Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders

I got a call from Lois F. telling me her boyfriend threw her rings over her garage. When Dave Boyer (Ringfinder friend) and I got to the house Lois explained to us that after a disagreement her fiance’ took her rings off the table and walked out the side door of her house and threw her 3 rings over her garage. That was the scenario. Lois had a video from her security cameras showing him going through the motion of tossing something. The rings we were looking for was a diamond engagement, a grandmothers ring and a mothers ring. We started our search in her neighbors back yard which was deep grass and overgrown with bushes, flowers, metal fence and trash. We then looked on top of the roof of the garage and her back yard. After going through the yards sometimes on our hands and knees we found nothing. We thought we would find at least one of the rings but did not. Our suspicions, after repeated views of the video, was that the boyfriend never threw the rings.

Lois called her fiance’ and asked him, “the search did not turn up any rings, did you really throw them?”  He said he was trying to get her attention and would not throw $6,000 worth of rings away. So a video does not always tell the true story. I am sure they have made up and are now happy in their lives together.

I got a call from Jolanta L. the other day, She lost a key to her front door. I gathered my detector and picked up my fellow Ringfinder, Dave Boyer and headed to her house. Arriving to her house Jolanta explained that she was at the park behind her home playing with her grandchild. when she got back to the house she noticed here key was missing from her hoody pocket. The grassy area was about 50′ x 50′, after a short grid search the key was found. It took us longer to walk to the park than it did to find her key. She was happy to have her key returned and will go out and get some extra ones made.

I received a call from Sam E. regarding his wife, Ashley, who lost her ring while relaxing in about 3 feet of water with some friends. While kneeling in the water swishing her hands through the sand she felt her ring come off. Ashley and her friends immediately tried to sift through the sand, seashells and water to no avail. Ashley had the wherewithal to take a picture of a landmark as to where they were kneeling in the water. I went out that afternoon to look for the ring as it was a public beach an other detectors frequented that area. After a couple hours searching for the ring it appeared in my scoop with shells and sand.

Sam and Ashley live in Brighton, Michigan about 150 miles away so I had to mail the ring. Although I have never met them in person, I know they were very grateful to get her ring back on her finger.

Maybe we will meet someday.

My Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer got a call from Amethyst M. this morning. She was swimming in Lake Michigan during a high wave day and lost her engagement ring in about 3 feet of water. We arrived at the lake before she got there so we started searching without knowing the area where she lost it. The weather was getting bad and the waves were rolling and the rain coming down hard. Amethyst came down to the water to meet us in the pouring rain, after she directed us to the right area we told her to go sit in her car. After a 30 minute search Dave got a very good ring signal which turned out to be a pull tab just before that I was able to find her ring about 5 feet away from him. I motioned to Dave and said “lets get out of this rain”. We went up to the car and motioned to Amethyst to come out. Dave told her he didn’t have any luck then I reached into my pouch and asked her if this was her ring and she burst out “crying in the rain”. I always say “I’m 77 years old and can still make the ladies cry”.

I was contacted by Suzanne S. about her wedding ring she thought was lost while swimming. The ring was very special to her as it was the last ring that her father-in-law made as a jeweler before he retired. When she got out of the water she noticed here ring was missing. My Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, and I went into the water and started a grid search around the dock and Float platform. After searching for about an hour and a half we got out of the water to question Suzanne more about where else she might have lost it. Suzanne came out of the house with her ring in her hand. She explained to us that prior to swimming she took her ring off to wash her hands and put it on the kitchen counter. Unbeknownst to her, her sister picked it up and placed it in a ring holder on the counter. Doubting herself as to the last time she saw it, she thought it had to be when she went swimming. It was a nice outing in the water and Suzanne was a very gracious host and thanked us for our time with a generous reward.

I received a call from Jennifer S. last night telling me she had lost her wedding ring while playing in the water with her son Josh. Jennifer’s friend told her to contact Tom Towsend who is a Ringfinder, Tom referred her to me as I was closer and probably available. After getting all the details as to what happened I told her I would be out to the Park as soon as it opened. The swim area was about the size of 2 football fields but Jennifer was able to narrow my search to between 3 buoys. I started to grid the area for a couple of hours with no results. That day I met Jennifer along with my Ringfinder partner Dave Boyer to check out the area and possibly narrow our search.

The next morning at 7 AM Dave and I started another grid search from the edge of the water to the buoys. After a search of the area without turning up a ring we crossed the grid area the opposite way. On the first pass toward the last buoy I got a good hit on gold and there the ring was in my scoop. After getting out of the water I contacted Jennifer leaving a message.

Jennifer called me soon after my message and I told her “I found the ring” we made arrangements to meet at a local restaurant to give her the ring. The expression and excitement she displayed make being a Ringfinder worth all the effort. Thank you Tom Towsend for the referral.