How to Find a Lost Engagement Ring in Ocean City, Maryland

Kristie’s 14 Karat White Gold, 2 Carat Diamond Solitaire Ring with Surrounding Diamonds Engagement Ring

CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!

It was after midnight when I received a call from Brian who lived in Ocean City, Maryland. He was completely stressed out because his fiancé’s 2 carat diamond engagement ring went missing somewhere in front of The Bonfire Restaurant located at Coastal Highway and 70th Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The first question that I generally ask my clients is whether or not there was any tension at the time of the ring’s disappearance. I can’t tell you how many times that inquiry alone helps the other person relax and eventually open up about what actually took place when the ring went “MIA” (missing in action). They realize that I can identify with their intense situation based on other similar cases that involve arguments or outright fights. Many of my searches have to do with rings that are thrown in a state of frustration, anger and / or hurt. This story is no different. Brian appreciated what I asked him and he answered with complete honesty.

 

The story goes like this: Brian and his fiancé were driving down Coastal Highway (which is the main drag in Ocean City, Maryland), located a block inland from the ocean. The thoroughfare is parallel with the coastline. While at a traffic light, just out front of The Bonfire, the couple got into a heated argument which led to the launching of Kristie’s beautiful engagement ring (I won’t share who threw the ring) straight out of the front passenger seat window and onto the property of the restaurant adjacent to the street. Immediately, they came to their senses and Brian pulled the car around the corner and into the restaurant parking lot. Though the love birds were not reconciled at that point, they both realized that a very special, sentimental and extremely expensive ring was left unprotected in a high-traffic area. People of all ages were constantly walking along the sidewalk where the ring was thrown. Pedestrians were coming to and from the parking lot of the restaurant and to and from other surrounding shops nearby. The search for the disappearing ring immediately ensued.

 

The two of them believed that they saw the ring fly into a flower bed which was adjacent to the sidewalk in front of the parking lot of The Bonfire. However, they searched everywhere within that section of landscaping and they still could not find the classic white gold band surrounded by ice. A few other bystanders who watched the couple search around the street joined in to see if they could help find Kristie’s precious jewel. Unfortunately, they too could not recover the beautiful keepsake of promise.

 

A couple of hours had passed by, and at that point Brian and Kristie resolved to rent a metal detector and attempt to find the ring with a Garrett 150 machine. Unfortunately, using the metal detector was completely ineffective as they weren’t sure how to use the electronic device, and in the end they were still not able to recover the ring. More time marched on and it was getting later in the evening. The engaged couple started getting nervous that the ring could end up in someone else’s pocket if they didn’t figure out some other plan to find the engagement ring. This is where I fit into the story.

 

Brian and Kristie tried to take another approach by looking online to see if there were any other ideas of how to find their missing ring. The Ring Finders directory popped up on their Google search and that’s when they looked up the metal detectorist who covers the Ocean City, Maryland area. Brian and Kristie read my profile and immediately called me to seek my assistance.

 

I could hear the desperation in Brian’s voice when I answered the phone in bed at that midnight hour. Brian explained to me everything that had happened and I responded by asking him some additional questions about the disappearance of the ring. Once I got the entire story from the tired and worn out fiancé, Brian begged for my immediate help that night. He knew that I had already settled into bed for the night and that it would be a three-hour drive to the coast if I were to immediately take on this task. I gave it a quick thought, knowing within that it was a strong possibility that Kristie’s ring would never be recovered if they waited until daylight for me to search for the ring. I could not bear to think that such a precious object in their lives might end up in the wrong hands. I told Brian that I was on my way to the beach! I pulled the covers back, slowly got out of bed, put my clothes on, grabbed my gear and headed out into the middle of the night towards the coast.

 

Brian was so grateful that I was willing to drive the three hour journey through the night to the beach, well aware that it was possible that the ring had already been picked up by someone else. Though Brian was pretty confident that the two of them saw the ring fly into the flower bed, I explained to him that I have encountered plenty of situations where the ring was initially seen flying towards one place, however, it ended up bouncing into an area where it became visible to pedestrians walking by. Unfortunately, those rings are rarely ever recovered.

