Son spends all of mom’s money, then dismembers her, MN cops say. Now, new charge filed
A man accused of dismembering his mother’s body and then dumping her body parts in ditches and near dumpsters has been indicted for killing her, Minnesota officials said.
Troy Michael Mitteness, 57, stabbed his 82-year-old mother, Sandra Viola Mitteness, to death while she slept in June 2022, according to the indictment filed on Dec. 13. He was indicted on a premeditated murder charge and a second-degree murder charge.
Mitteness’ attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Dec. 13.
A June 2023 investigation into mail theft in Burnsville eventually sent police on a hunt for the deceased woman’s remains, according to a probable cause statement filed in June 2023.
Investigators believed Mitteness had something to do with the mail thefts and learned that some of the money believed to be stolen from the mail was deposited into his mother’s account, Burnsville police said.
When police asked if they could speak to his mother, Mitteness lied and said she was in South Dakota, then said she died from falling down the stairs.
Police found an obituary for the woman, but the local funeral home denied providing services to the woman’s family, police said. After the family said they hadn’t seen her in months, a missing persons file was opened.
In July 2023, a search warrant of Mitteness’ home led police to a bloody mattress and box spring, according to court documents. Then, Mitteness told police what actually happened to his mother.
Mitteness started to plot his mother’s death because he had spent all of her money and she started to become “suspicious” about her finances, police said.
He started to research methods to kill a person, police said.
In June 2022, he stabbed his mother with a “large” kitchen knife while she was asleep, according to court documents. After a couple of days, police say, he started to dismember the body.
He took his mother’s body parts into the garage and distributed them into plastic tote bins, police said.
“He then drove with the bins in his car from Burnsville toward Appleton, Minnesota, and discarded parts of the Victim’s body by throwing them in the ditch as he drove,” police said in the probable cause statement.
He took the remaining bins and left them by a dumpster at a rest stop near Willmar, court documents said.
Approximately a year after the bins were dumped at the rest stop, police found them in a burn pile behind a shipping container at the same location, according to the probable cause.
Mitteness has been in Dakota County Jail since June 29, 2023, according to jail records. He’s held on a $2 million bond.
Burnsville is about a 15-mile drive south from downtown Minneapolis.
This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Son spends all of mom’s money, then dismembers her, MN cops say. Now, new charge filed."
