A Minnesota man will spend decades behind bars for murdering a man who he believed delivered a fatal dose of drugs to his girlfriend’s brother.

Bradley Allen Weyaus Jr., aged 23, received a prison sentence of 25 years and six months (306 months) on Thursday for the killing of Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., as detailed in court documents. Weyaus admitted guilt to second-degree murder in May.

In a sentencing memorandum, Weyaus’ attorney blamed his behavior in part on his Native American heritage.

His lawyer noted, “Bradley Allen Weyaus, Jr., was born into circumstances and an inherited legacy out of his control. His life has been shaped by historical and generational trauma, systemic neglect, and the enduring consequences of colonization and forced displacement on Native American populations, including his own.”

A psychiatrist noted like many American Indians, he suffered from depression, PTSD and trauma-related distress.

Throughout his upbringing, Weyaus faced a lack of stability and witnessed domestic violence against his mother by his stepfather, as mentioned in the memorandum. At 10, he also saw his grandmother attacking his mother and subsequently lived in foster care where he experienced further abuse. This led him to substance abuse, his attorneys explained.

“Sleeping inside Bradley Weyaus are fragments of traumas too great to be resolved in one generation,” his attorney wrote. “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 in February 2024 to aiding an offender, and her sentencing was set to wait after the resolution of Weyaus’ case. She had agreed to testify against Weyaus in exchange for a stayed sentence of five years in prison, and up to five years of supervised probation. She’s scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 15.

Authorities have said that the defendants believed that the 25-year-old Pendegayosh dealt Elling’s brother a fatal mixture of fentanyl and meth.

Officials said that the couple’s crime was anything but typical.

“This whole thing is truly bizarre,” Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton in a news conference at the time authorities brought charges. “This body was moved multiple places for a period of possibly up to a week before the discovery was made.”

A public works maintenance crew that was collecting garbage discovered Pendegayosh’s remains stuffed into a tote bag bound by bungee cords and tape along a snowy highway in March 2023.

“They see what they believe to be a severed human foot,” the sheriff said. They closed the tote and called the police.

An officer on the way to the scene spotted a white Saturn believed to be driven by Weyaus. Weyaus fled, and for a time, eluded capture. The officer eventually found the vehicle empty but stuck in a driveway. The homeowners pointed out the suspect hiding in a camper trailer on the property. The arrest ensued. In Wayaus’ duffel bag, authorities discovered a hacksaw, hammer, and black tape similar to the tape found on the tote.

Other evidence pointed toward the couple. There was a spent shotgun shell in the suspect vehicle, although apparently no gun. Investigators found a bloody carpet, gloves, and a hardware store receipt in the dumpster at the apartment where the suspect lived — as well as Pendegayosh’s ID and credit card.

The sheriff said surveillance video shows the suspects carrying the tote bag out of the apartment and loading it into a black Chevrolet Impala a few days before police discovered the body.