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SARTELL — The Stearns-Benton County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team has located a car potentially connected to a 1967 missing person case at the bottom of the Mississippi River in Sartell.
The dive team did an exploratory dive near County Road 1 in Sartell around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13, according to a Stearns County Sheriff’s Office news release.
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“There will be a heavy police presence near Dezurik’s today … We will need to shut down Riverside Avenue today, including the bike path, so please avoid this area until we are clear from this area,” Sartell Public Safety wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Divers found a car that appeared to be from the 1960s and was half full of sediment, law enforcement said. Years of river flow into the vehicle contributed to the heavy sediment inside it.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said it was contacted by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office regarding a missing person case from Sept. 25, 1967. However, law enforcement said it is unknown if this car is related to the missing person case at this time.
On that day, Roy George Benn was last seen driving his 1963 4-door metallic blue Buick Electra, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Benn, 59, of Sauk Rapids , was reported to have been carrying a large sum of money when he was last seen at the King’s Supper Club on Highway 10 in Sartell, according to a Sept. 28, 1967, St. Cloud Times report.
The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Benn was the owner of St. Cloud Appliance Repair Service, according to the Times report. The report also said Sauk Rapids Police stated that he was wearing a dark suit, white French-cuffed shirt with gold and pearl cuff links. The license plate number on the Buick Electra was 6DU-516.
A fisherman saw an anomaly on his sonar fish finder and reported it to law enforcement on Sunday, Aug. 10. The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol responded and observed the same anomaly and marked the location for further research, the release said.
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Officials are working with a local towing company to get the vehicle out of the river.
Both Stearns and Benton County Sheriff’s Offices and the Sartell Police Department are investigating the matter further, according to the release.
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