.A coded message left on a bathroom mirror was the only clue to a brutal murder.

Ready to dive deep into the most perplexing cases that have haunted investigators for decades? Join our free 14-day challenge at solunamind.com and discover premium investigative content crafted for those seeking the best true crime podcast experience. Explore meticulously curated Focus Packs for detailed case analysis, exclusive documentaries that rival the best true crime documentaries, comprehensive forensic breakdowns, and much more—all organized by specialized collections featuring the highest-quality investigative content with no advertisements. Experience the profound difference that expertly researched true crime content can make in your understanding of criminal psychology and the pursuit of social justice.
In the darkest corners where justice remains elusive, True Crime Podcast: Unsolved Mysteries & Murder transforms your curiosity about criminal minds into profound understanding of the investigative process. This isn't just another podcast—it's a comprehensive journey through the most baffling cases that have challenged crime scene investigator teams from Miami, Florida to San Francisco, designed to match the analytical depth of Crime Junkie and Casefile True Crime. Every episode guides you through meticulous forensic science techniques that attempt to rebuild the timelines of murder cases, proving that even the most complex unsolved mysteries involving serial killers can yield new insights through modern investigation methods.
When horror strikes and cases grow cold, True Crime Podcast: Unsolved Mysteries & Murder offers perspectives deeply rooted in mental health awareness and understanding of the psychological factors that drive individuals toward homicide. Through carefully researched case studies that echo the methodology found in casefile podcast approaches, this true detective-style analysis creates space where listeners discover the intricate web connecting social media influence, bipolar disorder, and the cycle of abuse that often precedes violent People Crime. Each investigation becomes an opportunity for social justice advocacy, where forensic science techniques transform speculation into evidence-based analysis, whether examining contemporary cases like those involving Luigi Mangione and brian Thompson, or exploring the complex intersection of corporate scandals like united healthcare controversies and the morbid realities of suicide within high-pressure professional environments.
True Crime Podcast: Unsolved Mysteries & Murder understands that analyzing criminal minds requires more than surface-level examination—it demands comprehensive investigation methodologies that honor both victims and the relentless pursuit of truth. The podcast integrates techniques employed by the most skilled crime scene investigator professionals with insights derived from true detective work, creating episodes that enhance your understanding of forensic science while maintaining the highest standards of accurate reporting. Here, unsolved mysteries unfold through systematic investigation, where each piece of evidence invites you to think analytically like a seasoned investigator, where every story reveals the complex psychology underlying murder cases and the unwavering commitment to justice that drives the examination of serial killers and cold cases.
Through masterful narrative construction, True Crime Podcast: Unsolved Mysteries & Murder crafts investigative experiences where social justice emerges organically from consistent examination of criminal minds and methodical analysis of unsolved mysteries. Each episode functions simultaneously as compelling entertainment and rigorous education, where forensic science techniques become pathways to deeper understanding and investigation methodologies transform your relationship with true crime content. The podcast celebrates the profound connection between mental health awareness and criminal psychology, demonstrating that investigating homicide cases can honor victims while pursuing truth in even the most disturbing manifestations of horror involving serial killers and complex criminal behavior.
True Crime Podcast: Unsolved Mysteries & Murder creates immersive analytical experiences where social justice flows through every meticulously researched case, where investigation becomes a dedicated pursuit of truth, and where forensic science serves as the critical bridge between speculation and evidence-based conclusions. The podcast honors each listener's journey toward understanding criminal minds, offering investigation methodologies that support both passionate true crime enthusiasts and serious students of criminal psychology seeking comprehensive depth in their analysis of murder cases and unsolved mysteries, from urban People Crime incidents to complex cases spanning geographic regions from Florida's coastal communities to California's metropolitan areas.
In this sanctuary of investigative excellence, True Cr

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A student finished her shift and vanished during a phone
call with her boyfriend under bizarre circumstances. The police quickly
launched a search, coming through hours of surveillance footage hoping
to find any clues. Soon, they came across something truly chilling,
but the young woman's fate remained a mystery for months. Eventually,

(00:22):
investigators uncovered the truth, but the outcome of the case
sparked widespread outrage and disbelief. Drew Shedeen was born on
September twenty sixth, nineteen eighty one, in the small town
of Pequa Lakes, Minnesota. From an early age, Drew was

(00:45):
full of energy and determination. She loved drawing, crafting, and
keeping active with basketball, volleyball, and golf. She was also
involved in various charity programs, always looking for ways to
help anyone in need. Her warm person fonality, and genuine
kindness made her a lot of friends, and in high school,
she was even voted prom queen. After graduating, Drew enrolled

(01:08):
at the University of North Dakota, where she majored in
Fine Arts. Even though the campus was a three hour
drive from her hometown, she tried to visit her parents
as often as she could. Drew managed to juggle her
studies where she excelled, two part time jobs, and an
active role in campus life. She also continued to dedicate
her time to charity, never losing sight of what mattered

(01:31):
most to her. On top of that, Drew signed up
for a special university program that gave her the chance
to travel on a regular basis, and she was especially
excited about her upcoming trip to Australia. While in college,
Drew started dating a guy named Chris. The two quickly
became serious and began making big plans for their future together.

