Missing man's cause of death revealed after remains found in vehicle pulled from Mississippi River

SARTELL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Authorities have determined the cause of death for a man reported missing in 1967 and whose remains were found in a submerged vehicle in the Mississippi River .

Roy Benn's remains found in submerged vehicle

The backstory:

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said a 1963 Buick Electra sedan was pulled from the Mississippi River on Aug. 10, 2025, near Riverside Avenue in Sartell, Minnesota. The vehicle was first spotted by a fisherman who noticed an "anomaly" on his sonar and reported it to law enforcement.

On Sept. 4, medical examiners at the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed through DNA testing that the remains were of Roy Benn, who had been missing since September 1967.

Benn, who was 59 at the time of his disappearance, was last seen on Sept.