by Dennis Dalman
The skeletal remains found inside a car that had been submerged in the Mississippi River in Sartell for 57 years have now been identified as Roy Benn, a Sauk Rapids man who “disappeared” in 1967.
On Sept. 5, Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck released a statement that the remains are indeed, as strongly suspected, those of Benn, who was 59 at the time of his disappearance. The identification was made by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, which is still doing a forensic examination to try to the determine the cause of Benn’s death.
The car in the river, a blue 1963 Buick, was discovered by accident because of a fisherman’s sonar radar on Sept. 9 and reported the next morning to law enforcement. The Stearns/Benton County Dive Team then examined the underwater discovery. Days later, the car was hoisted from the river and was found to have the same vehicle-identification number as the car Benn was driving when he was last seen – Sept. 25, 1967. He was last known to have eaten a breakfast that day at the King’s Supper Club on Hwy. 10 north of Sartell.
The sunken car was found at the bottom of the river along Riverside Drive just across from the DeZurik manufacturing company.
The retrieved Buick was thoroughly searched by law enforcement officials from Benton and Stearns counties and Sartell. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also joined the investigation. In the car were the skeletonized remains as well as items determined to have belonged to Benn.
According to a report by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Benn was carrying a large amount of money when he was last seen. Others who knew him also said he often carried rather large sums of cash with him throughout his days, and he used only cash to pay for purchases. After so many searches for him, he was declared legally dead eight years later. Benn was the owner of St. Cloud Gas and Appliance.
A widower at the time of his disappearance, Benn lived in a Sauk Rapids apartment, which he also owned.
This is a photo of Roy George Benn of Sauk Rapids taken sometime in the 1960s.
