Brad Trogdon, Author at The Ring Finders

Clemmons, NC – Wedding band lost exercising in park.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

On Monday 09/14/2026 I received notification from my daughter that a local resident was appealing for assistance locating her husbands ring on a social media site.  Described as lost while exercising in a park.

I contacted Mrs. Brown and explained I was a short distance from the park and would be glad to assist in the search.  I also warned her to not share too many specifics online because it was lost in a public place.   Explaining it was in a heavy traffic area and time was of the essence I assured her I would be on-site immediately following a meeting I had already committed to.

Arrived at the park after 8:00 and darkness had set in.  I immediately realized that no lighting was in this area so I geared up with my headlamp and a spare light in my pocket “just in case”.   Walking towards the trail entrance I scanned beside of the paved sidewalk in case he had dropped in this area. I had many strong shallow signals and each time found where others had dropped fishing weights.   When I entered the trailhead I began scanning left of the trail approximately 50 yards into woods. It became even darker because trees blocked star and moonlight.  Approaching a park bench I recalled her description of his workout that he would stop to do push-ups. This area looked to be where he may stop to do push-ups.  I searched around the bench and approximately four feet off trail I had a strong signal. Looking closer I discovered a black and gold ring.

I texted Mrs. Brown asking if she could describe the ring and she replied with a photo.  Whoo-hoo, ring found in 30 minutes.  I made her aware by texting a photo and she immediately called me overjoyed and saying “I cannot believe you found it”.   We made arrangements to meet the next day.   She was not going to tell her husband so it could be a surprise.

I met with Mrs. Brown and she was very happy and could not stop looking at the ring.  Her husband as of this writing is still not aware of the recovery and hopefully we will get an update in comments of how the reveal pans out.

Thank you for entrusting me to find your husbands treasure.  Although this recovery didn’t cause to much exercise for me I did get some steps in.


Tags:
Category:

Approached by person on beach asking if I could assist in locating bracelet lost on beach.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

This past week I and family enjoyed time away at the South Carolina coast.  Being obsessed with metal detecting I had started my day with an early AM surf walk in a northward direction.  I had be at it for little over  hours and was making my way back to the room to get out of the heat, eat and take a well deserved nap.

I was detecting on my way back and had a strong signal in front of a lady reading a book.  Dig the target finding a AirPod case which included the right ear piece. and totally packed with sand.  I had drawn her attention and she asked “anything good” ?  Showed her the AirPods and said “this is a first. Wonder if they will work?”.  She said they should as she had washed AirPods many ties in her husbands clothing and they never failed.

While speaking a gentleman approached and introduced himself.  He asked if I may have found what he described as a “Black bracelet”.  Told him I had not but would be glad to search if he knew the area it dropped.  He replied that he only knew it could have dropped between his umbrellas and the beach access which was 100 yards away.  He also did not remember the route he walked because he walked it many times.   I asked if he knew the type of metal of which he did not.   I asked his room number and explained I will be returning Sunday but would search and see if I could find.  I would return it to his room as he was only a few floors away withing the same facility.

I searched the immediate area and towards the beach access with negative results.  The time was approaching noon and the beach was very busy with Labor Day vacationers.

Fast forward to after 6:00 PM,   I was refreshed and on the beach again following dinner.  I grid searched the area starting where they had been set up earlier.  They had a large area with approximately a dozen umbrellas and a flagpole displaying the stars and stripes :).   After a tight search I located a black bracelet that I assumed was under a umbrella when dropped.

I went to the room number given and the gentleman answering the door did not look familiar and when I explained my presence he said thank you for looking but he and no one in his party had lost a bracelet.  Now the real search begins.

I only knew a middle aged gentleman was whom I was looking for.  I went to the beach next morning (day 2) looking for the Umbrella city with a US Flag and nothing in sight.  I went about my business remainder of the morning and did family stuffs until the evening at which time I again scanned the beach looking for the familiar umbrellas and US Flag, Nothing.

