Owner Of RV With Body In It Said Not To Open The Hatch, Renters Say
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It sounds like something straight from the movies: 10 college friends celebrating a bachelor party with a road trip to the Kentucky Derby when they find a dead body in a rented RV.
After Dan Trainor and his friends rented the RV Thursday from a man in Anoka none of them knew personally, they headed south. That's when they pulled off into the Shopko parking lot in Winona to make sure they were all packed up and ready to go.
But when packing, a friend noticed a foul smell from an outside front compartment and asked Trainor to take a look.
"So I opened it up, and I saw the legs," Trainor said. "And my mouth just dropped. So I just kind of closed it, turned around and said, 'That's a body.'"
Winona police responded to the scene, and investigators in Anoka County are now also working the case.
Police still aren't saying who owned the RV, but the warning the group got from its owner has a whole new meaning now.
"He did mention not to open that hatch, and what that means I don't know," Trainor said.
The story has taken on a life of its own on Twitter. The hashtag #CorpseInTheCargoBay chronicles everything that's happened so far.
The friends didn't want to appear on camera, not wanting the circumstances of their trip to distract from the death of whomever they found.
"We knew we were going to have some stories coming back, but didn't really think it would end up like this," Trainor said.
Winona police are keeping all of the guys' belongings locked in the RV until the autopsy on the body is complete next week.
The group said their trip is canceled and that they'll be watching the Kentucky Derby Saturday at Canterbury Park in Shakopee.