South Dakota teen killing leads to charges against Noem-clemency beneficiary

The killing of McKenna Wendel has become more than a homicide case. Federal authorities have now charged her uncle, Mark Milk, a man whose life sentence was commuted by former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, putting fresh scrutiny on how a violent offender won early release and whether warning signs were missed.

At a press conference in Sioux City, Iowa, officials said a grand jury in the Northern District of Iowa indicted Milk, 51, of Sioux Falls, and Jon Rogness, 38, of Brookings, in connection with the 14-year-old’s death. Milk faces five counts, including possession with intent to deliver cocaine that caused Wendel’s death and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Rogness faces conspiracy and accessory charges tied to an alleged cover-up. Prosecutors said the most serious, readily provable counts were filed in Iowa because the underlying conduct originated there.

Wendel was reported missing on March 13 and was last seen alive in Sioux Falls early on March 14. Her body was found outside Brookings on March 19. Authorities said an autopsy was performed, but they have not released the findings, and U.S. Attorney Leif Olson said the cause and manner of death would remain sealed for now under Justice Department policy. FBI special agent Gene Kowel and other investigators described the case as one involving child death, a category that carries a particularly heavy public-safety and law-enforcement toll.

Her obituary identifies her as McKenna Rose Wendel, born January 30, 2012, to Marisa Wendel in Sioux Falls and raised by her grandparents, Ralph and Rose Wendel. It says she loved powwows, animals and sports, including volleyball and basketball, and was survived by her grandparents, mother, siblings Kinsley and Roman, cousin Warner Wendel and uncle Drake.

Milk’s own criminal history is central to the new scrutiny. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for beating a man to death after a fight in Winner, and Noem commuted that sentence in February 2023, making him eligible for parole. The South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles later unanimously recommended him for release, and Wendel attended that hearing and urged the board to support it. Milk has been held in the Minnehaha County Jail since March 17, when he was arrested for allegedly driving drunk and fleeing police.

The case lands as South Dakota faces a wider reckoning over clemency. South Dakota Searchlight reported in May that 12 of the 19 people Noem released early without customary board review have since been charged with new crimes, and that nine pleaded guilty. Noem issued 27 commutations in all during her time as governor. Since then, Gov. Larry Rhoden has moved to tighten supervision, unveiling a Smarter Supervision Initiative on April 7 and later tying it to an $891,721 federal grant application, an acknowledgment that the state is still rebuilding safeguards after a series of release decisions that now look increasingly costly.