Angler finds remains of man who vanished with stash of money in 1967, MN cops say
_fitted.png "Authorities deployed a dive team, and then hired a towing company to pull the vehicle from the Mississippi River, near Sartell, Minnesota.")
A Minnesota fisherman noticed an “anomaly” on his sonar during a recent outing, leading authorities to the remains of a man believed to have vanished, along with a stash of cash, nearly 60 years ago, officials say.
The angler was fishing on a stretch of the Mississippi River near Sartell when he came across what appeared to be a sunken car, then contacted the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, the office said in a news release.
On the morning of Aug. 13, a dive team went to search the site and confirmed the angler’s suspicions when they found a car on the bottom of the river, the sheriff’s office said, adding that “the car was half full of sediment” but “dive team members were able to determine the car appeared to be from the 1960’s era.”
A towing company was called to pull the vehicle from the river, and what emerged “appeared to be a 1960’s era Buick,” which was “fairly intact,” deputies said.
Investigators found human remains inside the car, and the VIN number matched a car that belonged to a man named Roy Benn, who went missing in September 1967, according to officials.
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“Based on the human remains, items found in the car, and verification of the VIN number of the vehicle, the Sheriff’s Offices believe this to be Mr. Benn.”
According to a bulletin from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Benn, 59, was last seen driving his blue Buick Electra and “was reported to have been carrying a large sum of money.”
Officials didn’t say why Benn may have been traveling with a large amount of cash.
He was reported missing from Sauk Rapids, which neighbors Sartell, where his car and remains were located.
The sheriff’s office said the remains were handed over to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office “for further investigation and possible identification.”
Sartell is a roughly 70-mile drive northwest from Minneapolis.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Angler finds remains of man who vanished with stash of money in 1967, MN cops say."