Amy called to see if I could find a gold chain and charm that belonged to her son that was lost in the palisades fire. I met with her and began to sift through the ashes for about an hour when I found the special necklace . Amy said that was the most important thing she was looking for because it was a gift that she had bought for her son with his initial on it.
Audra called me and asked if I thought I could find her very sentimental diamond engagement ring that was lost when her house was destroyed in the palisades fire. It had belonged to her husbands grandmother and was the ring he used to propose to her before they got married and had children many years before. I met her a couple of days later and followed her to the property. this was to painful for her so she left me with her husband to search for the ring. After about two hours of sifting and removing debris I found the ring. He couldn’t believe his eyes. when Audra returned her husband took the ring in his hand and said come with me. Then he did something that I haven’t seen in over 30 years of returning jewelry to there owners. He walked up to her got down on one knee and proposed with that ring for the second time in over 10 years. It brought tears to her eyes as well as mine. She said its a miracle. I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life.
Sam called me to let me know that his house burnt to the ground in the Palisades fire. He told me that his house was 10,000 squares feet and did I think it was possible to find an engagement ring in the rubble. He told me that he had four friends sifting and searching for it the day before with no luck. I told him that I would meet him the next day, and give it a shot. When I arrived Sam showed me there was no access to the house from the street, because there was a 20 feet drop to the bottom, we had to climb down a neighbor’s hillside of debris and climb over two fences. This took about 50 minutes to get down there and drag all the equipment with us. Once I started to dig and rake I found Sam’s ring in les than 10 minutes, It seemed like a miracle but we did it. He was overwhelmed with emotion.
It took him 20 years to save to build his dream house with an ocean view, and the devastating fire took it from him in an instant. This is a similar story to thousands of other fire victims, who suffered an unimaginable loss. My heart goes out to all of them and can only hope that I can bring some solace to these families.
I was on a search for Teresa in the Palisades fire last week that was successful. Her aunt lived in her own room in the same house, and lost a big diamond ring and other gold jewelry, I was asked to search for her jewelry as well. There was a lot of debris, in her corner of the house, that had to be removed, once that was out of the way. I started sifting and began finding her jewelry, there was a large diamond ring, a gold lapis ring, several other gold rings, some gold and silver necklaces, two gold bracelets, two watches, several pairs of gold earrings as well. I found over 30 pieces of jewelry in total. Teresa’s aunt was so happy to have it back. She told me that she thought it was gone forever, and was amazed that I was able to find it under the rubble and ash.
Terry called me last week and told me that her family had lost their house in the Palisades fire. Her mother had a very expensive gold and silver coin collection and desperately wanted to know if there was a chance I could find it for them. I met them two days later in Santa Monica and followed them to their property in the Palisades. They guessed at the area that the coins should have been but the mom felt like she had moved them to another location sometime ago. I started to remove some debris and began finding some of the silver coins, I sifted more carefully and began finding more and silver coins, Some of the coins of silver half dollars were fused together. I finally started to find the gold coins which included a 1874 20 dollar gold piece and a 1899 20 dollar gold piece. There were over 10 gold coins and over 150 silver coins recovered so it turned out that the collection was never moved to the second location. When Terry called her mother with the good news they were both very happy and relieved. It was a successful search for me with a positive out come for the family.
I got a call from Jan this past week, she told me she had lost her home in the Altadena fire, and I had helped her friend Mark find jewelry, and coins after he lost his house, to the same fire. She told that she had lost all of her worldly possessions in the fire, but desperately, wanted to find her mother’s wedding ring. I went to meet her, and followed her to her one room home which she rented inside a house owned by a friend, I moved some debris out of the way, and found her mother’s engagement ring within an hour Even though the diamond had fallen out , she was so happy to have it back, she was just as excited when I found a key, that belonged to a very old China cabinet that was stored at her daughters house. she was very happy when I was able to find a button from her late brothers military uniform. I did recover other jewelry as well, Jen told me that she finally had some closer after the terrible fire.
Carolyn called me last week and told me she lost her house in the Palisades fire, and inquired if I thought her jewelry that could be salvaged from the burnt safe under the rubble. I told her to have faith and that I would give it my best shot. I met her in Santa Monica, and followed her to the property. There was a lot of debris especially from large metal roofing panels. It didn’t take long to locate the safe, I carried it out to a cement walkway, It took about 15 minutes to break the seal and pry it open, At first Glance the family thought that everything was melted and ruined but I took my time and carefully sifted the contents, and slowly. Her better diamond jewelry started to appear, diamond earings, a diamond tennis bracelet, and other pieces. The most important and sentimental piece of jewelry was her diamond engagement ring, which she was overwhelmed with joy to get back. I also dug through the rubble a recovered some family China that was important to her, The day ended on a positive note even after the tragedy.
Kristen called me several weeks ago regarding the loss of her house in the Palisades fire. As soon as residents got the go ahead from the police to return to their properties, we met and I followed her to the site, we looked for several hours for her diamond jewelry with no luck. She felt like there must have been an explosion because there was debris from her closet scattered in different areas, I did however find a few pieces of jewelry, and a large pure silver coins. Then she had me search for two sterling silver Tiffany trays, she had bought for her daughters. I searched and sifted in both of their rooms, and within an hour found them both. I was sad that I couldn’t find her better jewelry, but she was happy to have her daughters trays back which the jeweler will be able to restore.
I got a call the other day from Cecily, she was referred to me by mr Lin, who I had helped last weekend in the Palisades fire on Friday find some lost valuables, she explained that her 85 years old father who is a retired school teacher just cashed out his retirement account and put the majority of the money into gold bars. He put the them all in a shoes box and put them on the top shelf of his closet, and there they sat until the apartment building burned to the ground in the Palisades fire. I met with Cecily near one of the police checkpoints and followed her to where her mother and father’s home used to be, after putting on the hazmat suit, gloves and mask, I walked up the cement stairs to the corner of the house where she thought the closet used to be, after about an hour of moving heavy metal and cutting through drywall chicken wire, I started sifting through the ash and debris, Cecily started give up hope, after another hour or so I shoveled about 5 shovelfuls into the top screen, I paused and my eyes first caught the rectangular shapes, then there they were the glitter of gold. I called Cecily over, I pointed in the screen, and she said what is that, I smiled and said your father’s retirement fund, she screamed and cried, and called her parents right away with the good news, I kept digging and found 30 solid gold bars in total, everything that he had lost. My parents were both teachers, and I know what unsung heroes they were, so reuniting these gold bars with her dad and saving his retirement meant a great deal to me as well as him and his family.
I was on a recovery search in the Palisades fire on Friday when the neighbor Mr. Lin saw me digging in the ash & asked if he could borrowed a sifting screen. I went over to his lot across the street and helped him search instead. After a few questions I starting sifting and within 15 minutes found a two ounces gold bar that belonged to his mother, she was so happy to get it back, even after suffering the loss of her house.