Minnesota fisherman who found car tied to 1960s cold case calls discovery "100% luck"

CBS News

2 hours ago

By WCCO reporter Ashley Grams
In Sartell, Minnesota, an investigation is underway with ties to a decades-old cold case.
Investigators spent hours removing a car that was 20 feet under the Mississippi River on Tuesday, all thanks to a tip.
"When he caught the fish, I turned the transducer around and boom, there it was just sitting on the bottom," said Brody Loch, a fisherman from Watkins, Minnesota, who spotted the car.
Loch was using a Garmin Livescope — sonar — while fishing over the weekend with a friend.
"It was 100% luck," Loch said. "If my buddy wouldn't have caught that walleye, then we would have just kept on floating down and never would have found it."
Loch spotted the 1960s-era car for the first time on Saturday, before returning on Sunday with his family to check again. He then called authorities.
Police say after processing the vehicle, the Buick's VIN confirms the car belonged to Roy Benn.
Benn disappeared in 1967, and his case made headlines, with some outlets reporting that Benn was carrying a large amount of money when he disappeared and was last seen leaving the King's Supper Club.
"Looking back at some of the original case files, there was talk of quarries, there was talk of the Mississippi river, but of course, technology in the 1960s is nowhere near what we have now," said Sartell Police Chief Brandon Silgjord.
Investigators also found human remains inside the car, and based on evidence so far, believe it to be Benn.
"Tons of credit for a fisherman to actually see that and then have the forethought to call the sheriff's office and make that report," Silgjord said.
The Benton County Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation, as law enforcement tries to determine the circumstances of this case.
"Artifacts, clothing items, different things like that that will absolutely help in piecing this whole thing together," Silgjord said.
Silgjord says investigators have received questions about the cash Benn may have been carrying when he disappeared.
"I think perspective needs to be offered sometimes, of what a large amount of cash looked like in 1960 versus now," Silgjord said. "Which very well could have been, from reading some of those original reports, several hundreds of dollars."
Loch and Silgjord are both hopeful this find will bring answers to Benn's family.