A person whose life sentence for manslaughter was commuted by then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been charged in reference to the dying of a 14-year-old lady, in what authorities referred to as a “horrific” case.
McKenna Wendel was reported lacking in mid-March and located useless in a rural space close to Brookings, South Dakota, following a dayslong search, in keeping with Sioux Falls police.
Following a monthslong investigation, her relative, 51-year-old Mark Milk, faces federal costs alleging he transported a minor with the intent to interact in felony sexual exercise, possessed cocaine that led to McKenna’s dying after which conspired with one other man to destroy proof, in keeping with the indictment.
The opposite defendant, 38-year-old Jon Rogness of Brookings, can be accused of appearing as an adjunct to assist Milk keep away from prosecution, in keeping with the indictment.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District of Iowa. Prosecutors didn’t go into element relating to the case, together with the place the alleged acts occurred or the connection between the 2 defendants.
“The Division of Justice coverage is to pursue essentially the most severe, readily provable costs, and the fees which are alleged within the indictment all occurred inside the Northern District of Iowa,” Iowa U.S. Lawyer Leif Olson stated throughout a press briefing Thursday when requested how the jurisdiction was determined within the case.
This undated reserving picture launched by the South Dakota Division of Corrections on Thursday, June 18, 2026, exhibits Mark Milk.
South Dakota Division of Corrections through AP
The U.S. lawyer’s workplace wouldn’t affirm Milk’s relationship to McKenna. Sioux Falls police have beforehand stated Milk is a member of the family of McKenna’s. A 2018 article within the Argus Chief that includes the household famous that Milk is McKenna’s uncle and featured a photograph of the 2 collectively at an occasion for inmates and their households.
In response to the indictment, the teenager died from a drug overdose on or about March 14. She was final seen on March 13 and her grandparents reported her lacking two days later, in keeping with Sioux Falls police. Her physique was discovered on March 19, with somebody with information of her location main authorities there, Sioux Falls police beforehand stated.
Olson didn’t affirm whether or not her dying occurred in Iowa, saying that the cost alleges that both the distribution of cocaine or the dying occurred in Iowa.
“The cost itself isn’t meant to suggest which of these occurred right here,” he stated. “That is one thing that will likely be confirmed at trial.”
A number of businesses in Iowa and South Dakota had been concerned within the investigation, together with on the native, state and federal stage.
“This can be a horrific case,” Particular Agent in Cost of the FBI Omaha Subject Workplace Gene Kowel, whose workplace covers Iowa, stated in a press briefing on Thursday asserting the fees. “There are not any circumstances that we examine which are extra heart-wrenching, extra tragic than ones that contain kids or the dying of a kid.”
Kowel famous {that a} disproportionate variety of victims are in indigenous communities. McKenna’s household are members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Her obituary famous that she and her grandparents, who raised her, typically attended powwows collectively and that she “cherished the singing and the gorgeous sounds of the drums.”
“Our hearts exit to the sufferer’s household on this case, to McKenna’s household,” Kowel stated. “From what I’ve heard, I do know that her life, though far too quick right here on Earth, may have a profound influence on all people who knew her.”
Each males charged within the case are in state custody, authorities stated. Their preliminary court docket look has not but been scheduled. On-line court docket data don’t listing any lawyer data for them.
Milk has been in custody since March 17, when he was arrested for drunk driving and aggravated eluding costs.
He was sentenced to life in jail in 1994 for manslaughter, after fatally stabbing a person throughout a combat. The state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles advisable in 2022 that the governor commute his life sentence. Noem, whereas she was governor on the time, commuted his life sentence to 240 years in 2023, making him eligible for parole. McKenna was listed among the many visitors for his parole listening to in June 2024.
Milk’s title has been raised all through the investigation into McKenna’s dying. Throughout a information convention in late March following the invention of her physique, South Dakota Lawyer Normal Marty Jackley was requested about Noem’s determination to commute Milk’s life sentence.
“I wasn’t lawyer common on the time that this commutation course of went, however I went by means of the method,” he stated. “Legislation enforcement supplied the studies that point out what had occurred again with the preliminary manslaughter, after which at that time, below the structure, it is a willpower of the governor to make a commutation or parole determination.”
He stated on the time that he hasn’t been capable of view the total commutation file as a result of it’s below seal.
