By Robert Heales – Photos courtesy of WADZ Television, Grand Forks
This article was written by me nearly twenty years ago after the day Dru Sjodin’s remains were found after five months of investigation and searching. When people ask me what case I remember most after my forty-year career, without hesitation it was this one. The experience was life changing. It was personal. A day doesn’t pass when I don’t think about Dru.
In June of 2006, Dru’s Law, the National Sex Offender Public Registry, was signed into law by President Bush. Later that year her killer was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was eligible for the death penalty because he had taken Dru across state lines making it a federal crime. He abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered her leaving her body in a remote ravine near a small town. In 2023 after an appeal, the Biden Administration removed him from death row and changed the sentence to life in prison.
In remembrance of her abduction and murder, ABC News 20/20 will be airing a documentary that I participated in on January 12, 2024. We hope this helps bring awareness for women and children. I share this article in the hope that it helps people realize it can happen in a small town and to always tell those you love to be aware of their surroundings.
Missing Dru
I still remember the news that night. I had flown into my hometown of Minneapolis for Thanksgiving week. It was Monday November 24th, 2003 and the lead story on the 10:00 news was the apparent abduction of Dru Sjodin from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. I still remember her picture flashed across the television screen. I immediately called Tim Berg, someone so close to me I consider him a nephew. Tim had graduated just a few years before Dru and was already on the way to Grand Forks with some other local friends to help search.
I have a home in Crosslake, just a few miles from Pequot Lakes, and I know many of Dru’s classmates and friends from the area. I had only met Dru one time the previous summer. I didn’t immediately recognize the picture used on television until Tim refreshed my memory and told me she was Chris Lang’s girlfriend. I had known Chris for a number of years and I felt so bad for him, Dru’s friends and for her family who I had yet to meet. I hoped there was some explanation and she would be found safe soon.
I remembered the night I met her along with some of her friends. I kept thinking of Dru’s beautiful smile and how friendly she was. We had played a dice game called 6-5-4. Dru didn’t have very good luck with it. After I gave her a couple dollars back to keep her in the game, she came back strong and took all my winnings away.
The first missing person case I remember following closely was Beth Miller in Idaho Springs, Colorado in 1983. 14 year old Beth was jogging one morning in this small mountain town. She was last seen talking to a male in an orange pickup truck. It has bothered me for many years now that Beth’s family never knew what happened to her or where she was. Beth’s beautiful picture and smile are forever etched in my memory. The most recent case I always think of is Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City, Utah. How can anyone forget that tragic story and the wonderful news when she was found alive 9 months later?
I never felt like I could help make a difference in any of these other cases. But this was different, this was Dru. Dru was from my town and I knew the people in this town and her friends were afraid and were hurting. I knew I would head to Grand Forks the next day to help walk the ditches and woods and help in any way I could. I hoped that good news was imminent and that we wouldn’t have to search long.
When I arrived in Grand Forks on Tuesday evening I saw the assorted news trucks in the area and it all became very real. I met with some of Dru’s friends that I knew and also met others. Dru’s brother Sven was the first family member I met.
There had been a large volunteer search that day, but the news reports were now saying that Wednesday would be law enforcement searches only. Dru’s friends would have none of that and arrangements had been made to meet at the church in Fisher, Minnesota which was being used as a command center the next morning.
Wednesday morning we waited for about 90 minutes outside the church while law enforcement was having their briefing. An inch or so of snow had created some drifts in low areas. Patience wore thin with Dru’s young friends. They wanted to be searching, not waiting around for someone to tell them what to do or what not to do. Eli Loven was a close friend of Dru’s and had been searching for a couple days by now, along with a couple dozen of Dru’s friends. Eli took charge and directed the group where to search. Everyone worked hard, but by the end of the day it struck me that things were a little disorganized and I thought this group could be put to better use in the search along with law enforcement. It isn’t always easy to get the cooperation of law enforcement and quite often they would prefer that friends and family members wait back at the command center or another location for any news. They also understand that in many cases people aren’t going to just sit around and that was certainly the case here. I was acquainted with Russ Hons, a fellow private investigator in Grand Forks.
