True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

The Death of Andrew Sadek

Andrew Sadek (November 22, 1993 – May 1, 2014) was a student at the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) in Wahpeton, North Dakota, United States. Following a 2013 arrest for felony charges of selling marijuana that legally could have resulted in a long prison sentence, Sadek agreed to work as a confidential informant (CI) for the South East Multi-County Agency Narcotics Task Force (SEMCA) in exchange for having the charges dropped. Under police supervision, he bought more marijuana from other dealers around the NDSCS campus.

Sadek was last seen leaving his dormitory on the morning of May 1, 2014. Almost two months later, his body was found in the Red River north of Breckenridge, Minnesota, adjacent to Wahpeton, with a gunshot wound to the head. Although the manner of death remains undetermined, police informally indicated that they believe it was a suicide. Sadek's family believes he was murdered, citing that the backpack that was attached to his body was filled with rocks and that neither a suicide note nor the weapon used in his death was ever found.

At his mother's behest, the state investigated the police handling of his case but found no serious concerns, although SEMCA did make minor changes in its procedures afterward. Sadek's parents filed a lawsuit over the case and campaigned for changes to state law that would reduce penalties for marijuana possession on college campuses and protect CIs, much like a similar statute in Florida passed after the 2008 murder of Rachel Hoffman. Those changes were made through a piece of legislation dubbed "Andrew's Law", which was passed in 2017.

Background

Andrew Sadek was born in Valley City, North Dakota, and raised on his family's cattle farm outside nearby Rogers. In 2005, his older brother and only sibling, Nicholas, was killed in a grade crossing accident. Andrew's family and teachers described him as being quiet and shy. After graduating from Valley City High School, Sadek began attending North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) in Wahpeton in 2012, to become an electrical technician.

In April 2013, Sadek began selling marijuana, meeting customers in the school's parking lots. On two occasions, the buyer was another student working as a confidential informant (CI) for the South East Multi-County Agency Narcotics Task Force (SEMCA), a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement agency that provides policing services to three southeastern North Dakota counties (Ransom, Richland, and Sargent), plus Wilkin County in neighboring Minnesota, focusing on drug enforcement. Sadek's first sale to the CI was 1⁄8 of an ounce (3.5 g) for $60; the second was one gram for $20. Based on these buys, in November, SEMCA performed a consent search on Sadek's dorm room, where they found an orange plastic grinder with marijuana residue. While Sadek admitted the marijuana was his, he was not arrested or charged.

The following day, Sadek met with Richland County deputy sheriff and SEMCA officer Jason Weber, who informed him that because he had sold marijuana on a college campus, he faced a Class A felony charge and a possible sentence of 40 years in prison: "Obviously, you're probably not going to get 40 years, but is it a good possibility you're going to get prison time if you don't help yourself out? Yeah, there is", Sadek was told. It is questionable if he would have been sentenced to prison at all, as opposed to probation or a brief stop in jail.

Sadek agreed to work as a CI as well to avoid the potential penalty. Shortly afterward, he made his first controlled buys as a CI. Twice before the month ended, he bought another 1⁄8 ounce of marijuana from another dealer on the NDSCS campus, in the same parking lot, for $60 each. In January 2014, he bought a similar amount from a different dealer, one identified by SEMCA officers.

Following the January buy, Sadek stopped keeping up contact with SEMCA; he needed to make one more buy from the same dealer he had bought from in January, plus one more from a third dealer, to fulfill his obligations to them. He never made those buys. Sadek's family says he was preparing for life after school; he had interviewed for work as an electrician in Bismarck and Grand Forks and had begun dating a new girlfriend.