Amelia Schafer
ICT
RAPID CITY, S.D. – A second person is now charged in connection with the death of a Cheyenne River Lakota woman allegedly killed at the Ellsworth Air Force Base in southwest South Dakota.
Federal authorities charged Drew Durand, 24, of Box Elder, South Dakota, on April 30 with accessory after the fact and misprision of a felony. Court records in Durand’s case were unsealed on May 30. Durand’s gender and military enlistment are unknown.
Airman Quinterius Charles Chapelle, 24, was the first individual charged in the case. He was federally charged with first-degree murder of 21-year-old Sahela Toka Win Sangrait several days after her body was found, for which he pleaded not guilty to on March 28.
Court records allege that Durand assisted Chappelle with disposing of Sahela Sangrait’s body on Aug. 11, 2024.
Sangrait’s body was found by hikers on March 11, 2025 in a remote area outside of Hill City, South Dakota, which is approximately 38 miles west of the base in the Black Hills National Forest.
Due to the murder having allegedly taken place on the air force base and the body being found on National Park Service land, Chappelle and Durand are charged in federal court.
Sangrait had been missing since Aug. 11. On the night of Aug. 10, law enforcement responded to a call regarding a domestic dispute at Chapelle’s residence but did not make contact with anyone inside, according to a March 28 police testimony.
Law enforcement testified that Chapelle appeared to work at the base the following day with scratch marks on his face. Supervisors took note of the scratches and took Chapelle to Rapid City, where he claimed his home on the base had been burglarized the previous night, but declined to follow up with law enforcement on an investigation.
Sangrait and Chappelle were in a relationship, according to Sangrait’s family.
During the March 28 hearing, law enforcement also testified that Sangrait had the DNA of two separate individuals under her fingernails.
The FBI, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Rapid City Police Department, Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit are all jointly investigating the case.
Chappelle is awaiting a federal jury trial, which is scheduled for this fall.