(01:52):
On November twenty second, two thousand and three, twenty two
year old Drew headed out for her usual week in
shift at a clothing store where she worked part time.
Later that evening, she was scheduled to work as a
waitress at a local club. After finishing her first shift,
Drew stopped by a shop in the same mall, bought
herself a purse, and walked toward the parking lot. On
the way, she called her boyfriend, Chris, and they chatted

(02:15):
for about four minutes. But then something strange happened. Drew
suddenly went silent in the middle of the conversation. After
a pause, she said, oh my god, Okay, then the
line went dead. At first, Chris didn't think much of it.
He assumed the call had dropped as Drew walked through
the parking lot, or that her phone battery had died.

(02:37):
Three hours later, Chris received another call from Drew's phone,
but when he answered, all he could hear was silence.
There was a faint noise in the background, something that
sounded like wind, along with what seemed to be the
sound of phone buttons being pressed. He called out Drew's
name several times, but there was no response. Chris tried

(02:57):
calling her back, but Drew didn't answer. This time. He
started to worry. He decided to call her roommate to
see if she had heard from Drew. The roommate said
she hadn't spoken to her all day, but reassured him,
saying Drew was probably just busy with work and there
was no need to panic. Shortly after the conversation, though,
Drew's roommate got a call from the manager at the

(03:18):
club where Drew was supposed to work that evening. To
her surprise, the manager said Drew hadn't shown up for
her shift and she hadn't even called to let anyone know.
This was completely out of character for Drew, as she
was always responsible and reliable. Her roommate, recalling the strange
call Chris had mentioned, began to worry that something bad

(03:38):
might have happened. She started calling local hospitals, thinking Drew
might have been admitted somewhere, but no one matching her
description had been brought in. By then. It was late
in the evening and the roommate decided it was time
to contact the police. She explained that Drew had missed
her shift, didn't come home, and had some unsettling phone
calls with her boyfriend, but the police didn't see any

(04:01):
immediate cause for alarm. To them, there wasn't enough evidence
to suggest something serious had happened. After all, Drew was
twenty two, so they just recommended waiting a little longer
before taking any action. Still, Drew's roommate decided to take
matters into her own hands and reached out to the
University of North Dakota's campus police. Unlike the city police,

(04:23):
they jumped right into action. Their first stop was the
mall where Drew had worked that day. It was the
last place anyone had seen or heard from her. When
they checked the parking lot, they found her car still
in its usual spot, even though her shift had ended
hours ago. Another weird thing was the fact that the
car doors were unlocked. Inside. There were no signs of

(04:44):
a struggle or anything to indicate that something bad had happened.
But then the officers noticed something really suspicious. Lying on
the ground near the car was a small knife sheath.
This discovery raised serious concerns, prompting the university police to
contact the city police, who finally stepped in. Officers requested
CCTV footage from the parking lot, hoping for a lead,

(05:08):
but there was a problem. Drew's car was parked in
a blind spot, completely out of the camera's view. Determined
to figure out what happened, investigators turned to the mall's
security footage. They started combing through hours of video from
every camera inside the building, trying to trace Drew's movements
before she vanished. It was quite a challenge given the

(05:28):
size of the mall, so the process was anything but quick. Meanwhile,
news of Drew's disappearance quickly spread across campus. The university
wasted no time organizing a massive search effort. Hundreds of
students stepped up to help, scouring streets, wooded trails, riverbanks,
and other secluded areas. The faculty also urged anyone with

(05:49):
information to come forward, hoping for a clue that could
shed light on what had happened to Drew. Meanwhile, the
police got hold of Drew's phone records, which backed up
her boyfriend's story about their last call, But when they
dug into the phone's location data, they found something odd.
The cell tower pings showed that Drew's final call to
Chris hadn't come from the mall parking lot. Instead, it

(06:11):
had been made from a nearby town about a thirty
minute drive away. Based on the timeline, investigators realized that
the noises Chris heard during the call, like the sound
of wind and buttons being pressed, could have occurred while
Drew was already in this other location. Since her car
was still parked at the mall, it was clear Drew
couldn't have gotten to another town on her own. This

