Inset: McKenna Wendel (Sioux Falls Police Department). Background left: Then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press briefing at the Ecuadorian Presidential Palace, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in Quito, Ecuador (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool). Background right: Mark Milk (South Dakota Department of Corrections).
A South Dakota man who was recently charged in connection with the death of his 14-year-old niece previously had a life prison sentence commuted by then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Mark Milk, 51, stands accused of one count each of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death, and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, as well as two counts related to concealing objects with intent to impair an official proceeding, according to the indictment obtained by Law&Crime.
The charges are related to the death of 14-year-old McKenna Wendel, who was reported missing March 13, according to law enforcement. She was last seen alive in her hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, during the early morning hours the next day. Authorities say the charged conduct occurred in northern Iowa and announced the charges at a press conference this week in Sioux City, Iowa.
The victim”s body was found March 19 outside of Brookings, a small town roughly 55 miles due north of Sioux Falls.
A second man, Jon Rogness, 38, is also charged in the case and stands accused of one count each of conspiracy to conceal objects with intent to impair a proceeding and accessory after the fact.
The indictment alleges Milk possessed and distributed “a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine” on or about March 14, around the last time McKenna was seen alive.
“Furthermore, the death of M.W. resulted from the use of the controlled substance defendant possessed with the intent to distribute and distributed,” the indictment reads, referring to the girl.
While largely threadbare in terms of details, the charging document makes clear Milk and Rogness are also accused of trying to “corruptly alter, destroy, mutilate, and conceal objects, with the intent to impair their integrity and availability for use in official proceedings,” all of which is related to “the disappearance and death of M.W.”
Milk was also responsible for “the transportation of M.W. with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity,” the indictment alleges.
Authorities say Rogness helped Milk after the fact by taking possession of certain drugs and conspiring to hide other items related to McKenna’s transportation, disappearance and death.
“All charges occurred within the Northern District of Iowa,” South Dakota U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons said during the press conference, according to Sioux Falls-based CBS, MyNetworkTV, and The CW affiliate KELO. “The charges that we brought are the most serious, readily provable.”
In 1994, Milk was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the October 1993 stabbing death of Shawn Peneaux, according to appellate court records.
In 2023, after serving 30 years of his sentence, Noem commuted Milk’s sentence and he was granted parole in May 2024.
“The application of Mark Milk for commutation of sentence having been presented to me, together with facts pertaining to this case, and it appearing there from that the ends of justice would be best served by granting the Commutation of Sentence requested,” the commutation order signed by Noem reads.
By the time McKenna’s body was found, Milk was in jail in South Dakota on unrelated charges of driving under the influence and eluding police, according to the Sioux Falls Police Department.
“It is fairly often that you see law enforcement oppose commutations,” South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said in a March press conference, according to the Washington Times.
Noem served as South Dakota’s congresswoman in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019 and then as governor from 2019 to 2025. She resigned from her gubernatorial position to serve as the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before being fired in March by President Donald Trump amid widespread backlash to a series of fatal immigration enforcement operations.