I called Russ and he immediately offered to take me around and introduce me to people in the law enforcement community. Our first stop was at the command center in Fisher. I met many of the officials involved in conducting the search. It was suggested we try to meet with Major Mike Fonder of the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department who was coordinating the overall search. We drove to the Sheriff’s Department where Russ was able to arrange a meeting with a very busy Major Fonder.
Major Fonder, Russ and I discussed the situation about the family members and friends. Although the preference was for the searching to be left up to law enforcement, Major Fonder also recognized that it was unrealistic to expect Dru’s family and friends to simply wait around drinking hot chocolate while waiting for any news. We went over some maps and it was agreed that we would be assigned an area on a daily basis providing I would keep track of specific areas covered, contact law enforcement with any findings, protect any possible evidence, and report nightly to Major Fonder with an update.
Thursday morning was Thanksgiving, my second day of searching and my first day of being responsible for our “family and friends” search group. We began meeting daily at the Walmart parking lot at 7:15 a.m. We had over 50 people show up on this morning and we had over 50 all terrain vehicles including 17 donated from Arctic Cat. We broke up into five teams, each covering an area I assigned to them. We covered about 50 square miles that day. It was bitter cold with strong wind, a sample of what many of us would endure for the next few months. Later that day we all struggled with our turkey dinners. The meal was wonderful, but there was a lot of pain in our souls. Every passing hour made it more difficult. How could we enjoy our dinners wondering where Dru was and if she was safe and warm? I missed family members who I usually spent Thanksgiving with and I knew others missed their families as well, but this was much more important and our families understood. I met with Major Fonder to receive the next day’s assignment.
After I met with Major Fonder on Friday evening I was told we would have a deputy assigned to work with our team each day. Over the next couple weeks we primarily worked with Sgt. Ron Gibbens and on a few days with Deputy Mark Frovarp. These men were true professionals who helped us get through each long day. They truly cared and suffered with us as they saw the pain in the faces of Dru’s family and friends and how hard we were all working to find Dru or the smallest piece of evidence that might lead us to her. They both admitted they didn’t know how we could do it and the occasional wetness in their eyes when they saw us struggling with our emotions told me they were “part of the family”.
For days every day was the same. I would work well into the night mapping out search areas and making copies. We would meet at Walmart, I would instruct the new volunteers, and we would cover as much ground as we could as thoroughly as we could. Most every day we would find something we needed to have the police investigators come out and look at and collect, a cell phone part, an article of clothing or something else we didn’t feel could be overlooked. The media had been with us for a few days. I had been in touch with the Polly Klass Foundation and the Laura Recovery Center for assistance, advice and support. They were clear in their recommendation that we stay “media friendly” to keep Dru’s story in the papers and on television. No matter how annoying the media could sometimes become while we were trying to do our job, I kept trying to follow the advice from those who had been down this path before. By now I had met Dru’s dad, Allan.
I wasn’t sure what to say when I met Allan except that “we’re going to find Dru”. For the next several months I tried to support Allan as much as possible, but I know there were certainly days and nights that he supported and lifted me. We forged a strong friendship over the next few months, but little did we know at that time what our future held. I admire and respect Allan and am proud to have him as a friend. If only we could have met in another way.
On Wednesday December 3rd about 1,700 volunteers showed up for a large scale search. The family and friends group was assigned our own area by Major Fonder. We worked in a prime focus area along County Road 7 a few miles south of the Columbia Mall. I know it was a message to us that we were doing a good job and we had the trust of law enforcement to be the ones handling one of the most important areas. By now many of us had strong feelings about the route from the Columbia Mall to Crookston, especially since the suspect arrested on December 1st lived in Crookston.
As information came to us about the suspect and evidence found it was like being punched in the face. Things were happening that were discouraging to those of us out in the field. As hard as we tried to keep our hope up, too much time had been passing by. On December 4th we moved to the Minnesota side of the search. It was a little difficult to leave our North Dakota friends in law enforcement behind. I was now coordinating our searches over the phone, something different from my daily briefings with Major Fonder who I now called by his first name Mike. On Friday December 5th, the official law enforcement search was put on hold. The weather conditions were bitter and there were several inches of blowing and drifting snow. I called my Denver office to explain that I wasn’t sure when I would be back. This was a hard day for me. It was difficult to hold back my emotion at one point and I feared the worst. At one abandoned farm building I was searching by myself, I screamed as loud as I could, then looked around to see if I scared any farmers. I then prayed through the tears, “Dear God, if Dru is alive please protect her and help us bring her home safely. If she is gone, please help us find her”. I thought about Elizabeth Smart and her return home several months later. Elizabeth gave us hope that Dru was still waiting for us somewhere and I often saw Elizabeth’s face giving me that hope.
