US college students who found $41,000 in cash hidden in an old thrift-store couch track down previous owner to RETURN the money

Roommates Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo bought the couch for $20 from their local chariy store

But not long after they got it back to their New Paltz home they discovered envelopes of cash - $41,000 worth - were stashed in every conceivable crevice of the pre-loved couch

However, the students' excitement turned to moral dilemma when they found that one of the envelopes had a woman's name on it

Finally, Werkhoven's mother found the owner in a phone book and they returned it

When a trio of New York college students bought a smelly secondhand couch from a charity store for $20 they had no clue about its real value.

But not long after roommates Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo got it back to their New Paltz home and nestled in, they discovered envelopes of cash - $41,000 worth - were stashed in every conceivable crevice of the pre-loved find.



'When we were in the bedroom our neighbors thought we won the lottery or something cause we were just screaming,' Guasti said of the shock April discovery.

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Sitting on a goldmine: Roommates Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo, pictured, bought a smelly secondhand couch, seen above, from a charity store for $20 they had no clue about its real value

The friends bought the couch from a nearly Salvation Army in February.



But last month, after watching a movie, they said they felt crinkles in two side pillows built into the couch, according to The Little Rebellion website.



'It had these bubble wrap envelopes, just like two or three of them,' Werkhoven, a SUNY New Paltz geology major, told CBS News. 'We ripped them out and was just like freaking out, like and inch and a half of hundred dollar bills.'



Perplexed by the discovery, the friends all but teared the couch apart looking for what else they could find.



When all the envelopes were out, they eagerly counted the cash, taking pictures along the way. The grand total amounted to a staggering $41,000.

'You keep counting more and more money and you get excited, like Reese was thinking about buying a car for his mom and a boat,' Russo, a SUNY graduate, said.

Pictures: The stunned friends took pictures with the loot as they went

However, the students' excitement turned to moral dilemma when they found that one of the envelopes had a woman's name on it.



'The entitlement very quickly went away with finding that notice with her name on it. Because we didn’t earn that money,' Guasti, a Mount Holyoke College graduate, said.



And so the hunt for the fortune's rightful owner began, with the help of each of the students' parents, who also warned them not to tell anyone else about the stash for fear it could get stolen.



Finally, Werkhoven's mother found the woman in a phone book and the young man called her up.



'I'm like "I found something that I think is yours and she's like "what?!" and I'm like "I found a couch" and then she's like "oh my God I left a lot of money in that couch,"' said Werkhoven.



The friends said the elderly woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told them her sick husband had given her wads of cash in the years before he died, so she could have something to live off when he was gone.



Dilemma: However, the students' excitement turned to moral dilemma when they found that one of the envelopes had a woman's name on it

Not knowing where else to put it, she stashed it in the old couch in the room where she slept. She said she stored her savings int he couch for 30 years until she recently had an operation on her back and spent several months in a rehabilitation center.



While there, her doctors recommended her children replace the old couch to aid her back pain, and that's how it came to be at the Salvation Army.



'We almost didn't pick that couch,' Russo told thelittlerebellion.com. 'It's pretty ugly and smells, but it was the only couch that fit the right dimensions for our living room.'



The trio said they don’t regret doing the right thing, and are even planning to have dinner with the elderly woman they returned the money to and her family.



'I think it’s just that anyone can do good if they will themselves to it,' Werkhoven told CBS News.



'I think it went the way it should and to be honest I don't think about it that much,' Russo added.

