The Murder of Dru Sjodin
Found
Finally on April 17, 2004, the search for Dru had come to a painful end. A police reservist and a retired deputy searching a secluded area of west Crookston found her mutilated body wrapped in a blanket in a snow-covered ravine near the Minakwa Country Club golf course. Her body had bore marks of "torture and severe physical abuse," Fox News reported. An autopsy later revealed that she had also been raped.
Dru's family was overwhelmed with grief upon hearing of the heart-wrenching discovery. Her father told reporters, "We were waiting for that call and when that call came we all stopped living for a second." It was her parents' worst nightmare and one that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
On April 24th, Dru's family finally bid their daughter farewell during a somber funeral service at Grand View Lodge near Nisswa, Minnesota. The funeral was attended by an estimated 1,500 mourners, all of whom had been touched by Dru in life and in death. Dru was remembered "as a young woman with a generous heart and an infectious spirit," who was dearly loved and missed by those that had the honor of knowing her, Tom Robinson reported.
150.jpg)
Dru was laid to rest that afternoon at Pinewood Cemetery in Crosslake. Following the service, Dru's grief-stricken mother, Linda Walker, released a white dove in memory of her daughter. Robinson stated that the mourners received pine saplings wrapped in a pink ribbon, Dru's favorite color.