The Ring Finders of Maine, With Recovery and Return #211
I received a phone call from Madison, on Sunday May 10th. Madison explaind that she had gotten into a heated “discussion” with her husband Jake, two days earlier, on Friday. As they were standing near the end of their driveway, in the Town of Windham, Maine, Madison took her engagement ring off and threw it across the very busy road, they live on. She immediately regretted that decision and told me it was not like her to do that. Madison and Jake then went acoss the road, to where they thought the ring had landed, in the leaves, grass and lots of roadside trash. Like any situation with witnesses they each saw something different. Madison thought the ring went to the left of her and further back in the leaves, near a rock wall and the woods. Jake thought the ring went to the right and would be closer to the road, in the leaves. After a long search, without success, the couple knew they needed help. Madison called her father for advice and he recommended his friend, who had a metal detector. Her fathers friend arrived, Friday evening and it was now dark outside. He was shown the area and after a search of the area, he could not find the ring. Now what? Keep searching is what they did. The next day, Saturday, both Madison and Jake spent hours searching for the ring in the leaves, grass and trash. The couple told me it was an was an exhaustive search and they had given up hope of finding the ring visually and would no longer keep searching that way. Madison told me that she couldn’t give up hope and gave it one last shot of searching visually, on Sunday morning. The result was the same and even though the area had already been searched with a metal detector, they personally did not know him or if he had any experience finding rings. That is when they decided to call The Ring Finders of Maine. It was now approximately 1:30pm and I told Madison that I would be there by 3:00pm. I just needed to get my gear together and drive the 45+ minutes to Windham.
I arrived at their property at 2:45pm and was promptly met by Madision and Jake. Madison told me she was standing next to the driveway parking spot, that I had just pulled into and threw the ring “as hard and far as I could”, across the two lane road. I looked at the distance to the other side and my first thought was, “could she have thrown the ring that far?” Madison had been standing 15-20 feet back from the breakdown lane, then there were the two lanes, another breakdown lane before the leaves and grass, where they thought the ring was. I then said “Are you sure you threw it that far? I don’t think I could throw it that far. Did you check the road on Friday, after you threw it?” Madison and Jake told me that they indeed checked the road, two days prior and had not found the engagement ring. They both believed the ring made it into the leaves but couldn’t agree if it went to the left or to the right. Ok then, lets start searching. I would estimate a 100 foot long stretch of the road to approximately 25 foot depth to the rock wall needed to be searched. I brought my 9” coil for this roadside search because I know that roadside searches with have decades and decades of metal trash , foil, pull tabs, etc. , above and below the surface. I needed the small coil so I wouldn’t get overloaded with lots metal trash targets, all at the same time. This could cause me to miss the very low tone of a gold engagement ring, if all I am hearing is 30 year old beer and soda cans, under the surface. The road runs Northeast – Southwest and I started by heading southwest, right on the edge of the roads curbing, checking the leaves and the gravel, on the road. I still wasn’t convinced the ring made it to the leaves. As I finished my first grid pass, along the road, nothing but cans and foil were found. Heading Southeast now and it started to rain lightly but still no ring. The rain really started coming down now and then we heard the rumble of thunder and a flash of lightening. Because of the circumstances, I called the search off and told them I would be back very early, in the morning, to finish the search.
When I arrived home, I called Gary Hill to see if he was interested in joining me. He agreed to come and help and I told him the situation. We arrived back at Madison and Jake’s home, at 6:30am. I showed Gary the search area and told him that I really had my doubts that the ring made it that far across the road. Gary was also skeptical and he searched the grassy area, just in front of where she had been standing, before the greakdown lane. No ring. We both agreed that if the ring had been in the road that it most likely had been hit and could be anywhere up or down the road. Anyways, Gary and I started searching the area between the breakdown lane and rock wall. After a half hour or so, still no ring. Madison then came out and started searching with us. I then asked Madison to do a test for us. I didn’t have a test ring with me but I did have a penny. I asked her to go to where she had been standing , when she threw the ring. I asked her to throw the penny as hard and as far as she could. I was more interested in the direction the penny went in than the distance. The penny and ring are completely differtent in size and shape so the distance could be different but the throwing motion would give me the direction. After throwing 3-4 pennies, we knew that the direction was the ring went to the northeast BUT not surprisingly every single penny hit the road and dd not make it to the leaves, in the air. A few pennies did roll into the leaves but a ring would not roll, like a coin. At this point Madison needed to get her children ready for the school bus and went back across the street. Gary and I continued to search but this time Gary would walk further down the road, in the northeast direction, scanning the road as he searched, for the ring. If the ring had landed in the northeast lane, there was a good chance the ring was hit and moved further down the road. I continued searching the leaves, going as far back as the rock wall. I kept thinking that the ring may also have landed in the Southwest lane, meaning the ring could be down the road, in that direction. This is why when a ring isn’t found, we have to expand our search area. Gary and I still had not found the ring when Madison came back to the search. She started walking the road on the Southwest lane. After a few minutes, Gary and I heard Madison yell out something about not believing she found it and as we looked down the road she was smiling ear to ear, having found the ring in the complete oppisite direction of where she had thrown it and on the oppisite side of the road we had been searching. As Gary and I rushed over, we could see the ring was damaged, from being hit by a passing vehicle or two or three. Thankfully all the diamonds were still intact and the band itself could be repaired. Madison thanked us and told us that if we hadn’t come back to search and listen to us on the different scenarios of the ring being hit, she never, ever would have found it down the road. She told us that she was done searching until we had come back. Hey, I always say, once we are on scene, it is all hands on deck. “Teamwork is Dreamwork.” Madison was very appreciative of our efforts, in the rain and then returning, to help her. We received smiles and hugs and all will be good, once the ring is repaired.
We will never know exactly where the ring landed but I feel that it was probably near the yellow center lines and was hit multiple times. With the ring 40-50 feet down the road, to her right and the southwest direction, I have a hard time believing the ring moved that far after being hit, just once.
Madison asked that I not use their real names or photos and I agreed. We all make mistakes and I don’t judge people for what they have done in a momentary lapse of judgement. As you all know, from reading my stories, people throwing rings is not an isolated incident. Over the last three years, we have now recovered, I believe 6-7 rings that have been thrown by both men and women. So, please don’t judge and just be happy that Madison has her engagement ring back.
So quite a search to say the least but another ring is back on the finger (as soon as it’s repaired). We love our job. We have the best job in the world and remember, “If it matters to you, it matters to us”💍🙏
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