Slept in day 3 and after lunch walked to beach again searching for the Umbrella city and US Flag and spotted it.  It was restored in the same location when I originally spoke with them.  I approached and seeing no familiar faces asked the first lady that looked up “did someone with your group lose a bracelet a few days ago?”  She responded Oh My!  Yes.  and called to a gentleman 20 feet away.  When he responded by name I immediately recognized him and held up the bracelet asking,  “This look familiar?”  🙂  I thought he was going to fall trying to briskly walk to me.  He was ecstatic and said he didn’t think he would get it back.   We spoke for a short time and I learned he too was from North Carolina (Baden Lake).  I told him I found days earlier but couldn’t find him as I had noted a room number that was not his.   I also told him I had researched the bracelet and thanked him for supporting our veterans.  The Bracelet was made by a company named HERO and they provided proceeds to Military Veterans specifically to K9’s to serve as PTSD resources.

Below are photos of the bracelet and owner having returned it to where it should be.   Happy Labor day!

Tags:
Category:

Property markers located in Yadkin County, NC for couple that had tree fall damaging home and side porch.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

I was contacted by a lady whom I assisted almost a year ago when her husband lost his wedding band.  She advised that in a recent storm two very large pine trees had fallen onto their home causing damage.   The property line is lined with many additional trees is the same state of decay causing concern.   They were unsure “if” the trees were theirs, neighbors or shared and wanted to address the situation before additional damage following their insurance carriers instructions.

They had reached out to many land survey companies whom quoted significant fees or responded that they didn’t have availability to help.  Many didn’t even return calls.  Discouraged she remembered my assisting with the ring recovery and knowing property markers are metallic returned to my RF listing and saw I assisted in locating property markers.

We scheduled a day and time for me to assist.  Preliminary research I used publicly accessible tools to research property lines, lot owners and placement of markers.

Arrived, searched and after a little confusion and finding the Plat map that was included with their home purchase information we were successful in identifying that their back yard was deeper than they thought and that the large line of trees was in no way on their property.  🙂   To be 100% sure I located the driven markers digging one and clearing growth away from the others.  To maintain visibility both were spray painted white.

Full disclosure I am not a land surveyor.  I only located the markers placed by surveyors of years past that matched up to the written description on their plat map which is official record at the Yadkin County, NC Register of Deeds.

Tags:
Category:

Wedding ring recovered in Catawba, NC lost while fighting off angry yellow jackets. see link at end for WXII-12 News Story.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

Received message from Mr. Ashe asking if I could assist him in Catawba area of Lake Norman.  I advised I was at work but could meet him afterwards and I was almost an hour away.  We made arrangements and I will let todays news story pick it up from here :)…

CATAWBA, N.C. — A Catawba man has been reunited with his wedding ring weeks after losing it while swatting at a swarm of yellow jackets in his backyard. He was helped by the metal detecting skills of a Forsyth County ring finder.

It all started in early August when David Ashe was doing some landscaping in preparation for a pool to be constructed in his backyard.

“Had the weed whacker, and I kind of went over a yellow jacket nest,” Ashe said. As the insects swarmed, Ashe tried to fend them off.

“I was swatting hard, and my ring shot off, and at that point I just ran,” he said.

Ashe escaped with more than 100 stings, and his wedding ring missing. He knew it was lost somewhere in the wooded ravine behind his home.

“My ring is very, very sentimental and precious to me because my wife picked it out and engraved it,” Ashe said.

Married since 2012, Ashe says his wife means the world to him. He said being without the ring felt strange.

“It feels naked because in the 12 years I’ve had this, I wear this every day, like it’s just every single day,” he said. “And my wife was reassuring me. She’s like, ‘You know, it doesn’t mean we’re not married, just means you don’t have your ring.’ But for me, it felt like something was missing. Something was just not right.”

Weeks passed before Ashe could return to the area to search for the ring, as he first had to deal with the yellow jackets. Heavy rain further complicated the search.

“It fills with water and kind of pushes,” he said, referring to the ravine where the ring was lost. “And at that point I thought for sure that’s what was happening. It was just going to keep pushing out on out into Lake Norman.”

Ashe purchased a metal detector to aid in his search, but the low-cost device didn’t yield any results. He said he was constantly picking up on the beeps and pops of other metal items.

