LONG PRAIRIE -- A man police say killed his parents in their Long Prairie home is believed to have used money from their accounts to flee to Mexico.

A complaint filed in Todd County Court on Friday charges Dylan Bennett with two counts of second degree murder in the deaths of his parents, Barry and Carol Bennett.

On Wednesday, Aug.21, sheriff's deputies discovered the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, both 63 years old, in their home on Ginseng Road in rural Long Prairie.

Based on autopsies performed by the Midwest Medical Examiner, it is believed Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were killed sometime in the morning or afternoon of Monday, August 19. The complaint states that Mr. Bennett was last seen in Long Prairie on Monday around noon.

Mr. Bennett was discovered in an entryway area of the home. Mrs. Bennett was found on the kitchen floor. Both suffered multiple gunshots wounds from a handgun and bled to death.

Investigators found numerous shell casings and an empty magazine for a semi-automatic pistol near the bodies. They also discovered Dylan’s car in the driveway with a 9mm handgun and ammunition lying on the seat. Mrs. Bennett's car was missing.

Suspect Dylan Bennett (Photo: Todd County Sheriff's Office)
Suspect Dylan Bennett (Photo: Todd County Sheriff's Office)
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Police later reviewed video footage from a Long Prairie bank showing Dylan withdrawing a large amount of money from a bank account belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett on Monday around 9 a.m. Police learned that during the following three days, Mrs. Bennett's credit and debit cards were used throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio. Police additionally learned Dylan met up with an unidentified person on Wednesday in the Columbus, Ohio area to give them a 9mm handgun to “hold for him.” Around this time, Mrs. Bennett’s car was located in a Columbus area parking lot.

A plane ticket purchased in Dylan’s name was used for a Wednesday flight from Columbus to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Cancun, Mexico, where authorities say phone records place him as of Thursday, Aug. 22.

In 2018, Mr. Bennett told authorities his son, while in a mental health treatment facility, expressed a desire to kill his parents.

Mr. Bennett had an 11-year career in the NFL with New Orleans, the New York Jets and Minnesota. After his retirement, he became a Long Prairie High School physical education teacher and football and wrestling coach. He retired about five years ago.

Former student and classroom assistant Abbey Minke says, Mr. Bennett was known as warm and generous among students.

There were about four freshmen who had one lunch - the rest of the class was in a different lunch. So Barry took it upon himself to pretty much adopt us that year. He sat and had lunch with us every day, making sure high school was going okay, checking in, and just being that sort of father figure everyone needed when they weren’t at home.

Minke adds, he enjoyed keeping up with his former students long past graduation day.

(Mr. Bennett) was driving down the highway with his trailer. He saw me and my sister loading up a car outside in the parking lot. Literally, he turned around on the highway just to swing into the parking lot and check in on us and make sure everything was going well in life. Just a great guy.

Natalie Jaskan spent two years working at a Long Prairie bank with Dylan Bennett. She describes him as thoughtful, often buying his coworkers lunch, but emotionally unpredictable.

He would be happy one day and the next day would just shut down and not talk to anyone. For the majority, he would talk and open up to you. You would never think he would do something like this. But then, there are parts of me that says ‘well,’ seeing his moody side, I can believe it.

Jaskan describes the atmosphere in the small community as "gloomy" and says her social media accounts are teeming with prayers for Mr. and Mrs. Bennett -- and Dylan.

You can’t really go back and change the deaths, but you can help Dylan in this situation. Some people probably will have hatred toward Dylan, because of it, but he wasn’t in the right state of mind. So, all I can do, and what others should do, is pray for Dylan and his sanity.

If convicted, Dylan faces up to 40 years in prison for each death.

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