Abduction Linked To Missing Coed?

Less than a week after a North Dakota college student disappeared from the shopping mall where she worked, a young woman leaving work at a store 45 miles away was abducted, but was able to escape, police say.

Polk County Sheriff Mark LeTexier said it was too soon to connect the kidnapping late Friday in Fertile and the suspected abduction Nov. 22 in Grand Forks, N.D., of Dru Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student. But he said investigators were converging on this northwestern Minnesota community of fewer than 1,000 people.

"They'll be working 100 miles an hour on this," he said.

The young woman, who was not identified, told authorities she was walking to her car after leaving work at a Hartz grocery store Friday when a man abducted her, LeTexier said.

She was able to escape when his car slowed down, and she ran to a nearby house to get help, authorities said. She said the vehicle smelled of cigarette smoke, but she apparently was not able to give police a further description of the man or the car, which sped away.

"She just ran," LeTexier said. "She didn't look back."

The sheriff said the woman received medical attention. He did not elaborate on any injuries.

Sjodin had finished her shift at Victoria's Secret at the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks and had gone shopping just before she disappeared. Her boyfriend told authorities he was talking to her on her cell phone when the conversation abruptly ended after she said "Oh my God" or "Oh no."

Sjodin's car was found in the mall parking lot, and police have said there was no sign of a struggle.

The search for Sjodin has been centered on Fisher, Minn., about 10 miles east of Grand Forks, where a call was traced to her cell phone. It was widened to the area of Crookston, Minn., midway between Grand Forks and Fertile, because the cell phone signal could have carried that far, officials said.