That’s when he searched online and found out about a group called The Ring Finders. On the group’s website, he discovered Brad Trogdon, a Forsyth County resident with a simple description of his beloved hobby. “Obsessively metal detect if you ask my wife,” Trogdon said.

Trogdon discovered his passion for metal detecting during a beach trip two years ago.

“I refer to a metal detector like a foreign language; you can hear them speaking, you don’t comprehend it until you’ve studied awhile,” he said. “And that’s how I understand what I’m hearing in the beeps and the pops and whatnot.”

Now, he uses that skill to help people recover lost valuables, using higher-end metal detectors and an unrelenting attitude.

“I have a bad habit of not wanting to give up,” Trogdon said.

The two searched the woods behind Ashe’s house for hours, even continuing after dark. Ashe assumed his ring had flown in a certain direction, but searching that area proved fruitless. Then, Trogdon turned to a different section.

“It was late. It was very hot. I was soaking wet, and I said, I’m going to give it one more go because I hadn’t searched that area but once,” Trogdon said. “And when I did, the second search is when we came across it.”

Finally, Trogdon’s metal detector emitted the distinct beeping sound they had been waiting for.

“With a flashlight shining on it, that ring glowed back at me,” Trogdon said. “And that’s when I grinned real big, and I asked him, I’m like, ‘You didn’t say it had diamonds in it!’”

The white gold wedding ring with a line of diamonds embedded in it was found tucked into a rotten tree stump just feet from Ashe’s house.

“I put it on my hand, and it just felt like everything was just back to where it was, where it should be,” Ashe said.

Ashe has since added an adjuster to his ring to prevent it from flying off again, but if it ever does, Trogdon and his metal detector are ready to help.

Learn more about Brad Trogdon’s ring-finding work by clicking here.

Lead in to news story: WXII 12 – Lead In

Full news story:  WXII 12 – NBC News

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:
Category:

Concord Mills, NC – Lost wedding ring cleaning garden – FOUND!

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

Received text message Tuesday asking if I could help find her husbands wedding band.  I advised could help tomorrow afternoon as would be in area and another ring finder services that area.  She is out of town and timing is perfect husband contacted another but wasn’t available for a few days.  Story is that husband was cleaning garden and while tossing bad tomatoes over the fence he realized his ring was missing.   I advised I would arrive at 6:30 and would text when enroute and again at 10 minutes out.

Arrived at their home and husband led me to the garden area and reenacted his work pattern of throwing with left hand backwards over the fence. I searched the immediate area and V pattern towards to fence. Negative results…. Relocated to outside of fence and began search carefully from fence and 10 feet back. This was a little more difficult because of small trees and overgrowth.  After 10 minutes working across the fence line I heard the desired tone and visually spotted the ring at the base of a tree. I retrieved the ring and handed to its owner whom was very happy.

Conversation following the recovery, owner admitted he had purchased a metal detector locally and searched without success. Said “the thing just made a lot of noises”. He then described purchasing a pen pointer off Amazon and searching following an online search suggestion.  Great that he tried himself and fortunate the area was in his property but had it been in a public space the delay and prolonged time laying on the ground a stranger could have just happened by and found it and gained a new ring to his loss.   Absolutely nothing better that the big smiles folks make when their items are found and returned.

Tags:
Category:

Kernersville and High Point, NC items lost. Wedding band recovered.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

Did my TheRingFinders.com gig Saturday x2. Started the day at 8:00 am sharp 40 minutes from home. Mission was to locate a missing hearing aid. Mr Hall had one so we tested to see how it registered on my Minelab Manticore. It tested as a ferrous only signal 17-20 was very small but could detect @ 6 inches with gain of 15. Unfortunately didn’t find it in the yard after twice gridding 100%. The benefit is at least they know where it’s not and will continue looking in the home.