 

I agreed with Brian that we would stand on the theory that Kristie’s ring was still lost in the strip of landscaping along side Coastal Highway and that nobody yet had plucked it from the street! I was kind of surprised to find out that the couple was so confident that the ring was greatly hidden in the plant life in front of the restaurant that they both felt comfortable enough leaving the scene and returning back to their place until help arrived. That showed me their level of conviction in believing that nobody would be able to spot the diamond engagement ring so easily since none of them had found it either! At some point I prayed with Brian and asked the Lord for guidance and for His favor in this extremely vulnerable situation. He appreciated my team efforts through faith and prayer.

 

The 180 mile trip to the East Coast was not even close to being a burden for me. I love what I do, and I have such a passion for helping people in need, especially when it comes to situations like this one. There was enough tension between the couple before the disappearance of the ring, and then the unthinkable happened on top of their dispute in the car. Therefore, my wholehearted desire was to bring closure to at least one of Brian and Kristie’s tense situations by recovering their lost symbol of love.

 

On my way to the beach, I traditionally stop and fuel up not only the gas tank but also my body with a large cup of High’s Dairy Store coffee. It’s a tradition of mine and I love stopping by the childhood convenience store in Annapolis, Maryland as I drive towards the shore. I kept myself busy in the car by talking with fellow Ring Finders on the West Coast since their clock is three hours earlier than our eastern time zone. The hours quickly went by, and before I knew it, I saw the sign welcoming me to Ocean City, Maryland. At 3:30 a.m., I called Brian to let him know that I would be at 70th Street and Coastal Highway in just a few minutes. He got out of bed and headed for the restaurant. No more than a few minutes after I arrived at the The Bonfire, Brian pulled into the parking lot and we met out by my car.

 

From the moment we shook hands, Brian expressed his sincere thankfulness for having me come out at such an early hour in the middle of the night. I told him that I was delighted to help he and his fiancé resolve this mystery as to where Kristie’s engagement ring ended up.

 

Once I got my metal detecting gear out of my car, I calibrated the machine and asked Brian to show me where all of the events took place earlier in the evening. He walked me over to the long flower bed that stretched across the front of the parking lot that was facing out towards the highway. Pointing to all of the spots where all of the people were searching and where the couple had been metal detecting, Brian explained that he truly believed that the ring was still hidden within the landscaped areas. Yet, for some reason, nobody could find where it ended up. He also said that he didn’t think that the ring flew beyond the flower bed and into the parking lot. Nor did they see the ring bounce off of the curb or sidewalk and land towards the street.

 

The two of us stood on the sidewalk that was adjacent to Coastal Highway and I continued to set up my detector to search specifically for a lady’s white gold ring, discriminating out all other types of metals that I was not interested in searching for. Because of how much trash gets thrown into the bushes and flowerbeds near most streets, I did not want to have any distractions from various types of aluminum that rested on the surface of the flower bed. I then began swinging my detector from left to right over various portions of the landscaped hill, carefully trying not to step on the pretty flowers that were everywhere in that section of the flower bed. I continued to move the metal detector coil in all of the probable places where the ring may have ended up.

 

For the first minute, I didn’t get any signals that would indicate that I hit a possible ring target. However, no more than a minute later, I did get the exact signal that I was looking for! The metal detector started sounding off a tone that was in the range of white gold! It was a very bouncy kind of signal, very sharp and definitely a target that was above the ground or at least close to it. I looked at the VDI numbers on my Equinox 800 detector screen and it was telling me that a piece of metal was coming in at a number: four, five, seven, nine, and eleven. In my experience, those numbers are exactly the numbers I look for in discovering a white gold engagement ring like the size and weight that Kristie possessed. I explained to Brian what was happening and what procedures I would take next. I immediately grabbed my pinpointer (a handheld detector) to isolate the particular area where the signal was coming from. I could then determine the exact location where that metal was resting. I placed it down on the wood chips and followed the signal until the handheld detector sounded off. It told me that the metal that I had detected was under one of the flowers that grew just inches away from the edge of the sidewalk. I then carefully moved part of the plant over to the side without breaking off its stem or tearing any of its pretty white pedals, and to my happy surprise, I saw one of the most beautiful engagement rings lying right beside the bottom of that flower! There it was, snuggled up against the stock of that precious little creation of God! The diamonds were sparkling like the reflection of the sun! It was breathtaking! I immediately leaned down and showed Brian what I had found! He could not have been more pleasantly shocked! I picked up the ring and presented it to the man who was beyond relieved that I had found Kristie’s beloved prize! He was beside himself! He could not have been happier and more grateful for what I was able to discover in mere minutes! I don’t think I could have counted the amount of hugs he gave me at that moment! Brian told me how happy I made him and how thankful his wife-to-be would be feeling shortly upon hearing the news that the ring was coming home!

