Overview
- Federal prosecutors announced charges on June 18 that name 51-year-old Mark Milk and 38-year-old Jon Rogness in the death of 14-year-old McKenna Wendel.
- Milk is accused in an indictment of possession with intent to distribute cocaine resulting in death and of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
- Rogness faces counts of being an accessory after the fact and tampering with a witness or victim, charges prosecutors say relate to efforts to conceal evidence.
- Authorities have released limited information about how McKenna died and say the official cause will be revealed through autopsy results and trial testimony.
- The case has renewed public scrutiny of Governor Kristi Noem’s 2023 commutation of Milk’s life sentence and highlights coordinated federal and local work on violence affecting Indigenous communities, including McKenna’s Rosebud Sioux Tribe membership.