About Dru Sjodin
What Happened To Dru
On November 22, 2003, Dru Sjodin was actually talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone as she left work at a mall in Northern Minnesota. Her boyfriend heard her say, "Oh my God, no!" and then the phone went dead. Her body was found April 17, 2004.
The police arrested a suspect, a Level Three sex offender living in the area. The evidence against him was strong - her blood is in his car as well as hers, and his alibi proved to be false. Her killer, Alfonzo Rodriguez was found guilty in a trial that took place in Fargo, ND in the summer of 2006.
This incident makes me think of the advice that many safety experts give to help improve your odds of surviving something like that. But before I start, remember this important disclaimer: Trust your own instincts. If your gut tells you to do something different, it's probably right. And remember that there are no guarantees. If you survive an attack, then you did the right thing.
And here's another disclaimer, almost as important: Never use this advice to find fault with a victim who did something different! Always remember that in these situations, 100% of the blame lies with the perpetrator. None - not even the tiniest little bit - lies with the victim.
Disrupt The Perp's Plan
In these cases, the attacker always has a plan. It is very detailed, and he has rehearsed it in his mind thousands of times. This gives him a major advantage over his target, who is usually taken by surprise. So if you are attacked, realize that the attacker has a plan, and do whatever you can to ruin it. Every perp is different, but some may abandon the attack and run away if his plan is disrupted in one or two ways.
Almost always, the perp's plan is to take you away from where you are, quickly and quietly. He wants to take you someplace he has prepared, where he is in control. There are two ways to disrupt this:
- Don't let him take you to a second location. Easier said than done, since he is ready and possibly armed, and you're taken by surprise. But realize that right here, right now, he is the most vulnerable. You will never have a better chance of foiling him than right now. Some women hope that if they cooperate, they won't make their attacker mad, and he'll treat them better. This almost never works. Don't cooperate. Don't do what he says. Throw him off, disrupt his plan, in any way possible.
- Not quickly and quietly -- slowly and loudly. The last thing your attacker wants is to attract attention, to have people intervene, to even have someone get a good look at him or his car or anything that is happening. So scream! Yell FIRE! Curse! Bite! Stomp! Gouge! Yell NO! Break glass, scatter trash, make a scene, yell to strangers. Do whatever you can to slow him down, to stall, to attract attention, to hurt him. One yell, one second of delay, could result in a witness describing the attacker to a police artist, or a description of the car, or a license plate number.
Play The Odds
On an Oprah show, a law enforcement officer described a scenario where the attacker has a gun and what you can do to protect yourself.
Basically, if the attacker succeeds in getting you into his car, and to his prepared place, your chances for survival are very poor. I think the official said "zero percent." So resist getting into his car however you can, even if he has a gun. Try to break free and run away. If the attacker has a gun, what are the chances he'll use it? Maybe 50-50. If he fires his gun, what are the chances he'll hit you? Again, maybe 50-50. If he hits you, what are the chances that the wound is serious or mortal? Once again, maybe 50-50. That works out to a twenty percent chance of being killed, maybe less. That's much better than the one hundred percent chance of being killed that this officer said you had if the attacker gets you into the car.
Finally, if you resist and run and make him shoot, the chances of him being seen and identified are much, much higher than if he makes a quick and quiet exit with you in the car. And at least people will know what happened to you.
Click the links in this article and in the link box for more details on how to resist when you're attacked. And practice it mentally, so you don't have to formulate an entire strategy in a millisecond.
