Burnsville Man Convicted of Murdering, Dismembering Mother
Burnsville, MN (MinnesotaNow) - A jury in Dakota County has convicted a Burnsville man of murdering and dismembering his elderly mother.
The guilty verdict against 58-year-old Troy Michael Mitteness was handed down yesterday following a seven-day trial and about nine hours of deliberations. He was found guilty of first- and second-degree intentional murder.
According to the criminal complaint, Burnsville police were investigating Mitteness in a mail theft case in 2023 when they came upon evidence that led to a homicide investigation. The court document says some of the proceeds from the mail thefts had been deposited into an account belonging to 82-year-old Sandra Mitteness, which prompted investigators to seek her out for questioning.
The charges stated that her son initially told investigators she was in South Dakota, but he later claimed she had died in June 2022. Investigators located an obituary, but the funeral home listed denied ever providing any funeral-related services.
The criminal complaint says the mother’s car was eventually located, and preliminary testing found evidence of blood in the trunk. That led to the execution of a search warrant at Troy Mitteness’ home, which uncovered additional blood evidence on the stairs inside the house, as well as on a mattress and box spring.
Court documents say Mitteness later confessed to murdering his mother on June 2, 2023, by stabbing her in the back with a large kitchen knife while she was in bed. Mitteness told investigators he then waited a couple of days before dismembering his mother’s remains and dumping pieces of her body in ditches and other locations while driving west of the Twin Cities toward Willmar.
Burnsville police say investigators determined he had begun researching online how to kill an elderly person with poison after spending all of his mother’s money and as she became suspicious about her finances.
He is being held in the Dakota County Jail without bail pending his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for next week.
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