Ended the day with 4 hours hunting multiple volleyball courts for a men’s platinum wedding band. This ring was lost a week ago. Even though Michael saw it fly away it disappeared in the sand not to be found. He later told me they borrowed a metal detector and couldn’t locate which prompted their call. Since the loss the facility had conditioned the sand and the ring could have been deposited anywhere over the six (6) court complex. As the complex was nearing closing I got that special sound ?. Found it (pictured) but it had moved a court away from where thought. Texted photo to Michael asking if it looked familiar to which he replied “Where did you find it?”

#TheRingFinders #LostWeddingRing #kernersville #winston-salem #LostHearingAid #rentmetaldetector

Tags:
Category:

Wedding ring returned to owner. – Mount Airy, NC

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

On Wednesday, 06/10/2026, I was scrolling Facebook when I saw a post in a local group inviting anyone offering services or running a small business to share what they do. I had a few minutes, so I created a post that said I help lost jewelry find its owners and owners find their lost items and attached my business card .

Within an hour, I received a call from Jamie, who said he had just seen my post and had lost his wedding ring a few days earlier while cleaning a cooler after a weekend gathering. He explained that he lived in the Mount Airy area and asked if I could help. My reply was, “Absolutely.” As long as someone hadn’t picked it up, I was confident I could locate it.

I told Jamie that I was in Wilkes County (about 45 minutes away) and currently at a meeting, but I would head his way afterward and text him my ETA.

After the meeting, as I walked to my car, I noticed the sky was dark and angry to the northeast—toward Jamie’s location. I entered his address into my GPS, which showed an arrival time of around 6:00 p.m. I texted Jamie the details and got on the road.

During the drive, I entered a heavy downpour and thought to myself, “I may be detecting under an umbrella for the first time!” Fortunately, I was out of the rain after only about 10 minutes.

When I arrived, I met Jamie, who explained that he had washed the cooler and then flung his hands backward to dry them. You don’t have to guess what happened next. The ring flew off, and he heard it hit the ground somewhere in the distance. Although he searched extensively, he was unable to find it.

I carry rings with me so we can perform a test toss and estimate how far a ring might travel. The test toss indicated a distance of approximately 25 feet. I began my search beyond that distance and worked my way back toward the porch, but with no success.

Jamie then mentioned that the ring could have gone farther to his left than the test toss suggested. I started again, this time from the porch and worked my way out into the yard. As I did, I began feeling raindrops. Remembering the strong storm I had driven through earlier, I picked up the pace. About a minute later, I heard exactly what I was hoping for.

Under my coil was his ring.

I picked it up and quickly walked over to Jamie, asking, “Is this it?”

“Yes!” he replied. “Where did you find it?”

By this point, the rain was really coming down. I asked him for a quick photo, you can even see the raindrops on the business card.

Found in less than 30 minutes and barely missed the monsoon. 🙂  Thank you for trusting me and allowing me to assist you, Jamie!

Tags:
Category:

Forsyth, Stokes, Davidson, Davie, Yadkin and Wilkes Counties Metal Detecting Service… Lost your Ring, Cell Phone or Keys… Call ASAP – TheRingFinders Brad (336) 793-5698.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

I received a message on social media reply to a post where I had assisted a lady in locating a tool she had dropped in her yard.  She explained that she had lost her diamond ring in her yard while randomly pulling weeds over a year ago.  Her main question was could it be found after this amount of time.  I responded absolutely that rings have been found that have been lost for hundreds of years and precious metals hold up very well in the soil.

We scheduled a day and time for me to review the area that she thought it could have dropped.  We searched four areas of her home with negative results.  After an hour she wanted to stop the search so she could prepare a meal for her family.  Even though not immediately found we know where the ring is not hiding and I hope to schedule time and perform a broader search around her home.

Most important if you are reading this and have lost a ring or valuable item “Do Not” post specifics on social media with pictures and where you last saw the item.  Social media is great but also not so honest people are there as well that will gladly take your information and search for your item for their personal gain.  Its sad but does often occur.  Please reach out to me or another reputable individual that may be able to assist you in locating your item.

This is a hobby for me and not a business so any reward you provide other than expenses I gladly accept and in turn share with local non-profits and St. Jude Children’s hospital.

I love my hobby and more importantly the smiles on peoples faces when their items are found.