(06:33):
led police to suspect that she may have been abducted,
but despite their extensive efforts, the next few days passed
without any new leads. Officers kept combing through the mall
surveillance footage while search teams scoured the city desperately hoping
to find even the smallest clue. Two days later, the
case finally took a turn in a small town called Crookston,

(06:56):
near the spot where Drew's phone last pinged, police found
a black shoe by the riverbank. When they showed it
to Drew's roommate, she immediately recognized it it was one
of Drew's. This discovery deepened investigator's fears if Drew had
been abducted, the evidence suggested she'd been taken far from
her town. Police quickly contacted other departments in the area,

(07:18):
sharing details of the case and asking for their help
in the search. Meanwhile, investigators finally found CCTV footage from
the mall that showed Drew on the day she disappeared.
They saw her visiting several stores after her shift, seemingly
shopping for Christmas gifts for her loved ones. This footage
gave investigators a clear idea of what Drew was wearing

(07:38):
at the time she vanished. It also confirmed that she
had been wearing the same black shoes as the one
found near the river in the neighboring town. With all
the available clips featuring Drew in hand, investigators started analyzing
the footage for any suspicious individuals who might have been
following her or appeared in multiple frames with her. Before long,

(07:58):
one person caught their attention, a middle aged man dressed
in all black walking with a cane. His unusual behavior
stood out immediately. According to the CCTV footage, the man
entered the grocery store connected to the mall multiple times. However,
he never bought anything. Instead, he appeared to ignore the
shelves entirely and focus on other shoppers, particularly women. Investigators

(08:23):
soon spotted the same man on other footage taken outside
the store. He was sitting on a bench watching passers by.
But then something truly suspicious happened when a young woman
who vaguely resembled Drew walk pasted him. He got up
from the bench and started following her. Over the next
few hours, the police uncovered more clips showing the same

(08:44):
man following other young women around the mall. Unfortunately, the
footage alone didn't give them enough to identify him, so
detectives turned to their database, searching through records of men
in the area with prior convictions for serious crimes. After
compiling a list of sixty names, the investigators narrowed it
down to just four, eliminating anyone who didn't match the

(09:06):
suspect's description. From the remaining candidates, they identified one man
who bore a striking resemblance to the figure in the
mall footage, Fifty year old Alfonso Rodriguez. Rodriguez had an
extensive criminal history and a troubled past. He had struggled
with severe health issue since childhood, which made school and
social interactions, especially with women, extremely challenging. For instance, one

(09:30):
of his legs was shorter than the other, forcing him
to rely on a cane to walk. Alfonso eventually turned
to drugs, and at twenty one, he had his first
run in with the law. He attempted to assault a
woman who had offered him a ride home. Once inside
her car, he pulled out a knife and tried to
attack her, but the victim managed to fight him off.

(09:51):
Not long after, he attacked two more women in the
same month. He was sentenced to five years of mandatory
therapy and then released back into the commune. That same year,
Alfonso was arrested again, this time in suspicion of assault. However,
the prosecution couldn't gather enough evidence for a conviction. Shortly after,
he attempted to abduct another woman, stabbing her during the attack.

(10:16):
This time he was caught and convicted. Rodriguez was sentenced
to twenty three years in prison, but was released on
May first, two thousand and three, just seven months before
Drew went missing. What's even more troubling is that he
was placed under the supervision of his relatives, who themselves
doubted whether he was ready to return to society. Following

(10:37):
his release, Alfonso moved in with his mother in Crookston,
the very town where Drew's shoe had been discovered. Given
all of this, detectives were almost certain Alfonso was connected
to Drew's disappearance. On the fourth day of the investigation,
they brought him in for questioning. Alfonso admitted he had
been at the mall, but insisted he had nothing to
do with the abduction. He claimed he was there to

(10:59):
watch a movie at the theater inside the mall. He
even named a specific film, but when investigators checked his story,
they discovered that the movie wasn't playing, not just at
that theater, but nowhere in the entire town. Realizing Alfonso
had lied, the police asked to search his car. Surprisingly,
he agreed without requiring a warrant. Inside, they found a

(11:22):
receipt from a store showing he had purchased a pocket knife.
When detectives looked into the knife's model, they determined that
the sheath found near Drew's car was an exact match.
But that wasn't the most alarming discovery. The knife itself
was also in Alfonso's car, sub merged in a bottle
filled with cleaning solution. When forensic experts examined Alfonso's car,

(11:44):
they discovered traces of wiped blood. They managed to extract
a DNA sample, which was then compared to DNA taken
from Drew's toothbrush. It was a perfect match. On top
of that, they found a woman's shoe in his car
and another knife. This one hadn't been soaked in cleaning solution.
When they tested it, they discovered traces of blood on

