Dakota County, MN– A 56-year-old Minnesota man has been arrested after authorities say he fatally stabbed his mother while she was sleeping and then dismembered her body and left it in totes scattered in a ditch along a highway.
Troy Michael Mitteness, who was already in jail for committing fraud, was charged last week for the death of 82-year-old Sandra Viola Mitteness.
The Burnsville Police Department say they were investigating reports of mail fraud in late June when they noticed that some of the money connected to one of the cases, had been deposited in Sandra’s bank account.
When investigators attempted to speak with Sandra, Troy told them that she was in South Dakota, and then later claimed she had actually died on June 14, 2022.
Troy also produced an obituary indicating that Sandra had died on June 14th, however, when authorities contacted the funeral home, the funeral home told them that they never provided post-mortem care or funeral services for Sandra.
Authorities say several family members claimed that they had not seen Sandra in over a year but were told by her son that she was died after falling down a flight of stairs and being hospitalized for COVID-19.
Officials say after claiming that his mother died, Troy sold her vehicle.
Authorities were able to track down the vehicle and found traces of Sandra’s blood in the trunk and while searching the apartment, they found blood on the stairs and on a mattress.
After confronting Troy about his mother’s death, Troy confessed to stabbing his mother in the neck while she was sleeping because “he had spent all of her money and she was becoming suspicious and wanted to see her finances.”
Troy told authorities that he researched painless and quick ways to kill his mother before setting on stabbing her in the neck.
Troy then dismembered his mother’s body and placed her in several totes he had in the garage.
“He then drove with the bins in his car from Burnsville toward Appleton, Minnesota, and discarded parts of the Victim’s body by throwing them in the ditch as he drove. Defendant advised that he did this because he did not want to get caught. Defendant advised that he had discarded two of the plastic totes behind a dumpster at an abandoned rest stop on Highway 7 towards Willmar, Minnesota.”
Investigators were able to recover the bins that had been left at the rest stop.
Troy is now facing one count of second-degree murder and is being held on a $2 million bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court on July 20.