FARGO - Authorities say a woman's search for the owners of property she thought her late husband had rented led them to more than $200,000 worth of stolen equipment.

The widow called the sheriff's department in Clay County, Minnesota, to get help in tracking down the property owners after her husband died. The woman, who was not identified, thought her husband had rented the property, police said.

Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist said a detective checked serial numbers on the property and discovered it was stolen.

"We're talking pieces of equipment that would sell close to a couple hundred thousand dollars - payloaders, backhoes, tractors -things that someone would use to build roads," Bergquist said.

Fargo police said the property is believed to have been stolen from the area over the past couple of years.