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Woman Finds $97K In Restroom, Returns It

December 9, 2008 09:14 PM EST | AP

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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A Murfreesboro woman says she returned $97,000 she claims to have found in a Cracker Barrel restroom, but police said Tuesday they have no report of the find. Billie Watts, 75, told The Daily News Journal that she discovered the money inside a tapestry bag hanging from a hook on a stall door last Thursday.

But five days later, the money and its anonymous owner remain something of a mystery in the community, where police said that they have no report of the find.

While digging through the bag to figure out its owner, Watts says she found a bundle of neatly stacked $1,000 bills.

Watts said she and her husband took the money home, but later called the restaurant back and asked if there was a lost-and-found department. She was told yes, and left her number.

A woman called about 15 minutes later and verified she was the owner by identifying pictures left in the bag. Watts returned the bag to the owner, whom she described as an elderly woman, but said she does not have the woman's last name or phone number.

Watts said the woman told her that the money came from selling her home and her belongings and that she was going to start a new life in Florida with her son. Watts says the woman offered to pay her $1,000, but Watts refused it.

A manager of the Cracker Barrel restaurant, Bill Shupp, said no employees actually saw the money or the elderly owner.

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Information from: The Daily News Journal, http://www.dnj.com

Filed by Anya Strzemien  |  Report Corrections
 
 
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01:37 PM on 12/11/2008
I'd have loved to take it...

but for the rest of your life, you'd have this gray cloud lingering around you - in your conscious.
01:18 PM on 12/10/2008
I would've just assumed god planted it there for me to find cause I need it!
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
BabsfromKansas
09:40 PM on 12/10/2008
I certainly would have taken it as an answer to my prayers!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ohpuhleezee
10:35 AM on 12/10/2008
I can honestly say that she's a better woman than me.
10:32 AM on 12/10/2008
She should have given the $1,000 refused by the finder to Alzheimers research.