Woman returns $97,000 found in restroom

updated 5:24 p.m. ET Dec. 9, 2008

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Billie Watts said she was tempted but couldn't bring herself to keep $97,000 she said she found in a Cracker Barrel restroom. The 75-year-old Murfreesboro woman 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 they have no report of the find.

While digging through the bag to figure out its owner, Watts said she found a bundle of neatly stacked 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 said 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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