True Crime Vault: Missing From the Mall
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Who was Drew Shadeen and what were the circumstances of her disappearance?
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Welcome to the True Crime Vault, home to 2020's most chilling stories. A young woman goes missing from a mall.
The surveillance tapes and the frantic search. 2020 starts right now. The fear of women walking out to their car by themselves, it's a real feeling that everybody has
felt. Drew was working at Victoria's Secret. She did a little Christmas shopping, headed to her car, and then went missing from the mall. She was talking with her boyfriend. Her last words that he heard her say were, OK, OK. And the phone went
dead. It's the last time anyone heard from Drew Shadeen. The family of missing college student Drew Shadeen is still holding
out hope that she will be found alive. At the time of her disappearance, she was a 22-year-old UND college student. Did you feel safe? I felt safe. We were 17 to 22-year-olds. We were invincible. I found her car and I just sat there. You were holding vigil at her car.
I was sitting right there.
Do you believe this morning that she is still alive? Well, we're certainly hoping so, Diane. It's a mystery that would wait 20 years for a resolution. In the parking lot of the mall was found a knife sheath.
Whoever lost that sheath may very well be involved in the abduction of that girl.
It was just a daunting feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that something is desperately wrong. This
is such a large area to cover. There were people who she may have had contact with that she wouldn't even recognize as a potential threat.
You have a serial predator
on your
hands. Yep.
Yep.
For most people in the land of 10,000 lakes, heading up north means taking a trip to their weekend cabin. Few are lucky enough to call the Northwoods home year-round. But the Minnesota father who built this cabin with his own two hands is one of them. This is you and Drew. What year is this, do you know?
2000.
Just getting ready to
go to
college.
Alan Shadeen has called his daughter Drew, Drewzy, ever since she was little. She vanished just before Thanksgiving in 2003. That's one of her early works, right?
Yes, that one's real early. I think she was seven or eight years old when she drew that.
Amazing. It's basically
the
view right outside the window. Yep. As a college student, Drew was majoring in graphic design, but it's clear she had been an artist long before that. Before she disappeared, Drew was a senior at the University of North Dakota and so excited to graduate. But the Gamma Phi Beta sorority sister would never get the chance.
The last time I saw her was right downtown Park Rapids watching
the Vikings game. That's a good memory. Yeah. Yeah. And as I drove away, I had this really eerie feeling. Do you remember the last thing you said to her?
I'll be careful and love you.
One month later and a few hours away in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is when and where Alan Shadeen's 20-year nightmare would begin.
So the Columbia Mall is in the south end of Grand Forks. It's just a shadow of what it was
back in 2003. Several of the businesses inside have closed, and Victoria's Secret, where Drew was working,
that closed several years ago.
In 2003,
during the Drew Shadeen investigation, I was assigned to assist.
At
the time, my partner was Ori Seneschal.
Grand Forks was approximately 50,000 people at the time. It's right along the Red River, on the west side of the Red River, putting it into North Dakota. The University of North Dakota was a big part of that town. Just across the Red River is Minnesota and the city of East Grand Forks. But for people living on both sides, it feels like one big community. People were nice, and everybody, I think, felt comfortable there. And there wasn't a lot of crime. It's a place where people might think, bad things don't happen here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who was Drew Shadeen and what were the circumstances of her disappearance?
0:00–9:26
2
What did the surveillance footage from Marshall Fields reveal about Drew’s last movements?
9:26–18:10
3
Why was the knife sheath found near Drew’s car considered a crucial piece of evidence?
18:10–27:27
4
How did investigators use cell‑phone tower data to trace Drew’s final location?
27:27–38:25
5
What leads pointed investigators toward the suspect Alfonso Rodriguez?
38:25–47:27
6
How did the discovery of Drew’s shoe under a bridge impact the case?
47:27–59:54
7
What forensic evidence finally linked Rodriguez to the crime scene?
59:54–1:12:57
8
What was the outcome of the trial and how has Drew’s case influenced legislation?
1:12:57–1:23:21