Charge: Woman helped boyfriend cover up killing and disposal of man's body near Lake Mille Lacs

A woman was charged Friday with helping her boyfriend cover up the killing of a man whose body was put in a storage container and abandoned this week near the shore of Lake Mille Lacs.

Also Friday, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton disclosed that Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, who lived in the Isle area, died from a shotgun blast to the chest.

Alexis M. Elling, 21, of Rochester, was charged in District Court with aiding an offender after the fact in connection with Pendegayosh's death.

Elling is the girlfriend of Bradley A. Weyaus, 21, who was charged Thursday with second-degree intentional murder. Elling appeared in court Friday and remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail ahead of an April 4 court appearance. Court records do not list an attorney for her.

Weyaus was arrested Tuesday afternoon, the same day the container was discovered by a road crew doing routine work. Law enforcement went to the scene and found a body and a severed foot in the container. Buckshot from shotgun shells was found in the neck.

Weyaus appeared in court Thursday and remains jailed in lieu of $600,000 bail ahead of a hearing also scheduled for April 4.

The charges against the defendants do not suggest a possible motive for the killing, nor do they specify when Pendegayosh was killed. Burton said he intends to discuss a motive early next week.

Elling admitted being involved at one point in moving Pendegayosh's body. She said Weyaus told her that he killed Pendegayosh.

She said she knew the body was in a storage container but was unaware of it until after the bin was loaded and sealed. However, she acknowledged a fake fingernail recovered inside the container was hers.