Possible Break in 1967 Missing Person Case After Car Found in Mississippi River Near Sartell

(KNSI) – A fishing trip on the Mississippi River near Sartell has potentially found the key to unlocking a six-decade-old missing person case.

According to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, on Sunday, an angler using sonar spotted something unusual beneath the waters near County Road 1. The object’s size and shape convinced him it was a submerged car, leading him to call the police. The water patrol found the object and also believed it could be a car.

The dive team went back into the river on Tuesday morning to investigate the object. Divers confirmed the presence of what appears to be a car from the 1960s resting on the river bottom. Investigators say years of river flow had packed the vehicle half-full with sediment.

Officials are working with a local towing company to get the vehicle out of the river.

The location of the discovery caught the attention of Benton County investigators, who reached out about a missing person case from September 25th, 1967.

Tri-County Crime Stoppers/Facebook

On that date, 59-year-old Roy George Benn went missing after eating breakfast at King’s Supper Club in Sartell. He was driving a metallic blue four-door 1963 Buick Electra with Minnesota license plate number 6DU-516 with serial number 8J4036010. The car disappeared with Benn and has never been found. The Sauk Rapids man was declared legally dead eight years after his disappearance.

While the connection remains speculative, the proximity in time and location has raised questions about whether the submerged car might finally provide answers to the mystery.

___