New York roommates find $41,000 in their couch and return the money to elderly woman

NEW PALTZ , N.Y., May 15 (UPI) -- About two months after New York roommates Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo purchased a couch at a Salvation Army in New Paltz, N.Y., they were sitting on it watching a movie.

At some point, they noticed the two side pillows built into couch were crinkling, so they investigated. The trio ended up finding bubble wrap envelopes that contained about $41,000 stashed inside.

"We were just really freaked out by it," Werkhoven told CBS 2. "It had these bubble wrap envelopes, just like two or three of them. We ripped them out and was just like freaking out, like and inch and a half of hundred dollar bills."

They celebrated their discovery, but also noticed that one of the envelopes had a woman's name on it.

"When we were in the bedroom our neighbors thought we won the lottery or something cause we were just screaming," Guasti said. "The entitlement very quickly went away with finding that notice with her name on it. Because we didn't earn that money."

Werkhoven's mother found the woman in the phone book and they were able to return the money to her. The elderly woman told the roommates that her family members had accidentally donated the couch and that it contained her life savings. She gave the roommates $1,000 as a reward.