez.

Three scientists took the stand to testify about fibers, bloodstains and a hair they concluded link the suspect to the victim.

A forensic scientist matched fibers from the black wool coat and pink cotton blouse Sjodin was last seen wearing to black and pink fibers found in Rodriguez's car.

Susan Gross, a scientist with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, testified that different types of fibers found in Rodriguez's car, at his house, on Sjodin's clothing and on a knife sheath found near Sjodin's car linked the suspect and the victim.

Gross used a chart to show the jurors how all the fibers matched up.

Red acrylic fibers from a blanket on Rodriguez's bed matched red fibers found on the knife sheath, Sjodin's coat and pants. The red blanket fibers also were discovered in Rodriguez's car as well as on boots and gloves taken from his Crookston house less than a week after her disappearance.

Pink cotton fibers from Sjodin's blouse matched pink fibers found in Rodriguez's car and plucked from Rodriguez's boots and gloves.

A farmer discovered Sjodin's black pants dumped along a road outside of Crookston in May 2004.

Gross described how she examined all the red acrylic fibers using six areas of comparison, including examining the fibers side by side under a microscope and running tests with other lab equipment. Gross examined the natural pink cotton fibers and black wool fibers using three areas of comparison, she said.

There is no way to determine how rare a fiber is, Gross testified, but added the number and different types of fibers linking the suspect and the victim was "quite significant."

FBI scientist Les McCurdy testified that a hair plucked from the black coat on Sjodin's body could have come from Rodriguez based on another form of testing called mitochondrial DNA testing.

While mitochondrial DNA is not unique to one person, it can help significantly narrow down a suspect pool. Investigators test for mitochondrial DNA when they don't have a large enough sample to test for nuclear DNA, which is unique to every person except identical twins.

The mitochondrial DNA from the hair on the coat matched Rodriguez's mitochondrial DNA. Less than one-half of 1 percent of the Hispanic population has the same mitochondrial DNA as Rodriguez, McCurdy testified.

After Tuesday's testimony, the trial concluded for the week. The trial will resume Monday.