(12:05):
the blade. DNA analysis confirmed it was Drew's. By December tenth,
with all the evidence in hand, Alfonso was arrested and
charged with kidnapping and suspected murder. However, despite how damning
the case against him seemed, detectives still had no idea
what had actually happened to Drew or where she was.
Alfonso refused to confess, so police focused all their efforts

(12:29):
on finding Drew. They appealed to the public for help,
brought in even more volunteers, and concentrated their search on
Crookston and the surrounding areas, but despite their best efforts,
months went by with no results. Heavy snowfall that winner
made the situation even worse, as search teams were unable
to access remote areas. By early March, three months after

(12:52):
Drew disappeared, preparations began for Alfonso's trial, and he pleaded
not guilty before the judge. At this point point, almost
no one believed Drew was still alive, but with all
the evidence they had, prosecutors were confident they could secure
a conviction. Meanwhile, police pressed on with their search. As
spring arrived and the snow started to melt, they were

(13:15):
finally able to explore previously inaccessible areas like forests, open fields,
and bodies of water. This continued until April seventeenth, when
investigators received the sad but expected news Drew's body had
been found a few miles west of Crookston. Submerged in
the local river. During the winter, the area had been

(13:36):
frozen over and covered in snow, making it nearly impossible
for search teams to locate her earlier, but as soon
as the snow fully melted, her body was quickly discovered.
Medical examiners found bruises, knife wounds, and evidence of SA
on her body. As for the cause of death, they
couldn't reach a definitive conclusion. Along with the stab wounds,

(13:56):
there were signs of strangulation, but there was also a
possibility that she died from exposure to the cold after
being left in that location. It was determined that Drew
had likely died about three hours after she was abducted.
Now that the police had found Drew's body, the prosecution
had one final task to ensure the killer faced justice.

(14:17):
Since the abduction occurred in North Dakota, but the murder
took place in neighboring Minnesota, the case fell under federal jurisdiction.
This meant Alfonso could face the death penalty, even though
capital punishment was banned in both states. Despite this, the
governor of Minnesota publicly supported the possibility of a death sentence,
though many residents of his state opposed it. In North Dakota.

(14:41):
This case was the first in over a century where
a resident faced the prospect of the death penalty. The
trial began in the summer of two thousand and six,
and Alfonso continued maintaining his innocence, but with the overwhelming
evidence against him, there was almost no chance of avoiding punishment,
and on February eight, two thousand and seven, was sentenced
to death. As is often the case with capital punishment,

(15:04):
the execution was delayed for years. During this time, Alfonso
remained in prison awaiting his fate. Meanwhile, Drew's family got
actively involved in pushing for a law to create a
national registry of offenders convicted of violent crimes. In the
summer of two thousand and seven, this law, named in
Drew's memory, was signed by the President. It set up

(15:25):
a website where the public could access addresses and other
personal information of people convicted of violent offenses. Drew's parents
repeatedly said that Alfonso should never have been released from
prison in the first place. Later, even the doctor in
charge of the mandatory rehab spoke out, telling reporters he
had strongly opposed his release. He'd recommended transferring Alfonso from

(15:47):
the clinic to prison because he believed Alfonso still posed
a danger to society. Despite these warnings, Alfonso was allowed
back into the community, a decision that ended in tragedy.
Unfortunately for j Drew's family, the sentencing of Alfonso Rodriguez
didn't mark the end of the case. In twenty eleven,
Rodriguez's lawyers filed an appeal claiming that their clients suffered

(16:09):
from developmental issues. While this initial attempt failed, a second appeal,
filed ten years later in twenty twenty one, was far
more successful. This time, the judge ruled in favor of
the defense. He acknowledged evidence suggesting Rodriguez did have developmental
challenges and noted that his attorneys hadn't been given a
fair chance to present these details during the original trial.

(16:32):
The judge also highlighted Rodriguez's troubled childhood and significant health problems.
The defense team further argued that the medical examiner who
testified during the trial had exaggerated the extent of Drew's injuries,
suggesting that the truth wasn't as horrific as it had
been made to seem. All of this ultimately led to
reopening the case, leaving Drew's family to once again fight

(16:55):
for justice. In the end, the judge overturned Rodriguez's death
sentence and ordered a new trial. As a result, in
March twenty twenty three, Alfonso was sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole. What's particularly unsettling is
that Rodriguez had already confessed to the crime during a
twenty thirteen interview from death row. However, now he will

(17:18):
spend the rest of his life behind bars, no longer
facing the threat of execution. In Drew's memory, her university
established a scholarship that remains active to this day. Her
family also created a memorial garden in her hometown and
plans her under way to build a similar memorial on
her university campus. Share your thoughts on this story in

(17:39):
the comments section, and don't forget to press the like button.
If you enjoyed my video, thank you for watching.