We took Sunday December 7th off. We were physically and emotionally exhausted. A smaller family and friends group continued searching from December 8th through the 14th. The National Guard searched December 12th to 14th. By now many of Dru’s family members and friends had to reluctantly return to work and school. This would be our last searching until January.
On Monday December 16th Troy Cable, a friend from Crosslake, and I came up with the idea to hold a benefit and auction in Crosslake. We knew how involved the local community wanted to be, but most weren’t able to spend a great deal of time in Grand Forks. We recruited several friends as volunteers to help plan and line up auction items. Eight days later on December 23rd we had Dru’s benefit and auction at Zorbaz in Crosslake. I had only recently met Dru’s mom, Linda Walker, and this was the first time I met her step dad Sid Walker. This provided a wonderful opportunity for people from the community to gather for such a worthwhile cause and feel like they were helping. We raised about $50,000 at this benefit which added money to the Dru Sjodin Fund to help with search expenses for family and friends. This would be the first of several benefits and as the fund eventually grew we knew it would be put to good use now and by helping others in the future.
On January 19th, 2004 I contacted Denny Adams of Dakota Territory Search Dogs. I was given his name by someone monitoring Dru’s web site about the same time I thought we needed to find a good Bloodhound handler. It turned out we found one of the best. On January 21st, Allan and I met with Major Fonder, Sheriff Mark LeTexier and Sgt. Walt Keller from the Polk County Sheriff’s Department and Officer Stuart Benson, a DNR Conservation Officer. We went over the searching that had been conducted to date in great detail and planned some additional family and friends searches on a smaller scale.
By now a song had been recorded by Mike Tuckner and I would play the CD over and over on my trips to and from Grand Forks. I would turn up the volume and listen to the words “In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the Columbia Mall, Dru Sjodin’s life changed forever, during a cell phone call…We will find you, we will find you”. I know others were doing the same.
With Denny Adams and Bloodhound Calamity Jane assisting as well as Nolan Baldwin and his Bloodhound Jethro, we began searches south and east of Crookston toward Macintosh on January 22nd through 24th. At the same time Dru’s picture was put up on billboards in East Grand Forks and Crookston. The billboards were powerful and we promised Dru each day we passed her that we would find her. Her beautiful face and bright blue eyes questioned each motorist that passed with the words “Have you seen me?”
On February 4th we began searching with a smaller group. It was often Dru’s dad, Uncle Lowell, boyfriend Chris and a few of her cousins and other friends. We started to concentrate on the area near the bridge on the Red Lake River near where Dru’s shoe had been found shortly after she went missing. The next day, February 5th, Calamity Jane seemed to have alerted to something as she dragged Denny across some rocks up a hill toward a red pole building with Allan following close behind. The dog was very interested as she circled the building, concentrated on the west side and then walked up to the door, stopped and turned around to look at us. Her interest was so strong that I contacted law enforcement to have the building opened. It turned out it was the Crookston Police impound building. Nothing was found, but Calamity had us wondering why she was so interested. The next day Denny commented to a reporter “Bloodhounds can pick up scents from miles away, but with so much vegetation surrounding the river I think it came from within a one mile radius from here”.
We continued our periodic small scale searches concentrating in Crookston for the most part on and near the river. Calamity Jane continued to show interest on several occasions near that building and on an area of the Red Lake River about 50 to 100 yards west of the Highway 75 Bridge. We just all seemed to have a strong feeling about that area. I would often report in to Sgt. Walt Keller and we worked closely with him for about 10 weeks. His concern was genuine and he was always there for us. Over a cup of coffee, Walt asked me how I was doing and how I could be away from my business for the most part for so long now. I explained to him that I had some great employees and managers in Denver and Minneapolis who had been with me for over 20 years. I told him how personal this had become and I confided that my greatest fear was that we wouldn’t find Dru and how hard I felt that would be on her family, while at the same time I was afraid WE would find Dru and I hoped her family wasn’t there.
