Charge: Burnsville man, 56, dismembered his mother, scattered remains as he drove out of town

A 56-year-old Burnsville man dismembered his mother, scattered her remains as he drove out of town and wrote an obituary complete with services he never intended to hold, according to a criminal complaint.

Troy M. Mitteness was charged Monday in Dakota County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the stabbing in June 2022 of 82-year-old Sandra V. Mitteness.

Troy Mitteness appeared in court Monday afternoon and remains jailed Tuesday in lieu of $2 million bail. He's due back in court July 20. A message was left Tuesday morning with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

"The facts alleged in this case make it one of the most horrific and disturbing cases I've experienced in the course of my 34-year career," Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a statement. "My deepest sympathy is extended to the other family members and friends of Ms. Mitteness for their great loss."

Court records show that Troy Mitteness was committed in 2011 to the custody of the state Department of Human Services after he was found to be mentally ill.

According to the complaint:

An investigation into mail theft led police to a bank account under Sandra Mitteness' name that had received some of the ill-gotten proceeds.

Police asked Troy Mitteness where they could find his mother and ask her about the deposits. At first, he said she was in Milbank, S.D., then said she died June 14, 2022.

An obituary and an envelope with a funeral home's address was found by police in his residence. The funeral home said it never provided services for Sandra Mitteness.

After numerous family and friends recalled to police not seeing Sandra Mitteness for several months, a missing persons case was opened.

Several in the family said Troy Mitteness told them his mother died in the past year, saying she fell down some stairs in June 2022. He added that they couldn't visit her in the hospital because of COVID-19 restrictions.

One relative bought Sandra Mitteness' car from Troy, who seemed anxious to get rid of it. The relative then sold the car to another person, who allowed police to examine it. Inspection of the car turned up evidence of blood.

A police search of Troy Mitteness' home turned up blood evidence on the stairs and a mattress.

Under police questioning, Troy Mitteness admitted killing his mother because he had spent all her money and she was pressing him to see an accounting of her finances.

He said he went online to research ways to kill her and stabbed her in the neck on June 2, 2022.

Two days later, he dismembered her body and put the parts in tote bins, which he put in his car. He drove from Burnsville toward Appleton, Minn., and tossed body parts into a roadside ditch as he drove.

He said he left two of the bins behind a dumpster in back of an abandoned rest stop on Hwy. 7 near Willmar. Officers went to the property, where the owners confirmed that it had been a rest stop. After buying the parcel, the owners said they located the bins and moved them to a burn pile. Officers then took them as evidence.