Tags:
Category:

TheRingFinders.com – Brad Trogdon locates survey (property) markers preventing significant fees.

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

On Wednesday observed on a local social media post someone asking, “does anyone have a metal detector in the area” with no additional details.  I responded that I did and asked how I may assist.  The author responded introducing himself as Corey and said he needed to locate property line markers.  He also advised his neighbor had recently had a survey company locate theirs at a significant cost.  I advised that I was out of county but available Friday. We arranged to meet around 8:30 Friday morning.

Prior to Friday I researched the address on the local Tax GIS and register of deeds to obtain plat details and Property details. I quickly learned of the acreage involved and that over a dozen corners were possibly in play.

Arrived Friday morning and Corey detailed he was replacing a fence and only needed to locate four markers along the driveway and one was already found.  The exposed marker was what is referred to as a PK Nail.  It was driven into the drive way edge and he had painted so it was very visible.  Next closest marker labeled on plat map as EIP (Existing Iron Pipe)  This was  little difficult as metal detecting we found two short pieces (total of 6 Inches together) that appeared to be from the iron Pipe marker.  We measured from the PK Nail and its placement appeared to be under where a brick column stood. 🙁  Moved on to locate the EIP (Existing Iron Pipe) that marked property line at the road right-of-way  ~600 yards west from PK Nail.   Was able to quickly locate the Iron Pipe and a PK Nail inches away (Pictured).  Assume this PK Nail was placed by other than the original survey.  Forth and final property marker was marked as DH (Drilled Hole) on plat map along a stream.  Deed detailed that this marker was an Iron Pipe placed in the center of “unnamed stream”.  This was ~600 yards to the east of our initial PK Nail.  Drove to the stream and as walking up Corey said  “I know what that spot is now”  pointing to a 24″ concrete tile that had a hole drilled with an orange cap placed inside the hole. (Pictured)  Yes!  this I am sure was placed by surveys in modern times after the tiles were placed to create ability to drive across stream.

Successful morning!  This assignment was a welcomed challenge although not recovering precious ring or jewelry it illustrates how  TheRingFinders.com was able to assist resulting in preventing significant fees.

Thank you Corey for allowing me to assist you in this hunt.

  

Tags:
Category:

Yadkinville, NC favorite knife lost – now found

  • from Winston-Salem (North Carolina, United States)
Contact:

Received message from Tim a resident of Yadkin county whom described while moving hay bales on his farm he lost his pocket knife that has been with him for many years prior to retirement from the Highway Patrol.  It held sentimental value to him. Even though he was unsure of where it actually dropped I told him I would do my best to locate it.

Having contacted me on Sunday I was unfortunately not able to immediately assist but promised I would load my equipment and would drop by on way home from my office on Monday.

Monday arrived and I had another request for assistance a few miles from the farm so plan was to assist both before dark fell.  Upon successful recovery of the first item (diamond necklace) I quickly relocated to Tim’s farm finding him mowing.  He asked if I wanted to delay because darkness was approaching and I replied “lets find it”.   Tim described the events and location he believed he dropped the knife.

We walked and searched approximately 30 minutes and as sun was setting I explained that I often search in late afternoons and I have had luck in parks finding things around sunset.  Something about the dark gives me favor.   Sure enough as we were walking towards our vehicles and swinging my detector in last ditch efforts my detector sounds off.  Although under moonlight I could see the outline of a knife.  I asked Tim,  “remember what I said earlier about finding stuffs in the dark?   There it is!”  He didn’t believe me until I picked it up and placed into his hand. 🙂

Thank you Tim for your years of dedicated service to the citizens of North Carolina.  I cannot wait to return and detect your farm and see what all those mysterious signals are that we stumbled across.

 

TheRingFinders.com is not exclusive to jewelry.  As long as the missing item is metallic I and the other RingFinders are more than happy to assist you.

Tonight was great for me.  First time of two assignments / searches on the same day.   Two for two successful finds in less than 4 total hours. It cannot get any better than that.  I love my hobby and even more get a kick out of the smiles resulting from the recovery and returning personal treasures to their owners.

Tags:
Category: