by Dennis Dalman
A body discovered in a car in Mississippi River in Sartell may solve the mysterious case of a Sauk Rapids man, Roy George Benn, who “disappeared” one day 57 years ago.
The sunken car was first noticed Aug. 12 when a fisherman, Brody Loch of Watkins, noticed something peculiar on his fishing sonar-radar device. The sonar screen registered a large object on the bottom of the river. Loch then notified law enforcement.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol responded to the scene and verified there was indeed a car on the river’s bottom just across County Road 1 (Riverside Avenue) from the DeZurik manufacturing plant. The long-sunken car was half-filled with decades of river sediment.
On Aug. 13, the Stearns-Benton County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team organized a dive team search. At 10 a.m., the team located the underwater car, which they determined to be a vehicle from the 1960s. They then made arrangements with a towing company to extract the badly deteriorated car from the river. Toward the evening of April 13, the recovered car was brought to the Sartell Police Department at which time investigators discovered human remains inside.
The car’s vehicle-registration number is identical to the 1963 Buick Electra driven by Roy George Benn, a 59-year-old Sauk Rapids resident who “vanished” on Sunday, Sept. 25, 1967. Early that morning, Benn was known to have had breakfast at the King’s Supper Club on Hwy. 10 just north of Sartell. According to a report by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Benn was carrying a large amount of money when he was last seen. 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.
Shortly after midnight Aug. 14, Sartell Police Chief Brandon Silgjord posted a news release confirming that human remains had been found in the long-submerged car. The remains have been sent to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office in an effort to determine identity and cause of death.
Chief Silgjord noted that the recovered vehicle was processed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Benton and Stearns counties’ sheriff’s offices and the Sartell Police Department.
In his news release Silgjord thanked the Stearns/Benton County Dive Team and Collins Brothers Towing for their work in executing the recovery of the car. He also thanked the Sartell Fire Department for their presence during the recovery through the day and into the night.
As of noon Aug. 14, no further information about the case has been released. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
A group, including Stearns County Sheriff Department employees and Sartell police officers, stands on the bank of the Mississippi River Aug. 13 near the area where a submerged vehicle was discovered.
Sartell police work Aug. 13 after discovery of a car in the Mississippi River near CR 1 (Riverside Avenue) and Fourth Street N.
Sartell police tape off the area near DeZurik manufacturing company’s parking lot Aug. 13.
Caution tape strung from a Stearns County Sheriff Incident Command RV lines an area of the DeZurik manufacturing plant’s parking lot Aug. 13.
Stearns County Sheriff Department officials discuss the incident on CR-1 Aug. 13 near the site of a car found in the Mississippi River.
Vehicles, including a wrecker truck, line a closed portion of CR 1 across from DeZurik’s manufacturing plant on Aug. 13.
