Charges: Man killed, put in container and dumped along Lake Mille Lacs shoreline

A man was charged Thursday with killing another man, putting the body in a storage container and dumping it near the southern shoreline of Lake Mille Lacs.

Bradley A. Weyaus, 21, of Isle, Minn., was charged in Mille Lacs County District Court with second-degree intentional murder, fleeing police and interference with a body in connection with the death of Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, who lived in the Isle area.

Weyaus was arrested Tuesday afternoon, appeared in court Thursday and remains jailed in lieu of $600,000 bail ahead of a hearing on April 4. A message was left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

The charges do not suggest a possible motive for the killing, nor do they specify when or how Pendegayosh was killed.

"We do have some indications of [a motive]," Sheriff Kyle Burton said Thursday afternoon, after noting previously that the two men had a connection of some sort. "But I am not prepared to release any details on that at this time as we are still following up on a few things."

According to the criminal complaint:

Law enforcement received a report on Monday that Pendegayosh was missing and Weyaus may have been responsible. Weyaus had been seen days before with an "unusually heavy storage container" that was bound with bungee cords and industrial tape.

The investigation later revaled that Weyaus had been staying recently at a woman's home on Main Street in Isle, and was seen there with a storage container. Several areas of carpet in the home had been removed.

On Tuesday, highway maintenance workers were clearing an area along Twilight Road and came across the container. They opened it, saw a severed foot and contacted law enforcement.

Law enforcement saw Pendegayosh's body and his severed foot in the container. Buckshot from shotgun shells were found in his neck. The container also held rubber gloves, and portions of carpet that matched the type seen in the home on Main Street and in the adjacent trash bin.

An investigator who was driving to the scene of the discovery saw a white Saturn associated with Weyaus, pursuing it as the driver accelerated. The investigator soon broke off the pursuit and continued to the container's location.

Other law enforcement took up the chase and located the Saturn nearby on a rural property on Southport Road. Weyaus hid in a building on the property but soon surrendered. He had two duffel bags with a hammer, hacksaw and industrial tape inside that appeared to match the tape on the abandoned container. A search of his vehicle turned up a spent shotgun shell.

Also inside the home in Isle was a note written to the woman who owned it, expressing remorse and sorrow for causing her trouble. The note included his anticipation of being away for a long time because of a mistake, but also a vow to not be captured by law enforcement.

Inside a trash bin near the home were garbage bags and several pieces of carpet, apparently from the residence, that looked to be blood-stained. In one of the bags was an identification card for Pendegayosh that was cut in two, and a hardware store receipt listing purchases of a knife, tool sharpener, rubber gloves, a black mask and industrial tape. Empty boxes for 12-gauge shotgun shells were also in the bags.

At the time of his arrest, Weyaus was wanted on unrelated charges in central Minnesota for possessing drug paraphernalia, theft, burglary and lottery ticket fraud.

Joining the Sheriff's Office in the investigation are the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Mille Lacs Tribal Police.