India, June 22 -- Mark Milk, a South Dakota man who received a gubernatorial commutation from a life sentence for manslaughter, has been federally indicted in the drug-related death of his 14-year-old niece, McKenna Wendel, whose body was found in a creek weeks after she vanished.

Milk, 51, of Sioux Falls, faces counts including distribution of cocaine resulting in death, transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy to conceal evidence, authorities announced this week.

Milk had been serving a life sentence for a 1993 manslaughter conviction in the stabbing death of Shawn Peneaux. He was only 19 at the time and had been involved in several altercations in the city of Winner that led to Peneaux's death, according...