Bradley Allen Weyaus Jr., 23, was sentenced on Thursday to 306 months in prison — 25 years and six months — for Rodney Pendegayosh Jr.’s death, according to court records. Weyaus pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder.
In a sentencing memorandum, Weyaus’ attorney attributed his behavior in part to his Native American heritage.
“Bradley Allen Weyaus, Jr., was born into a life and legacy that were not of his choosing. His legacy is shaped by historical and generational trauma, systemic neglect, and the long-term harms of colonization and forced displacement experienced by Native American communities, including his own,” his lawyer wrote.
A psychiatrist noted that, like many American Indians, he experienced depression, PTSD, and trauma-related distress.
According to the memo, he experienced instability throughout his life and witnessed his mother being abused by his stepfather. Weyaus witnessed his grandmother stab his mother when he was 10 years old and was later raised in foster homes, where he was also abused, according to the memo. As a result, he began using drugs and alcohol, according to his attorneys.
“Sleeping inside Bradley Weyaus are fragments of traumas too great to be resolved in one generation,” according to his lawyer. “This is the story of Bradley Weyaus, a young Native American man who after a childhood and adolescence marked by repeated abuse, individual trauma, and generational trauma fell into the iron grip of meth and turned to drug dealing to support his addiction and ease his trauma.”
His co-defendant, girlfriend Alexis Marion Elling, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender in February 2024, and her sentencing was scheduled to take place after Weyaus’ case was resolved. She had agreed to testify against Weyaus in exchange for a five-year prison sentence suspended and up to five years on supervised probation. She is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15.
According to authorities, the defendants believed Pendegayosh, 25, provided Elling’s brother with a lethal combination of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Officials stated that the couple’s crime was not typical.
“This whole thing is truly bizarre,” Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton said in a news conference when authorities announced the charges. “This body was moved multiple places for a period of possibly up to a week before the discovery was made.”
In March 2023, a public works maintenance crew collecting garbage discovered Pendegayosh’s remains stuffed into a tote bag tied with bungee cords and tape along a snowy highway.
“They see what they believe to be a severed human foot,” the sheriff stated. They closed the tote and called the cops.
On his way to the scene, an officer spotted a white Saturn believed to be driven by Weyaus. Weyaus fled and managed to avoid capture for some time. The officer eventually found the vehicle, which was empty but stuck in a driveway. The homeowners pointed out the suspect, who was hiding in a camper trailer on their property. The arrest occurred. Wayaus’ duffel bag contained a hacksaw, hammer, and black tape similar to the tape found on the tote.
Other evidence pointed to the couple. Although there appeared to be no gun, the suspect vehicle contained a spent shotgun shell. Investigators discovered a bloody carpet, gloves, and a hardware store receipt in the dumpster at the suspect’s apartment, along with Pendegayosh’s ID and credit card.
The sheriff stated that surveillance video shows the suspects carrying the tote bag from the apartment and loading it into a black Chevrolet Impala a few days before the body was discovered.
