NEW PALTZ, New York (WTVR) - A group of New York roommates made a $41,000 discovery in the cushions of an old, smelly couch. The cash was stashed in an envelope hidden inside two built-in pillows, according to a report on WCBS in New York.
"Just like freaking out like an inch and a half of hundred dollar bills," Reese Werkhoven said about the discovery.
"Our neighbors thought we won the lottery or something 'cause we were just screaming," Cally Guasti recalled.
But their excitement quickly faded when the friends saw on the envelope, the name of the person to whom the money belonged.
They tracked the woman down, called her and returned the cash.
"I'm like I found a couch and then she's like oh my God, I'm like, so what, she said I left a lot of money in that couch," Werkhoven said.
The woman told the friends she had been stashing money in the couch for years. She said family members, who did not know, mistakenly donated the couch.
"This was her life savings and she actually said something really beautiful like this is my husband looking down on me and this was supposed to happen," Guasti said.
The roommates did get some money for their efforts, the woman gave them 1,000.
