By Seamus McGraw
August 22, 2006
FARGO, N.D. (Crime Library) — The way the prosecution sees it, the brutal lust for power, control and sexual dominance that allegedly drove Alfonzo Rodriguez Jr. to kidnap, rape and ultimately murder young co-ed Dru Sjodin in 2003 had been seething inside him for at least three decades.
In sometimes emotional testimony Monday, two women, now both middle-aged, recounted how in separate occasions in the early 1970s, Rodriguez, who is on trial for his life in a federal court in Fargo, allegedly assaulted them in a manner chillingly similar to Dru's abduction.
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| Alfonzo Rodriguez, Jr. |
According to published reports, one of the women, now 50 and living in Oregon, told the court that as a young woman in Crookston, Minn., not far from Rodriguez' home, the now 53-year-old ex-convict had forced her to perform oral sex on him and threatened to kill her throughout the ordeal. Ultimately, he released her, and under questioning from Rodriguez' defense attorney, she noted that afterwards, he repeatedly apologized and admitted that he needed help. Rodriguez was never prosecuted for that offense.
The second victim testified that a year later, Rodriguez had essentially abducted her at knifepoint and sexually assaulted her. He was later convicted of that assault, though under cross-examination, the witness reportedly acknowledged that there were some minor discrepancies between her testimony now and the version of events she had given to police while still emotionally overwrought 32 years ago.
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