KATHIO TOWNSHIP, Minn. – Two people have been arrested and charged after human remains were found along the shore of Mille Lacs Lake in Mille Lacs County on Tuesday, March 21.
Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, Minnesota, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and engaging in a corpse or death scene by concealing a body and evidence.
Weyaus’ girlfriend, Alexis Marion Elling, 21, of Rochester, was arrested on Thursday and charged with assisting a perpetrator as an accomplice after the crime.
Officials identified the victim as Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, of Isle. His remains were found Tuesday after road workers clearing an area near Mille Lacs Lake found a plastic container sealed with bungee cords and tape.
Employees attempted to move the storage container but encountered difficulties due to its weight and location. At that time, the employees opened the container and observed a severed human foot. The employees immediately called the police.
A police officer responded to the scene when a white Saturn traveling in the same direction refused to pull aside and let the officer pass. Instead, the Saturn’s driver began accelerating at high speed. The officer realized the vehicle was linked to Weyaus, court documents say.
Contributed / Mille Lacs County Jail
In pursuit of the white Saturn, the chase approached the location where the storage container was found, and the Saturn veered away from the location at high speed and toward State Highway 169.
Police found the Saturn on a rural property off Southport Road in Mille Lacs County. A resident of the property stated that the person driving the Saturn was Weyaus and was hiding in one of the buildings on the property. He was seen getting out of the vehicle with one or more duffel bags.
Weyaus was eventually located and arrested in a motor vehicle due to warrants and fleeing a peace officer.
Officers recovered two duffel bags containing a number of items including a hammer, hacksaw and industrial tape. The industrial tape appeared to match that on the storage container.
A spent shotgun shell was found during a search of Saturn’s interior.
According to court documents, around March 20, law enforcement received information that Pendegayosh was missing from the area.
Police determined that Weyaus was recently spotted at an apartment building on Main Street in Isle and with a storage container at the location. A search of the home revealed that several rugs had been removed from the home’s floor.
At the residence, law enforcement found a handwritten note addressed to the apartment’s owner, indicating remorse and sadness for causing them trouble, with the note’s author saying they would be leaving for a long time because of their mistake. The author of the note said they would not allow law enforcement to arrest them, according to court documents.
A search of the dumpster attached to the apartment found several garbage bags containing several pieces of blood-stained carpet. The carpet also seemed to match the carpet in the residence.
Police found an ID card cut in two that belonged to Pendegayosh. Also in the garbage bags, law enforcement found a receipt from a local hardware store listing purchases of items, including tools such as a knife and tool sharpener, as well as rubber gloves, a black mask, industrial tape, and empty cases for 12-gauge shotgun shells.
According to court documents, law enforcement contacted Elling on Thursday and spoke to her about the murder. She admitted to being in a relationship with Weyaus and having been involved in the events surrounding the victim.
Contributed / Mille Lacs County Sheriff
Elling told investigators Weyaus told her he killed Pendegayosh and his body was in the storage container. However, she said she did not help place the body in the container, which she said was already loaded and sealed when brought to her attention. She admitted that a fake fingernail found in the storage container belonged to her.
Elling said she helped remove the container from an apartment building on Main Street in Isle, knowing Pendegayosh’s body was inside, put it in a vehicle and then drove it to an apartment building in Wahkon where it was unloaded . She also said she took a long gun case from the island residence with a shotgun inside, which was later sold for drugs.
Weyaus and Elling are scheduled to appear in Mille Lacs County District Court on April 4.