 

While we were standing there on the sidewalk basking in all of the excitement, I shared with Brian that it was quite possible that this ring could have permanently disappeared by morning based on the location of where it was resting. Had one brief tropical rain storm travel through the area at any point in time during the night or morning hours, it could have potentially washed the ring onto the sidewalk and be exposed to any pedestrian walking by. The ring was only inches away from being lost forever! This made me feel so glad that I traveled through the night to help Brian and Kristie recover this gorgeous piece of jewelry!

 

What a fabulous time we had out on the sidewalk, celebrating the discovery of this ring! Just as we were about to start walking back to our cars, a police officer walked over to us and asked what was going on. He saw all of this equipment that I had in my hand and I’m sure he wondered what was taking place. Brian explained that I was a metal detectorist who had just found his fiancé’s 2 karat diamond white gold engagement ring! The officer immediately took interest in my abilities and then proceeded to ask me if I could assist the police with a case involving a couple that got into an argument on the beach just a few hours earlier. A young lady threw her rings into the sand and when the couple tried to find the rings, neither one of them could recover them. I looked at Brian with a smile and he looked back at me with an expression that said, “it all sounds way too familiar”!

 

The officer went on to share further that when the argument began to get heated, the police were called in and that’s when they took note of the need for a metal detectorist when the couple requested help in recovering their rings. The officer asked if I could check out the scene and see if I could find the missing rings for the couple. I told him I would be happy to give it a shot and he gave me the necessary information to start another search later that morning.

 

After the officer left us, Brian and I headed back to the parking lot where we took a couple of pictures, shared more words of excitement, thanked the Lord for helping me find Kristie’s ring, gave each other a couple more celebratory hugs, and then eventually called it a night and parted ways.

 

Brian was so grateful for what I had done for the couple that he invited me to his restaurant which he managed and bartended throughout the week. I told him that I would definitely take him up on his offer to have a meal and a drink “on the house” the next time that I would be coming in town. I couldn’t have felt more happiness for Brian and Kristie that night! It was a mission that ended up completely successful and I felt such gratification for driving so far into the early hours of the morning to help a desperate man find something so important as his fiancé’s engagement ring! It was truly a happily-ever-after story in recovering the ring that night! What an experience it was! I packed up the car with my gear and headed over to the beach where the other couple had lost their rings.

 

After an unsuccessful search on the beach for the two lost rings (I was convinced that they had already been discovered), I watched our magnificent sun rise over the ocean and then headed for home. During my journey westbound, I received a special phone call from Brian. He called just to tell me that he couldn’t stop thinking about what I had done for the couple in coming out in the middle the night to help them find their missing ring! He said he felt this overwhelming feeling of gratitude every time he thought about the fact that the ring was back in their hands. Brian went on to share that he felt the need to call me and thank me once again. I told him how amazing that was for him to do that and that I would never forget his heart of gratitude! It was well worth all of the lack of sleep and long hours of driving just to help another person out! The whole rest of the way home I had the biggest smile on my face! Certainly finding Kristie’s lost ring was a huge help in patching things up between the couple. They could move forward and focus more on their relationship issues, plans to move into their new house just a few miles from where they were currently living, as well as get excited for the big day approaching when the love knot would finally be tied!

 

It was a fun ring search and recovery mission in helping to bring smiles back to the faces of those who needed it most that night! I was so glad that I could be there for Brian and Kristie!

 

If you would like to watch the SEARCH VIDEO and RING REVEAL pertaining to this story, the YOUTUBE link will be provided shortly. To receive the notification letting you know when the video is uploaded to YOUTUBE, feel free to SUBSCRIBE to BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL by typing: THE RING RETURNER.

 

CALL BRIAN RUDOLPH WITH THE RING FINDERS AT (301) 466-8644 AND HE WILL RETURN TO YOU WHAT HAS BEEN LOST!

 

SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEO YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS WHEN THIS LATEST SEARCH VIDEO IS UPLOADED! BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ARE FOUND ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL – THE RING RETURNER.

 

CHECK OUT MORE OF BRIAN’S SEARCH VIDEOS ON BRIAN’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL: THE RING RETURNER AT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmcn09QqWhHrj-7SGqlUBJQ

 

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