Buried in Minnesota river: Mystery car could reveal missing man's fate
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A fisher's sonar scan in Minnesota’s Mississippi River reveals a submerged car tied to the 1967 disappearance of Roy Benn, probably solving one of the state’s oldest cold cases.
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Missing man Roy Benn (Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)
A routine fishing trip on the Mississippi River in Minnesota unexpectedly helped solve a nearly 60-year-old missing person case. Brody Loch, who was out on the river earlier this month, detected what appeared to be a car on his sonar device and immediately alerted authorities.
By August 14, divers from the Stearns County sheriff’s office, assisted by a tow truck crew, recovered a heavily deteriorated vehicle near Sartell. Inside the car, investigators found human remains, according to Sheriff Steve Soyka’s office.
Authorities confirmed that the car was a 1963 metallic blue Buick Electra, long submerged in the river and filled with sediment. Despite severe deterioration, the vehicle remained largely intact.
Through the car’s vehicle identification number (VIN), investigators identified it as belonging to Roy Benn, who was 59 when he went missing in September 1967. Items found inside the vehicle further supported the connection. The remains have been sent to a medical examiner for confirmation.
The 1967 disappearance of Roy Benn
Benn, the owner of an appliance repair business in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was last seen on September 25, 1967. A Minnesota public safety bulletin from that time noted that he was carrying a significant sum of money when he vanished, driving his Buick Electra.
At the time, his sudden disappearance drew extensive local coverage. The St. Cloud Daily Times reported that Benn’s wife had died the year before he went missing, and his brother Walter cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation. However, leads never materialized.
In 1968, Walter sold his brother’s possessions at auction, and by 1975, Roy Benn was declared legally dead.
Family finally closer to closure after decades
Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck confirmed that Benn’s surviving relatives, who had previously provided DNA samples, were notified about the recovery.
“We’re just grateful that we may likely have finally gotten the break that we needed to bring closure to this family,” Heck told CNN.
Loch, reflecting on the discovery, told WCCO that luck played a role in spotting the car during his fishing trip. “It was 100% luck,” he said.
Wider pattern of cold cases solved by accident
Benn’s case is not unique in being solved decades later through chance discovery. History shows that some of the most notorious cold cases have been cracked in unexpected ways.
For example, the notorious Golden State Killer, who committed at least 13 murders and numerous rapes across California between 1974 and 1986, was identified in 2018 after investigators matched crime scene DNA to relatives on genealogy websites, solving crimes that had haunted California for over 40 years.
In another striking example, David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam”, was caught because of a simple parking ticket. After his final shooting in 1977, police reviewed all parking violations near the scene and found one issued to Berkowitz’s Ford Galaxie, illegally parked by a fire hydrant. A witness confirmed seeing him nearby, and when police traced the car, they found weapons and evidence tying him to six murders.
