County highway workers came upon a homicide victim's remains in a plastic tote bin that was abandoned along the southern shoreline of Lake Mille Lacs, officials said.
Police ID homicide victim found in tote bin along along Lake Mille Lacs shoreline, man arrested
The discovery was made Tuesday afternoon north of Onamia, the Sheriff's Office said.
March 23, 2023 at 2:09AM
The victim has been identified as Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., a 25-year-old man, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton said in a news release Wednesday evening.
The maintenance workers made the discovery shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday north of Onamia in the 14200 block of Twilight Road, the Sheriff's Office said.
A 21-year-old man from nearby Isle was arrested later Tuesday in connection with the discovery, Burton said. Charges are expected to be filed Thursday, according to the release. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
Pendegayosh lived in the Isle area of the county, Burton said Wednesday. The sheriff said he will provide more details once the charges are filed.
The workers told investigators they initially attempted to remove the 3½-foot-long tote from a ditch as part of their routine responsibilities.
The Medical Examiner's Office is working to determine how the man died. Burton did say "this appears to be a recent homicide." The office is expected to release an autopsy Thursday confirming the victim's identity, Burton said.
Burton added that law enforcement searched "throughout the night and into the morning" for evidence in two locations in the county, an apartment in Isle and in a trailer in north Kathio Township.
Neither location belongs to the man in jail, but "he is known to frequent both places," the sheriff said.
"This investigation is still very active with many moving pieces," Burton said. "We have no indication at this point that this was a random act of violence, and we believe there to be a connection between [the man under arrest] and our victim."
Joining the Sheriff's Office in the investigation are the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Mille Lacs Tribal Police.
Star Tribune reporter Louis Krauss contributed to this article.
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