Slain man possibly ‘targeted’ after another man’s overdose, sheriff says

Sheriff: Missing Minnesota man's body parts found in tote container - The Washington Post

Minnesota officials received a call last week: A container with a severed foot inside had been found near a lake. The disfigured body was soon identified as the remains of Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., a 25-year-old resident of Isle.

On Tuesday, the sheriff of Mille Lacs County revealed a previously unknown connection between Elling and Pendegayosh: In January, Elling’s brother died of a fentanyl overdose — and witnesses told law enforcement that Pendegayosh might have been involved in his death.

“Some people have indicated that they feel Mr. Pendegayosh may have had some role in that and so at this time, we believe based on the evidence we’ve gathered so far, interviews we’ve conducted, that that was the reason he was targeted,” Sheriff Kyle Burton told reporters at a news conference.

While Burton said the investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the connection might explain how revenge drove the bizarre sequence.

“Twenty-three years of law enforcement, I’ve never seen something like this,” he said Tuesday.

Investigators charged Weyaus with second-degree murder, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, interfering with a dead body or scene of death to conceal a body, and interfering with a dead body or scene of death to conceal evidence. Elling was charged with aiding an offender. Both remain in jail.

Elling’s attorney declined to comment when reached by The Washington Post; Weyaus’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

In mid-March, Burton said Pendegayosh’s relatives told investigators that he was missing. On March 21, maintenance workers were collecting garbage and sealing asphalt cracks near Mille Lacs Lake when they located a plastic tote container bound with bungee cords and tape, Burton said.

The employees couldn’t lift the heavy box, prompting them to peek inside and notice the severed foot, according to court documents. When officials arrived, they found Pendegayosh’s body with shotgun pellets near his upper chest and throat, court documents state.

Investigators say Pendegayosh may have been dead for up to a week before his body was found.

“It appears at this time the body was moved from multiple locations before it was finally placed on the shore of Mille Lacs Lake,” Burton said.

The preliminary investigation led law enforcement to look for a white Saturn allegedly associated with Weyaus. Court documents say officers found the vehicle parked at a rural property and discovered Weyaus hiding in one of several buildings on the property. Investigators soon found two duffel bags containing a hammer, a hacksaw and tape that appeared to match the tape on the storage container, according to the documents. They also said they discovered a spent shotgun shell in the Saturn.

Officials then searched Weyaus’s grandmother’s apartment, where they found a severed carpet and a note that expressed remorse for causing the recipient trouble and for making a mistake, according to court records. In a neighboring dumpster, investigators discovered Pendegayosh’s ID, parts of a bloody carpet, empty shotgun-shell boxes and a receipt for items including a knife, a tool sharpener, rubber gloves, a black mask and tape, court documents claim.

Investigators later viewed surveillance footage of Weyaus and Elling carrying the tote container out of Weyaus’s grandmother’s apartment around March 19, Burton said. During a conversation with officials around March 23, Elling admitted that she’d helped move the storage container, which she knew contained Pendegayosh’s body, but only after Weyaus had told her that he’d killed Pendegayosh, according to court records.

Elling’s brother died Jan. 10 after consuming fentanyl mixed with methamphetamine, Burton said. Pendegayosh’s role in that death is under investigation, Burton said.

“We can’t confirm that [Pendegayosh] was 100 percent involved in it, but his name was mentioned by witnesses that were there,” the sheriff said Tuesday.

Burton has worked on multiple homicide felonies, he said, but this case is one of the most unusual.

“It’s not every day,” he said, “that somebody recovers a partially dismembered body in a plastic tote.”