We were sometimes asked by media if we thought Dru was still alive. I explained that we always kept hope that something happened that we don’t understand and that we wanted to get a phone call from Dru, maybe from some truck stop in a warm place, Texas or Florida, saying “come and get me”.
On February 12th I attended a memorial service for 11 year old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota, Florida. Carlie had been abducted and murdered the week before and was seen being led away from a carwash on a surveillance camera. I brought flowers on behalf of Dru, her family and myself. I also visited the memorial site on the grounds of the church where Carlie was found and signed a guest book “Love, Dru”. I think that was the first time I honestly felt Dru’s presence, but I know she has been with me often ever since that day and there is barely a waking moment when I don’t think of her.
On April 3rd, we began planning along with Sgt. Keller for the large scale search that was to be conducted around Crookston on April 17th. We met with volunteer members of the Minnesota Search and Rescue Association to scout out some areas along with Chief Tim Motherway from the Crookston Police Department who joined us to search on his day off. Later that day Sgt. Keller took us to a ravine that ran north and south of County Road 61 and was one mile west of Highway 75. One group walked along the rim to the south while Allan and I walked to the north. Chris and Denny later came up behind us and Lowell and Dru’s cousin were on the other side of the ravine. The weather was nice by now, but Allan and I commented on how there were some drifts yet and we needed to come back to this spot in a week or two.
On April 6th while I was out of town, Allan, Denny and Officer Rusty Miller from the Crookston Police Department took Calamity Jane out on a boat to scout the river and what the spring runoff had done. At one point Calamity Jane again showed a very strong interest about a linear mile west of the Highway 75 Bridge. I returned to Grand Forks on April 7th, this time with a one way ticket. I had no idea when I would go home and I knew the conditions were as good as they would get for searching. On Tuesday April 13th many of Dru’s family and friends had again gathered in the area and we began searching areas east of the Red River toward Crookston. It was all area that had been covered before, but now the visibility was much better. We searched all week in preparation for the large volunteer search on Saturday. Chris found a Dru button that had been dropped during the December searches. That was amazing considering we had covered nearly 1,000 square miles. Perhaps it was a sign of what the week would bring.
On Saturday April 17th our team met at the Crookston High School. We intended to start in our area before all the volunteers showed up. We were assigned an area just south of the Red Lake River and then to the west working north and south of County Road 9. This was to be the last official search in Minnesota. North Dakota’s search was planned for the following Saturday. After that it would be back to a few family members and friends. We had to find Dru. We were aided by the U.S. Border Patrol in Grand Forks and agents from San Diego and Yuma with cadaver dogs. We also had a dive team from Fargo standing by, the State Patrol and Border Patrol helicopters and a team from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department with underwater side sonar in addition to many local law enforcement officers and about 200 citizen volunteers.
Our group left for our search area about 6 miles south of the command center. Because of the terrain we were covering we were the only group who used all terrain vehicles that day. Two other volunteers came from the Twin Cities with ATV’s and were turned away at the command center. I took them with us and added them to our team. I kept busy trying to keep track of everyone, but at one point I remember driving a couple miles back to the impound building on the bluff overlooking the river near the bridge and watching all the activity surrounding me. All the volunteers on foot, the boat teams on the river, the helicopters flying low and the dive team standing by were doing their absolute best to find Dru. All these people were here to help and none of them knew Dru except some of the people on our team. I stood on the bluff surveying the area around where Calamity had shown so much interest on the river.
Shortly before 11:00 a.m. I received a call from Sgt. Keller. He asked if I had Allan’s new cell number and then asked that I return to the command center. Allan, Chris, Linda and Linda’s close friend Elizabeth Nelson were all together handing out sandwiches when they received the call to come back to the command center. Once we were there we received the news that Dru had been found.
