FARGO, N.D. -- Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. began his journey Tuesday to the Indiana prison where he's scheduled to die by lethal injection for the kidnapping and killing of Dru Sjodin.
Federal deputies removed Rodriguez, 54, from the Cass County Jail at 8:16 a.m. A two-vehicle caravan took him to Sioux Falls, S.D., where he was scheduled to board a plane used to transport federal prisoners.
"For the most part, you have to be pretty vigilant with every prisoner," said U.S. Marshal Dave Carpenter, who added Rodriguez would likely go to a detention facility in Oklahoma.
Officers could move Rodriguez to Terre Haute, Ind., within the next two weeks. All federal death row inmates are housed at the federal prison.
Rodriguez spent 1,022 days at the jail in Fargo while waiting for his capital trial and sentencing. A jury found him guilty in the 2003 murder of Sjodin, a Pequot Lakes native, and signed a death warrant during a 12-week trial last summer.
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U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson ordered Rodriguez to die by lethal injection during a Feb. 8 hearing.
His attorneys, Richard Ney and Robert Hoy, plan to handle Rodriguez's appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court. The lawyers filed the appeal immediately after the sentence hearing and Erickson postponed execution pending the outcome of the appeal.
During his stay in the Cass County Jail, Rodriguez had been segregated from the general population for his safety.
Cass County Sheriff Lt. Carlos Perez said Rodriguez's departure will ease the burden on staff.
"It created more stress and responsibility because we had to keep him safe and secure," Perez said.
Rodriguez's last meal at the jail was a breakfast of cold cereal, toast and orange juice. He did not have any behavioral incidents at the jail, which surprised some of the sheriff's staff, Perez said.
"It just goes to show it is very puzzling to understand why and how" Rodriguez carried out a brutal attack on Sjodin, Perez said.
In February 2004, less than three months after Sjodin disappeared from a Grand Forks mall parking lot, Rodriguez offered to plead guilty and lead police to her body. He changed his mind and withdrew the offer before federal prosecutors pursued the death penalty, which isn't allowed under North Dakota law.
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