US students find $40,000 in sofa

Three US students found over $40,000 in cash inside a second-hand sofa they had purchased for $20 from a charity shop – and returned it to the elderly widow who had stashed it there.

The upstate New York students bought the sofa from a Salvation Army shop in March for a pittance, and then found the fortune stashed in envelopes in the sofa after they’d taken it home.

Reese Werkhoven, Cally Guasti and Lara Russo said they couldn’t believe their luck at the unexpected find, reports the Little Rebellion, a student-run news blog at the State University of New York.

However, after finding a woman’s name on one of the envelopes the trio decided to return the money the following day.

Ms Guasti told the Little Rebellion blog: “When we handed the money back to the woman, she told us that she felt like her (late) husband was present in the room with us.”

Relatives of the woman, 91, had donated the old sofa to charity without her knowledge.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, reportedly rewarded the honest students with a cash sum.