The sense of relief was overshadowed by intense grief. The hope everyone had that Dru was still alive somewhere became the harsh reality that she was gone and it was like the past five months didn’t exist. The task of contacting other loved ones soon began and I went to find Dru’s Uncle Lowell and her cousins that were with our group so that I could bring them back to the command center. There was already quite a bit of news media in the area and more kept calling my cell phone as they observed the crime scene tape and saw County Road 61 blocked off. They kept arriving while we waited patiently for the press conference. Many of the law enforcement officers the family had met and worked with began arriving as well. It is difficult to describe our feelings. None of us were sure what we felt. We were basically numb.
Dru’s friends began showing up from Grand Forks and as far away as Crosslake and Pequot Lakes. There were handshakes, hugs and lots of tears.
We look back and feel the stars were aligned that day. Dru’s sorority sisters had a formal scheduled that evening and their parents were all invited to attend. Their families were there to comfort them. Dru’s family and I had also planned to attend before Dru was found. Exactly two weeks before she was found, Dru’s dad and I walked along the rim of the ravine where Dru was found. We had looked over the area where Dru was, but a few snow drifts remained and we now know Dru didn’t want us to be the ones that found her. We had planned on looking at that area again the day before, but Calamity Jane picked up something important not far away that kept us off schedule. It was proof to me of just how good Calamity was. There was an article about me in the St. Paul Pioneer Press that morning and as I look back now, it is important to me that it was published that day. We had searchers sign two large posters with Dru’s picture that morning. One was for Allan and one was for me. Governor Tim Pawlenty and several of the law enforcement officials we worked with also signed the posters. The fact they were signed the day Dru was found make them even more special and priceless. Finally, Dru’s mother, father and boyfriend were together and in the area when she was found. This was the day and they had a feeling that morning.
Allan and I were talking the Tuesday evening after Dru was found. We had talked about all the media attention and help Dru had received during the winter and we knew of another family in nearby Brainerd whose daughter had been missing for 18 months. We agreed we should contact them to offer our support and assistance. Before we could contact them, the headline in the Brainerd Dispatch two days later read “Search Resumes for Erika Dalquist”. We knew Dru was doing her work and we were supposed to contact this family. I made the first call to Brainerd Police Detective Chad Kleffman who was pleased to receive our offer of assistance and felt the Dalquist’s would be equally as pleased.
I was honored to help plan Dru’s funeral, but even more honored to be asked to be a Casket Bearer. We looked at a couple of places large enough for Dru’s funeral and the family selected Grand View Lodge in nearby Nisswa. It was a beautiful setting. There was room for about 500 indoors and another 1,000 in tents outdoors. We had met many reporters from newspapers and television over the winter and my cell phone was working overtime responding to calls and requests. There was a visitation on Friday evening and the service was on Saturday April 24th. There was an overflow crowd and it was the most beautiful, heartfelt service I have ever seen. It was a service befitting a princess and Dru was, in all of our hearts, a princess gone too soon. For months we wore buttons stating “Come Home Dru Sjodin”. On the way to the cemetery in Crosslake, Dru was brought to the family home for a short visit. Dru had come home.
Dru was buried in a beautiful country cemetery in Crosslake. A song was played there that I listen to often. Paper Angels by Jimmy Wayne is very moving. It talks about the abused and missing and the posters we often see describing a missing person. It is a blessing to have Dru nearby and know where we can go to visit and talk to her. I stop by with flowers from time to time. I can tell Dru often has visitors. There are always fresh flowers, ornaments, and new stuffed animals to keep her company. Notes and cards have been left from people from far away.
I have close friends in Crosslake whose children have called me Uncle Bob since they were in their teens. I have adopted Dru as another Niece, my favorite, although too late for her to really know me. I am so happy to know her dad Allan, mom Linda and step-dad Sid and to have become good friends. Like my prior comment about meeting Allan, if only we could have met in another way. It is through my many conversations with them, and with Dru’s brother Sven, boyfriend Chris, her Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends, that I feel I have come to know Dru so well. Dru has changed my life forever and Dru’s voice will never go away. Dru’s voice will continue to help us do good things for other people, to make them safer and more aware of their surroundings and Dru’s voice will help us to help other families who are missing loved ones.
