A Minnesota man, aged 58, is sentenced to life in prison for the murder and dismemberment of his mother. This followed her discovery of his theft from her, after which he scattered her remains in tote bins along a state highway.

Dakota County District Judge Richelle M. Wahi declared that Troy M. Mitteness would serve a life sentence without parole for the death of Sandra Viola Mitteness in 2022, as announced by local authorities.

A news release from the Dakota County Attorney’s Office stated that a jury recently convicted Troy Mitteness of first- and second-degree murder for his 82-year-old mother’s gruesome killing.

“I wish to express my thanks to all who contributed to this case, especially the jurors who dealt with deeply distressing details,” said County Attorney Kathy Keena post-sentencing. “Your verdict and diligence during the trial are highly valued.”

After Troy Mitteness was apprehended in July 2023, Keena described the case to Law&Crime as “among the most horrific and unsettling” in her over 30-year career as a prosecutor.

The Burnsville Police Department began investigating Troy Mitteness for mail theft in June 2023, discovering the stolen funds were deposited into Sandra Mitteness’ account. When questioned, Troy initially claimed she was in South Dakota, before admitting she had died on June 14, 2022.

Police executed a search warrant on the home Troy Mitteness and his mother shared where they found an obituary indicating Sandra Mitteness had died on that date, but when they contacted the funeral home, workers there denied ever providing postmortem care or funeral services for Sandra Mitteness.

Several family members explained to police they had not seen Sandra Mitteness in about a year and believed she was dead — because that was what Troy Mitteness told them. Troy Mitteness said that his mother had fallen down the stairs in June 2022 and was hospitalized, but could not be visited because she had COVID-19. He claimed she died shortly after the purported fall, police say.

After claiming his mother had died, Troy Mitteness sold her car. Investigators tracked the vehicle down and performed forensic tests which “gave preliminary indications of the presence of blood in the trunk.”

A subsequent search warrant on the Mitteness home revealed the presence of blood on the stairs, police said. Officers also say they found a mattress and box spring that both had “large dark red stains” on them.

In a post-Miranda interview with detectives, Troy Mitteness confessed to killing his mother because “he had spent all of her money and she was becoming suspicious and wanted to see her finances.” He even said that prior to the murder he went online to research “how to kill an elderly person without poison” before deciding to stab her in her sleep. He further said that he researched “the best spots to stab someone to make their death quick and painless,” per a probable cause affidavit.

“He told the detectives that he killed the Victim on June 2, 2022, in his Burnsville, Dakota County home, by stabbing her in the neck with a large kitchen knife. After she had been dead for a couple of days, Defendant dismembered her body and placed her body parts in multiple different large plastic tote bins that he had in his garage,” the document states. “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.”

Officers were able to recover the bins left at the rest stop, which they said matched similar bins found in Troy Mitteness’ garage while executing the search warrant.