Burnsville Man Indicted on First-Degree Murder Charge in Death of Mother
Provided by Dakota County Jail.
BURNSVILLE, MINNESOTA - A Dakota County grand jury has indicted 57-year-old Troy Michael Mitteness of Burnsville on charges of premeditated first-degree murder and intentional second-degree murder in connection with the 2022 death of his mother, 82-year-old Sandra Viola Mitteness, Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena announced on Thursday.
Mitteness was previously charged with intentional second-degree murder in this case. The indictment upgrades the charges, with premeditated first-degree murder carrying a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if convicted.
According to the criminal complaint from the Dakota County Attorney’s Office, Mitteness confessed to Burnsville detectives that he fatally stabbed his mother in June 2022 at their Burnsville home after she grew suspicious of her depleted finances. Mitteness admitted to spending her money and researching methods to kill an elderly person. After the murder, Mitteness dismembered his mother’s body and disposed of her remains by scattering them along roadways as he drove from Burnsville to Appleton, Minnesota. Some remains were reportedly discarded in bins behind a dumpster at an abandoned rest stop, later recovered by investigators.
Mitteness remains in custody at the Dakota County Jail.
You can find our original story here: Burnsville man charged in the murder and dismemberment of his 82-year-old Mother