Erika Dalquist
On Monday May 3rd I met with Detective Chad Kleffman and Colleen and Duane Dalquist at the Brainerd Police Department to go over the disappearance of their daughter Erika and the subsequent investigation and searches. The Dalquist’s hired me to further investigate the disappearance and organize additional searches for their daughter. I began by scouting and mapping what we agreed was a prime focus area east of Brainerd. I also contacted Denny Adams and asked him to help with Calamity Jane. We had 300 volunteers searching on Saturday May 8th. Detective Kleffman told me more tips and leads had been coming in over the past few days than after Erika first went missing. Over the next week, through investigation and some luck, we were able to make arrangements to search the suspect’s grandparent’s ranch.
We had about 100 volunteers show up the next Saturday May 15th. We had expected more and I know this was discouraging to Erika’s family. By now I had heard rumors that people were saying it wasn’t possible to find Erika. They were giving up. You never give up and one thing I promised was that if we don’t try we will never find Erika.
I kept busy keeping track of the searchers, but at 3:00 p.m. I met Denny, Nolan Baldwin, Allan and Lowell Sjodin at the suspect’s grandparent’s ranch about 8 miles east of Brainerd. The family was very helpful to us and took us out to show us around their property. Calamity Jane showed a great deal of interest at one point and a little while later she took off into the woods. We quickly lost sight of her and began searching for Calamity. We alerted neighbors and searched the woods and swamps for about 90 minutes. Around 7:30 p.m. a neighbor approached us and told us her husband was out with their girls looking for Calamity Jane and found something they thought we should look at. We went to their property and he took us to into the woods beyond the fence onto the grandparent’s ranch. He had found a bone that he thought could be human. Erika was just a few feet away.
Calamity was still missing, but was found by police lying next to Erika’s remains at about 4:30 a.m. At the press conference the following day I was asked if this wasn’t difficult. My reply was “This is the second beautiful young lady we have found in 30 days. Yes, it’s difficult, but on the other hand these families no longer have to wonder where their daughters are”. I just can’t imagine the wondering and the uncertainty a family has to go through. Knowing they have most likely lost a child is the worst thing anyone can experience. Wondering if you will ever find them, get the answers you need, and respectfully lay them to rest only compounds that pain and agony.
We attended Erika’s visitation on June 3rd and her funeral on June 4th. Calamity Jane was honored when the family requested to have her sit in the front row. She ended up sitting near Governor Pawlenty. I noticed on those two days that Calamity didn’t look quite right. She seemed a little sluggish. Denny and his wife Kathy mentioned she hadn’t been feeling well and they were going to take her to the veterinarian when they returned home.
On June 5th, the suspect in Erika’s murder was arrested in Michigan shortly after appearing on “America’s Most Wanted”.
I spoke with Denny that week and Calamity seemed to be doing a little better. A day later Denny told me he went to spend time with Calamity and talk to her. She rested her head in his lap. He later left to return home, but in only a few minutes the vet called to tell Denny he had lost his best friend. What a great job she had done over the few months I had known her. We were all saddened by the news. It made headlines across the country.
Denny is now working with Miss Molly. The younger bloodhound had accompanied us on some of our searches and it was clear she still needed a little work. Shortly after Calamity died it was difficult to tell them apart. It’s as if Molly knew it was her time to step up to the plate.
LeeAnna Warner
On June 15th I was contacted by a Twin Cities television station and was told the family of LeeAnna Warner would like to talk to me. This was the day after the one year anniversary of LeeAnna’s disappearance. 5 year old LeeAnna disappeared without a trace after walking around the block to visit a friend who wasn’t home.
I agreed to take the case and enlisted the help of Denny and retired Los Angeles Police Homicide Detective Ike Eisentraut from Montana. Again Dru’s dad and other Sjodin family members assisted in the searches. They, more than anyone, understand the pain these families feel. We have scouted, searched and investigated, but have not yet found LeeAnna or any significant clues. There were never any significant leads or tips to help us. We could only begin looking in what we felt were most likely locations.
If you know of a family in need of help, we are here for them. We can direct them to organizations offering assistance, help with searches or direct them to qualified private investigators across the country and around the world. Through our experience we have established a network of support. No family should be left wondering where their loved one is.